5 books for Yorkie owners

The subheading for this book sums it up: Inner Thoughts, Secret Antics & True Confessions.

1

This book is hilarious! Written in diary-style, each entry represents a different Yorkie, from a love sick female, to a 'teenager Yorkie.' Cheeky, sassy and very funny. And bonus - lots of wonderful Yorkie pix too.

One reviewer wrote: "Entries on naughtiness, on being a terrier, on "all that hair" and, of course, true confessions (some sweet, some snarky) combined with candid color photography of the contributors in action, make for a revealing peek into the minds and lives of these precocious, and precious, little companions."

The Yorkie Diaries: Inner Thoughts, Secret Antics & True Confessions

HEY WAIT, ISN'T TOTO A CAIRN TERRIER?!

Well, maybe not.

2

There has been some controversy about the dog breed in L. Frank Baum's famous series of books which started with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900.

"Toto" is one of the most loved small dogs in movies and books. But what breed was Dorothy's faithful sidekick? In the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, the part of Toto is played by a Cairn Terrier. The dog's breed is never mentioned in the original book; however, based on the illustrations it looks like Toto definitely started out as a Yorkie.

In this beautiful 100 year anniversary edition copy, with original illustrations by W. W. Denslow -- you can see that Toto is clearly a Yorkie. More supporting evidence?

• the author L. Frank Baum, probably meant for Toto to be a mongrel. But the dog is is described as "a little black dog, with long, silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose."


• illustrator W. W. Denslow owned a Yorkie at the time of the book's writing


• the drawings themselves certainly look like those of a Yorkie

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 100th Anniversary Edition (Books of Wonder)

3

This is a teary one so have your tissues ready. New York City gossip columnist Cindy Adams, who was married to comedian Joey Adams, was widowed and alone... until a friend sent her a surprise package - a tiny Yorkie puppy she named Jazzy.

Then the story gets funny, as she deals with a puppy she had never contemplated owning. Meanwhile, Jazzy the Yorkie puppy has lucked out: he lived with Adams in her 9 room penthouse apartment on Park Avenue, dressed in expensive designer clothes and jewelry.

In between Cindy Adam's wisecracking style and completely clueless behaviour around dogs, you get glimpses of the terrible pain she feels in dealing with the loss of her husband of 47 years and how the little dog helped.

Witty, wry and wise - all round it's a great read.

The Gift of Jazzy

Greyfriars Bobby was written almost 100 years ago, and was the Marley and Me of the day...it's still a real tear-jerker.

4

It's the true-but-much-embellished story of "Bobby" a dog owned by Scottish farmer John Gray, who had been a night watchman in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland when he got Bobby, supposedly a Sky Terrier. Just two years later, Gray died suddenly of tuberculosis and was buried in Greyfriars Kirk graveyard. The story goes that Bobby stood guard every single day at his grave for 14 years, leaving only to eat at local pubs. When Bobby died in 1872, he was buried just inside the gates of the Kirkyard, not far from John Gray's grave.


A year later, Lady Burdett-Coutts had a statue and fountain erected in Edinburgh to commemorate him. Eleanor Atkinson's book was published in 1912.

In the movie, the part was strangely cast as a West Highland White Terrier.... and although the statue doesn't look particularly "Yorkie" this painting at left, done for the book in 1865, certainly does.

left: illustration; unknown. 1865. "Bobby"


On Bobby's headstone:

Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all.


Greyfriars Bobby

Sure, there are lots of great stories about dogs who've become genuine war heroes.

But how many of them were Yorkies!?

5

Smoky was a famous war dog who served in World War II. She weighed four pounds and stood seven inches tall.

In February 1944, she'd been found by an American soldier in an abandoned foxhole in the New Guinea jungle and after a poker game or two, this little dog found her way into the arms and heart of Corporal William A. Wynne of Cleveland, Ohio.

For the next two years, Smoky back-packed through the rest of the war going on combat flights in the Pacific. She faced adverse circumstances, living in the New Guinea jungle and Rock Islands, suffering the primitive conditions of tents in equatorial heat and humidity. After the war, Smoky was smuggled back to the U.S. in an oxygen mask, and for the next 10 years, appeared in Hollywood, on TV and was a very popular entertainer at veterans' hospitals.
Yorkie Doodle Dandy: A Memoir