HISTORY OF THE BIEWER TERRIER
The Biewer Terrier is quickly working its way into the hearts of Americans everywhere. With it's lighthearted, whimsical, child like attitude, this tri colored toy terrier is gaining popularity with dog lovers all over the country. Equally as good with children as it is with other dogs of all sizes, the Biewer Terrier is a loyal and fast friend to all he considers part of his family. Although every dog has his own unique and special personality, as a breed, the Biewer Terrier is confident, happy, fun, loving and even tempered. Generally speaking, Biewers are not noisy or especially difficult in any particular way.
With the introduction of the Biewer to America in 2003, there has been much speculation about it's heritage. Mr. and Mrs. Biewer had been raising and showing Yorkies for 20 years, when in January 20,1984 the first blue, white and gold Biewer named Schneeflocken von Friedheck was born. This was the start of what is known as the Biewer Terrier Breed.
Mr. Biewer spent 5 years selectively breeding his dogs until he was able to establish and breed true to a standard uniquely the Biewer Breed. The dogs were then registered as Biewer Yorkshire Terriers a La Pom Pon. In 1989 when Mr. Biewer signed the standard for this wonderful new breed, it was that of the Yorkshire Terrier with the coloring being White-Blue-Gold. Mr. Biewer was not a man of many words, so the standard was short and very brief.
Mr. and Mrs. Biewer kept a close reign on the Biewer breeding programs in Germany, so their quality breeding dogs were hard to come by and quite costly. Mr. Biewer dies in 1997, and his wife Gertrud Biewer discontinued their breeding program shortly thereafter.
The BTCA, Inc. contacted the MARS Veterinary in Feb of 2007 to see if they
could help them with the genetic make up of the Biewer Terrier. It wasn't
until later in the year that they released the tests and we began submitting
blood samples. After testing over 30 different lineages (100 plus dogs) to
date, we have been able to show that we have a new and distinct breed,
which is the Biewer Terrier. The Biewer Terrier is the result of the
constructive breeding of 3 or more breeds.
In November of 2007 Mrs. Biewer agreed to a meeting with representatives
of the Biewer Terrier Club of America, Inc. at which time she shared
important information about the early development of the breed, and the
trials and errors they had gone through to reach their goal. The BTCA shared
what they were doing since the arrival of the Biewers in America and the
trials and tribulations they were going through as well. Mrs. Biewer is in FULL
support of what the BTCA is doing for the breed in America. We are in constant contact with her, keeping her abreast the advancements of the breed and have developed a close friendship through it all.
We are proud to be taking an active part in the development of this remarkable new breed, the Biewer Terrier and we welcome everybody to become involved in this exciting part of its history. Aside from the mandatory DNA testing required on breeding dogs, we are encouraging everyone to also have their Biewers MARS tested so that we will be better able to pair our breeders and to ensure retention of maximum diversity.
ARBA (American Rare Breeds Association), has accepted the Biewer Terrier as RARE breed and the BTCA, Inc as the National Breed Club for the Biewer Terrier in America. We will be showing with ARBA under the standard that they have accepted for our breed and will also exhibit with the IABCA International shows.
Our long-term goal is to take the proper steps to gain AKC recognition, so that we can exhibit as our own unique breed at AKC shows under the standard that best fits our exquisite Biewer Terrier.
