The Biewer Terrier originated in Germany, in 1984, when two tricolor puppies were born in the kennel of experienced Yorkshire Terrier breeders Werner and Gertrude Biewer. Schneeflockchen von Friedheck, born Jan 20, 1984, was the beginning of the Biewer Terrier breed. Mr. & Mrs. Biewer named this tri-colored puppy Schneeflöckchen, which means “snowflake” in English. This surely was a reference to the white on this unique little dog!

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Mr. & Mrs. Biewer were so smitten by this dog that they began selective breeding to produce more. They called the breed a “Biewer Yorkshire a la Pom-Pon” in their first breed standard. It was originally thought that the color variation was simply due to a recessive piebald gene.

However, canine geneticists in the U.S. determined that these lovely little dogs were a distinct breed stemming from the dominant traits of four others—Yorkshire Terrier, Maltese, Havanese, and Bichon Frisé. Given it was proven to be a separate breed, it was renamed “Biewer Terrier”. “Biewer” is pronounced “beaver”, just how Mr. & Mrs. Biewer pronounced their own name.