No, Toto from The Wizard of Oz was not a Yorkie, though many people think he looks like one. Toto was a Cairn Terrier, a small, scruffy, working terrier breed from Scotland. In the classic 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz, Toto was played by a female Cairn Terrier named Terry, who was paid $125 per week, more than many human actors in the film. Terry was born in 1933 and was a well-known Hollywood dog actor. Cairn Terriers are small, about 13 to 14 inches tall and 13 to 14 pounds, with a wiry, shaggy coat that can be gray, brindle, or wheaten, pointy ears, and a bold, alert expression. They look somewhat similar to Yorkshire Terriers, which is why people confuse them, but Yorkies have longer, silkier hair and are typically smaller. In L. Frank Baum's original 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Toto was described as a little black dog with long silky hair, which does sound more like a Yorkie or possibly a small poodle, but illustrator W.W. Denslow drew him as more terrier-like. Baum never specified a breed. For the film, director Victor Fleming chose a Cairn Terrier because of its scruffy, relatable look and trainability. So while Toto is not a Yorkie in the film, the book description is ambiguous enough that many imagine him as a Yorkie-type dog.
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