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not sure where to start... worried about getting scammed......
i live in southeast louisiana ( yep katrinaville )......and the thought of sight unseen....hahaha or just sending my $$$ off worries me........ i have had 2-3 responses from email ..that i think are kinda shakey..... italy and africa and free /pay shipping ? and 1 odd pup pic with pumpkin in backround ????
and the prices vary like crazzzzy !!... some slick sites - super expensive ....... what did yall pay and were you scared ?
anyway i babysat a friend of mines or the weekend ....and fell in love..... i've only had rotties and pitts in past...( none for about 5 years )...have big fenced yard....never thought i'd like a lil inside pup....... but she was sooooo sweet..really good company and kept me smiling. only had 1 accident ..lol..well ....let her out a lot....she loved it ...has no yard of her own.......still smiling thinkin of her and miss her.... even thought about getting 2 ??? so to have company when i work ( every other week 12 hr shifts )... ok babbling..... bsically i don't know what to do.. please say dog hobbyist response so i can separate yall from the rest !!
zzzybil@yahoo.com

A good place to start would be the American Kennel Club website. You should be able to get some valuable information here. I would not recommend buying a puppy from Italy or Africa.
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Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.
PHMax
HMax@pethobbyist.com" target="_blank">Email PHMax

My thoughts on this matter:

1- Don't limit yourself to Yorkies only. Be open to 5 or 6 very similar breeds. (There are at least 10 tiny hairy breeds).

2- Unless you're going to show your dog - don't approach breeders who show their dogs- they will ALL tell you males are better (that's because they have many more males to sell -because, like you - almost ALL people looking for Yorkies want females).

3- Do NOT put a deposit down on a just born pup - or an unborn pup. Only buy a puppy AFTER you've seen the parents (it's FAR the best option if you see both parents) and the puppies at 8 weeks or so.

4- Do NOT buy a puppy over the internet - you can locate a breeder that way - but don't close a transaction that way.

5- Yorkies are super popular dogs - they are everywhere. Every paper in every city has a few litters advertised right now. Therefore, you can price comparison shop BUT DON'T TELL THE BREEDER THAT. The breeder will automatically get hostile. (Imagine being angry with a consumer, IN AMERICA, for caring about price! It's downright un-American- but they act that way nevertheless).

6- Respond to ads in your local and regional papers.
If the person is POLITE AND RESPECTFUL, arrange to see a litter when they're 8 weeks or so. You'll probably need to choose by 8 weeks, but won't pick it up until it's 12 weeks or so. If they tell you that you have to put a deposit down before seeing the parent dogs - don't. Be polite and call back in a few weeks to see if they're any left. YOU MUST SEE THE PARENTS AND THE PUPPY BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO PURCHASE IT.

7- When looking at the dogs -DON'T EVEN LOOK AT THE PUPPIES UNTIL YOU'VE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THE PARENTS. That is what they'll be like. (All puppies are cute.)

8-Take your time and save money - you don't want to decide on a litter based purely on price...what if you like the parents of a more expensive litter?

Now - if you really care about the looks of a dog and don't mind GROVELING AND KISSING THE FEET OF BREEDERS - contact a successful show breeder and ask for a referral to someone who may have puppies or a waiting list. JON-AN'S YORKIES come to mind. She's outside of Louisiana and has drop dead gorgeous dogs. She'd refer you to another breeder who might have puppies - but be prepared, a female puppy will probably cost 1800.00-2000.00. Also, if you say the wrong thing- they'll blackball you across the country to satisfy their vindictive nature.

Good Luck

>>Now - if you really care about the looks of a dog and don't mind GROVELING AND KISSING THE FEET OF BREEDERS - contact a successful show breeder and ask for a referral to someone who may have puppies or a waiting list. JON-AN'S YORKIES come to mind. She's outside of Louisiana and has drop dead gorgeous dogs. She'd refer you to another breeder who might have puppies - but be prepared, a female puppy will probably cost 1800.00-2000.00. Also, if you say the wrong thing- they'll blackball you across the country to satisfy their vindictive nature.
>>
>>Good Luck

Wow! That paints a bleak picture for anyone looking to buy a yorkie. Are yorkie breeders really only concerned only with looks and not health? Is the newspsper really the best place to find a good quality yorkie? In my breed that would be the last place to look for a dog that has been carefully bred and screened against genetic disorders and temperament issues. Does the Yorkie Club of America support registering with the Orthapedic Foundation? CERF?
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

Hi. The fact that you're an experienced dog person would have made me express things very differently if you had posed the question.

My family has had Yorkies for well over 40 years and purebred dogs for well over 100 - and they have known and been close to show breeders for all that time. They've also bred dogs (White Standard poodles in the teens to the thirites) and shown dogs (German Shepherds in the fifties and Mini black poodles in the sixties).

My first job in the 1970s as a young teen was helping a Yorkie breeder grow coat on her dogs. (Grooming, wrapping, bathing, etc...)

Now let me flesh out my thoughts to someone like yourself who is probably is interested enough in the topic to be willing to read a long post.

Yorkies are now very, very popular and are available EVERYWHERE. Their popularity should allow puppy buyers a lot of choice.

Of course my assumption is that someone seeking a puppy SHOULD be looking out for their OWN interests, not the interest of the BREEDER.

What they should (and probably do) always want is a healthy, sane pet.

Other considerations like breed, subtle conformational differences, etc... SHOULD be left up to their personal preferences.

Unfortunately, what most puppy buyers DON'T know,
(but we do)
is that the world of puppy buying is like a field FILLED with dangerous land mines - step on one at your own peril!

What are some of these land mines? Being an insider, I like to "flip" the standard thiinking process of the dog world on it's end & warn novice pet seekers of the dangers
- as I see them -
and try to steer them down the path that will allow them maximise their chances of getting what they want - and to maximise their chances of NOT PAYING FOR -IN MONEY OR HUMILIATION - WHAT THEY HAVE NO INTEREST IN.

Now for the meat and potatoes of my post:
Choice of sources for puppies

1- SHOW BREEDERS (that means any breeder who labels themself "ethical" AND belongs to a breed club and is on one of those referral lists AND shows in conformation.
Advantages:
A) The puppies from these breeders will most likely LOOK like what one sees in picture books
B) Generally - but not always - the parents of this dogs are well taken care of and fed quality food. This doesn't have as great an effect on the quality of your puppy as these breeders will insist, but it's certainly a nice thing.
C) A few of these breeders will be interested in low coefficients of inbreeding (COI). This is a very good thing -but it's rare even among show breeders.
D) Generally - the parents of these puppies will be health screened for 2-5 genetically transmitted diseases.

Disavantages:
A) Generally - the parents of these puppies will be health screened for 2-5 of the 100s of genetically transmitted health problems.
YES - read that sentence again.
Yorkies are plagued by many many health issues.
Only a few are things that can be screened for.
Eyes, hearts...whatever. Even if the list is a dozen - it's a drop in the bucket compared to the gadzillions of problems lurking in the DNA of all dogs.
REST ASSURED THAT HEALTH SCREENING IS NOT THE GUARANTEE THAT ALMOST ALL DOG LOVERS WILL SAY IT IS.
Homozygosity of alleles - is the real culprit in the likelihood that any particular puppy will express a disease that is the result of a negative recessive gene. Low coefficiency of inbreeding is more important when you're talking about the health of an entire population of dogs. People who believe health screening and genetic testing is the answer to health problems in dogs DON'T UNDERSTAND POPULATION GENETICS. I'ts shocking how people who don't understand risk assessment, population and health issues simply repeat stuff they hear and take it to be truth.
So - while health testing is nice-
IT'S NOT WORTH THE HYPE.
B) These breeders are SUPER CONTROL FREAKS. They have been trained over the course of the last 30 years to be facistic in their desire to control others. As a rule, they actually believe it is appropriate to decide which philosophies are allowed, what thoughts are allowed, what practices are allowed, what housing methods are allowed, what status of genitals are allowed etc.... I need hardly expand on the fact that some other people - especially those steeped in the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE OF FREEDOM & LIBERTY object to being TOLD what may and may not be done with a pet - and will find this process highly objectionable. I agree with them. If I dign't have family and close friends who showed dogs I WOULD NEVER GO TO ONE FOR A PUPPY. As it is, family and friends can't pull that crap with me.
If one wants to break into the world of dog shows, you have no choice. Physical MINUTAE is so important in dog shows that you MUST have a puppy from champions to have hopes of finishing one yourself.
C) These puppies tend to be VERY expensive. Someone has to pay for all those dog shows, dog handlers, health tests, hair ribbons, hairspray, hair wraps, cages (crates), whatever. Well over $1000.00 bucks at a minimum for a pet on limited registration. (That means: not good enough to breed).
CONTRARY to what some people think - price can be a justified consideration when purchasing something. If money wasn't an issure to these breeders they'd give the cash to a charity. They don't .
D) Most often you have to go on a waiting list and commit to a puppy before they're even born. To some this might not be a problem but to people old enough to remember the JOY of selecting a pup YOURSELF from a litter on the ground....
E) These breeders insist they know better than you and will not allow you to pick a puppy. They'll pick one for you. (Meanig they'll force you to take the least desirable puppy they have at the moment).

2- BACKYARD BREEDERS

Advantages:
A) Generally these people will be NICE to those looking to buy a puppy. Some people LIKE TO BE TREATED RESPECTFULLY.
B) Generally these people will be HONEST about wanting the best buck for the dog being sold and will explain why the tiny females cost more money. (Those are the ones everyone wants - ie supply & demand)
C) Generally, you'll be able to see BOTH parents and the puppies in an environment just like yours - a pet home. Usually the dogs are bred because the people LOVE their pet and want puppies around.
D) Often, but certainly not always, you'll be able to buy puppies at very reasonable prices.
E) What could be better than a male and a female dog that live together in a STABLE relationship having puppies? I like the idea of a puppy from parents that knew and cared about each other. Others might poo poo this idea, but I don't. And I'm not usually a sentimental fellow.

Disadvantages:
A) Generally these dogs would NOT be competitive in a show ring and there will be much more variation in the physical qualtities of the puppies. If a person has an intense desire for particular physical traits they'd be less likely to find what they want IF what they want is a look -valued by the breed standard. For instance, with Yorkies, backyard breeders are much more likely to produce oversized, long faced, long backed, drop eared dogs with incorrect color distribution on the adult coat.
B) Generally these people DON'T test for anything. All they go by is the fact that the parents are healthy. Therefore: You will take a risk that the puppies are more likely to have a problem with the 2-5 things that breeders test for. This is a risk people have taken for a thousand years. I don't think it's such a bad thing. Especially since screening only makes it less likely that the dog will not have those exact problems.
So - if you could have had 3 screens, your risk is only greater on those three potentialities.
C) Generally these folks aren't erudite about obscure dog things. Some puppy seekers WANT to feel their breeder is SUPER knowledgable about dog stuff.
D) Often, but certainly not always, these breeders will want very high prices for their puppies. These is easily avoided by saying NO to those puppies. There is no reason to pay top dollar for a backyard breeder puppy of a popular breed.
E) Some backyard breeders have too many dogs & are really puppy merchants. I'd say if a person has more than 2 females and one male - they're more likely a puppy merchant than a backyard breeder.

PET STORES,
PUPPY MERCHANTS,
INTERNET PUPPY SITES.
Advantages:
A) None really. While it's fun to look at puppies on the internet - but nothing else is good about them.

Disadvantages:
Too many to mention. I'd never recommend any of these breeders.

Please note that the best place to get puppies is NOT a black and white issue.

It's NOT as if "SHOW BREEDERS WHO TEST" are the good guys and ALL OTHERS are the bad guys.

Of course, show breeders will generally like everyone to feel that way. What's silly and shameful is that so many people buy their hype hook , line and sinker.

Moral 1:
Don't believe the hype given by breeders themselves.
SELF PRAISE IS SCANT RECOMMENDATION.

Moral 2
When it comes to claims about "breeding for health" -BE SKEPTICAL (like a scientist) and believe only what is PROVEN by empircal evidence that can be repeated in objective experiments.

I'm not the original poster, I just came across the new post while I was scanning for others.

Thank you for the clarification of your original post. I'll admit that I'm still a bit skeptical of your claims, but I see your point of view. I'm not sure that this holds true for all breeds, but that isn't the point of the post. I hope people take this post into consideration if they ever are looking for a yorki.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles