[Sammietheyorkie]

Deborah, as you have some valid points, I must disagree with you about a few things....

I agree that breeding yorkies too small that they suffer poor health conditions is cruel, but I know many small(er) yorkies that are in perfect health conditions. Yorkies are known to be smaller breeds and to say they must NOT be under 7 pounds is to say Asians should not have small bone structure. I am Asian and that is in our genetic history.

Having a yorkie under 7 pounds is not cruel. Having a
Dachshund who's mid body is very long, is not cruel. It's the nature of their breed and sometimes, just like different nationalities in humans, you have to work around it. When Dachshunds get older and they have back problems, you must attend to it. When Yorkies get older and they have dental problems, you have to attend to it. When bulldogs get infections between their wrinkles, you have to clean it out.

As some yorkies are under 7 pounds and some are over 7 pounds, it is wrong to say we are cruel in raising small yorkies as many of us have VERY healthy small ones and probably take care of them better than owners of other breeds.

As far as docking the tails, my parents had an awful experience with the opposite. They have a yorkie/maltese mix and he is 10 pounds. When he was just over a year old, an infection occured on the tip of his tail (not docked). The vet told my parents that the weight and size of his tail was not porportionate with his body. Therefore, every time he would wag his tail, the heavy weight and lenth of it caused poor blood circulation. He had to get his tail docked and it took months of unable to walk for their dog to get back to normal. Now, with his docked tail, he is happy and healthy.

The docking of the tail can be controversial yet I don't believe it's cruel. It is done when they are very young in age. Some may say parents who pierce their daughters ears when they are born may be cruel but it's a matter of choice and making sure it's done properly.