This thread has been interesting reading.
I was very disgusted with my parents recently because despite my educating them about the dangers of pet stores and their usual association with puppy mills, they informed me two weeks ago that they bought a new yorkie puppy at their local pet shop (in South Dakota). My parents have a 7 year old yorkie already and while my dad was shopping for fish for their new pond, he spotted the yorkies they had for sale. Needless to say, they ended up buying one. They were afraid to tell me as they knew I would disapprove. Their defense was "this is the way we do things", meaning they would only buy another yorkie on impulse and not take the time to do the research and find a good breeder. The interesting thing I found was that the pet store said that the yorkies were from a breeder in Iowa and were papered and also gave them the phone number of the breeder if they had any questions. This gives me hope that it wasn't a puppy mill. One big red flag for me is the fact that Sophie (their new yorkie) was only 8 weeks old. This is rather young for a breeder to part with new puppies (and give them to a pet store). I also find it hard to believe that a breeder would give up all control on who the puppies are sold to (in my experience buying from breeders this has been very important and has involved vigurous questioning to ensure I was a suitable "parent").
This is just my opinion, but I cannot imagine using our furbabies for the sole purpose of making a profit, which is what is seems this type of "breeder" would do by selling to a pet store. To me a good breeder is one that does it to improve the breed and can't bear to part with the babies, but must do so and does it with great care. There are also those breeders who don't show, but do it for the love of yorkie puppies and they also hate to part with their puppies and do it with great care. I do not believe either of these would fathom selling their puppies to a pet store and not knowing who the puppies would end up with.
I hope no one is offended by my opinion because I know everyon'e opinion and experience is different. I usually don't get involved in controversial issues, but this has been on my mind due to my parents' recent experience. So far Sophie is doing really well and they are very happy. I can't wait to meet her next month when I go to visit! I've attached a picture of her.
Tricia |