[luvmiyorkies]

I have been breeding for 20+ years and have lost one puppy in shipping (due to airline delay, which I replaced immediately), and now have my first pup that had Occipital atlanto axial subluxation which has been branded congenital and stated in the forum that my whole line is from this bloodline. If the person making the acusation did not know, I might be more understanding, but she did.
This condition, according to what I have read can been caused from a congential problem or from an injury. Not only did she do heavy "training", she took this pup to two different vets which one "adjusted" the pup's neck. He is two pounds, those little bones do not handle much adjusting or they will pop out of place. She ended up at Tex. A&M, we talked all the time, I found and sent her articles, got my vet to send all info we had,sat up with her late at night while she tried to deside what to do. I offered to exchange the pup and continue the treatment myself, which she would not hear of. I was not surprised, you get really attached to these little ones. Now she makes it sould like my yorkies are such horrible things, people saying they look sick,etc....it could not be futher from the truth.

This was the first litter (test litter) of an unkown dam I had purchased and one of my sires. The person making the accusation chose the smallest pup in a large litter, had to have it, even though I did not want to sell him and when I did sell him it was as a pet quality, even though he is beautiful.

I gave her a huge break in price, because the most important thing to me is finding a good home for my babies, and I have known her since she was in high school with my son. I even gave her half of her purchase price back when she was doing the surgery, without grudge. I have a contract that says I am not liable, but these are my babies. I have always tried to think of what was best for the pup and the new parent.

I know you cannot make money in yorkies, but they are my life, I just try to breed (every 2 seasons) my dams to provide enough to pay for the necessities to care for them. It is the core of my happiness.

You can have wonderful experiences with new litters (even the 2 am sessions at the vet doing a c-section). We take our dams in for checks during pregnancy, get the x-ray one week prior to delivery, and have special cameras on her and all the pups in the nursery, when I am not physically with her.

If a pup is born or shows signs of any problems I am right to the vet. I rarely sell pups that have shown any problems in those early days....all this said, yorkies all came from the same gene pool and have similar potential issues- hypoglycemia, liver shunts (God forbid), etc. There are traits that we do not want , but do occassionally occur,either from predisposition, injury, or over taxing a puppy. Once we find something undesirable, we remove that dam or sire from the breeding program.

We do our best to educate the new adoptive parent on what to watch for, keep up with each puppy placed, and keep close and accurate records. I do not mean to whine, but I am just so hurt. I did not think that someone would make such a posting--a warning...I guess my whole life has been my yorkies for so many years now, going through the AKC inspections, which I received 28 out of 28; the keeping of distinct bloodlines, no inbreeding, getting good healthy, happy puppies, It just breaks my heart.

What does one do if you have been slammed? If your kennel, (mine is a two story, ac/heated, and free standing, has its own water, washer dryer/etc.)has been flagged as needing a warning to prospective buyers to not come, not to mention buy. And they do read and have responded...

We have put a lot of money and time on our babies, without grudge, without regret, until now. What do you do?

Janis Hendrick
Hendrick House Kennel