[JaLaYorkieGirl]

I think at some point buyers have to trust their breeder to be breeding healthy dogs, and I really do think they have to understand buying a puppy is still a risk...life is risky. Buyers who want a 100% guarantee that nothing will ever go wrong with their puppy need to buy a stuffed animal...there is your guarantee. All you can do it find a breeder who has good ethics when it comes to breeding and caring for their dogs...not always an easy task. Even great breeders who breed only healthy adults can have a problem pop up...I have always said that the integrity of a breeder is indicated by how they handle the situation...not because they are in the situation.

We start vaccines a 8 weeks old, but only if the puppies are 2 lbs...if not we wait until 11-12 weeks old to start them. The small ones still go in too at 8 weeks to get a checkup. Between 10-13 weeks old is when we have a liver panel done on them, this checks all the enzymes related to liver function. If this test were ever abnormal...we would re-test in 2-3 weeks and if still abnormal then we would check BA's...and of course continue testing if they were elevated.

The liver panel is not going to catch every genetic liver problem and if we had a yorkie diagnosed with LS we would stand behind it. I do know that most LS is diagnosed by first having abnormal liver enzymes. While I do not think it will catch every case...I do believe that it is better than doing nothing at all. We never accept a deposit on a puppy until it has been vet-checked and had a liver panel with normal results done.

I personally do not think that BA testing is very reliable, but it is all we have right now and we have to remember that it is not perfect. We just have to do what we can to ensure we are breeding healthy adults unrelated to LS carriers or dogs affected by LS.

Just a note too on the blood draw...yes I do think this can be a little traumatic for these guys but agree it is worth it. The blood is drawn from the jugular because you can obtain a better (non-hemolyzed) sample much faster than you can with drawing it from their tiny little legs. The veins in their legs are so darn small you risk collapsing it while you draw the sample...this hurts!

More than anything I think it is a little scary for them...whenever we go in for blood draw day the techs look at us like...ok girls you need to be breeding a larger breed...lol. Poor girls they hate doing it just as much as we do!