[Alisteretc]

I am fairly new to being owned by a yorkie but I have wanted one for years but couldn't bring myself to pay the pricetag, especially since I have 3 human kids, one with autism and a special needs brussels griffon as well. However, I finally decided to look seriously at the breeders around here. I was shocked at what I found. Not at the prices, because I expected that, but at WHO was asking those prices. I understand, especially after reading all the posts here, that breeding yorkies is very expensive so that is one reason the cost is so high, however, I didn't find that to be the case here. I had known people who got a beautiful yorkie from a local woman for about $2000 and they gave me the woman's card. I called but was NOT impressed. She did say we could make payment plans (almost right away) but I didn't get a good feeling about her. She never asked a thing about me etc. I asked around some more about her and it turns out that she is a broker. She buys from people for $500 or so then resells the pups for triple what she paid. I did go see a few pups that she had (and she acted like they were bred by her) and they were no where the same quality as the one she sold my friends. Naturally, I looked elseware. She was in it for profit, and was obviously having NO problem making that profit. I also looked at another woman's pups and they were born and raised in a shed with her goats(!!), the parents were illkept, and she was asking $1500. Luckily, I didn't give up (or end up going to a petstore, although I must admit I though about it) and finally found a great woman who had all her dogs genetically tested, dabbled in showing, and took WONDERFULL care of her dogs. I ended up getting a 4 1/2month old boy for $700 who I think is drop dead gorgeous. I was thrilled to find an older pup as I have a 9lb bouncy dog and 3 kids (age 3-9). I am no show judge so am not positive if he is standard or not, but I think he is the most beautiful boy, is king of yorkies, and could not love him more.

I guess my point is, just because a yorkie has a high price tag does not mean it is healthy or very good quality. However, the breeders who posted here sure have educated me on how much a breeder gives up for the pups (financially and otherwise) and I have a lot of respect for you wonderful breeders, and want to warn others to look deeper than fancy talk on a phone and a pricetag. Even a "cheaper" pup can be just as great, if not better.

I know this kind of goes a bit away from the original post, but seeing how the original poster doesn't plan on posting again, I hope it's alright.