[pktrekgirl]

^ You know, I really do not appreciate your tone in the slightest.

First of all, I said that I wanted to pay in the GENERAL BALLPARK of $1,000. Which was meant to imply that I understand that I cannot hope to find a good quality, healthy dog for $500...but that I do not want a $2,500+ show dog either since I have no intention of showing. $1,000 seemed like a nice round number to me, but was not intended to be construed as an absolute maximum. Thus the 'in the ballpark' qualification.

Second of all, if I am paying $1,500 for a puppy, I have no intention of co-owning ANYTHING. I am a responsible dog owner (my vet would be happy to verify this to any breeder I eventually work with) and have lived with dogs all 50 years of my life, owning two very happy and exceedingly spoiled Yorkies in the process, but other dogs as well - all of whom lived to ripe old ages under my protection and care. I grew up with dogs, and with the exception of when I was living in a college dorm, have always had dogs. My dogs are my FAMILY - not my business. And to imply that I might have anything but their highest well-being in mind is insulting. IF I ever decided to have a litter of pups (which is by no means assured in any case - I just want to keep my options open) with my current yorkie or another male yorkie I might purchase, then I should have the RIGHT to do that under the supervision and guidance of my personal vet or an experienced breeder of MY choosing. I was CRYSTAL clear about the fact that I am not interested in becoming a breeder here. I just want the option of having a litter of pups - mostly likely to be kept by me as pets.

Now, if that is such a frakkin' crime, then clearly I have come to the wrong place. Sorry...I just thought I might find a nice friendly breeder here who finds more joy in helping people find their new family members than they do in protecting their own pocketbooks from imagined threats from good, honest, dog-loving regular people who couldn't possibly care LESS about going into the breeding business and moving onto their 'turf' or whatever it is some of you guys seem so concerned about with your bazillion clause contracts.

So sorry...I will NOT sign any contract full of legal mumbo-jumbo detailing all the ways you can come and snatch my baby away from me (ways, not at all incidentally, that have nothing to do with direct dog health and welfare); a contract which is so thick it makes the process of adopting a HUMAN baby look like a snap by comparison.

Good grief. Did it ever occur to some of you guys that there are people like me, who love Yorkies, are responsible long-time dog owners, and who just want a nice little pet? I did not come here looking for drama, nor did I come here to buy a good dog cheap and backdoor you out of your breeder business or whatever. I make a very good living, thank you very much. I don't need yours.

I just wanted to buy a good, healthy dog for a reasonable price and, once I have provided sufficient references from my vet that I am a responsible doggie mom, be able to do with my own dog what I WANT, under the supervision of said vet and other individuals of my own choosing.

No adoptive mom of a HUMAN baby would sign away a bazillion rights to their adoptive child to a total stranger whose contracts are clearly designed to selfishly protect a business - not an individual deeply loved child.

And frankly, I won't either.

All a breeder has to know from me is that I have experience with Yorkies, have a long-time vet who would give me a good reference, have a lovely large home with sufficient space for a dog, have no animal complaints attached to my name or address, have plenty of time and love to give a young dog, and have a check that won't bounce.

Outside of that, it's frankly none of their business.

The ironic thing is that I am actually looking for a breeder who I can continually go to for kindly advice and an ongoing relationship. The sort of relationship I had with my current dog's breeder (who is sadly out of the yorkie business now, or I wouldn't even be here at all).

But some of the posts I've read here and still worse, the draconian contracts I've read online, which detail a bazillion ways you can come and rip my beloved FAMILY MEMBER from my arms for your own selfish business purposes? All they do is completely turn me off.

I am in no hurry here. And I will eventually find a breeder (if I haven't already - have a nice possibility out-of-state) who does not assume everyone who wants to buy a dog from them is in fact plotting the demise of their little business fiefdom, but who instead has not lost sight of the fact that some of us out here JUST WANT A HAPPY, HEALTHY PET TO LOVE AND TAKE INTO THEIR FAMILY. THE END. Hopefully, I will be successful in finding a breeder who operates from a position of good-will and (after appropriate references) trust toward their customers - not the paranoid distrust which is so heavily and obviously embedded between the lines of one 'adoption contract' I read (in between gasps of shock) this afternoon.

Honestly...I don't even get why the owner of one 'contract' I read this afternoon is even in the business at all. If you have THAT MUCH distrust for every single potential customer who hits your website, before you even KNOW THEM....Jeez...you need to find another frakkin' business, my friend. Because all a customer like me sees in a legal-eeze work of 'art' like that is a cynical, paranoid individual who is more concerned with themselves than with their dogs...and who frankly, I wouldn't buy a second-hand blender from, let alone a dog. I mean, if every potential customer is viewed as THAT much of a potential threat before they even START, how can you sell to anyone at all and still sleep at night? There has to be pretty much no joy at all in such a person. And that is not the sort of person I want raising my pup for the first 3 - 4 months of his life.

I welcome the opportunity to work with any breeder who demonstrates a desire to work with me in a friendly, eager to HELP rather than reproach, open and honest way, in good faith. But I am THE CUSTOMER. I have some rights too, because I have the cash. And I won't be bullied by a breeder into handing them $1,200 or whatever for a dog which I will never really own, or who can be snatched out of my arms at any moment by some paranoid individual who see enemies of his/her business lurking in every customer who comes knocking.

Not in this lifetime.

Anyway, no point in going to the dog show if the above is the mentality of the sort of people I will meet there. I couldn't possibly care less about the show itself. My only interest is in finding a nice congenial breeder who does not assume I am a threat before I even step off the bus. If they will never sell me the dog, but only 'rent' it to me under a bazillon clause contract which is all about protecting their own selfish interests and not the dog herself....then thanks, but no thanks. I'll go out of state.