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Originally Posted by debelm2  If wording is SO important, who came up with the phrase "TOY GROUP"? Wouldn't that be offenssive or give the wrong impression too? Just wondering. |
The word "teacup" is misleading because there is no real meaning for it. Ask 10 people what it means and you'll get 10 answers; it is not used by any breed club. Some breeders use it to mean a dog in the toy division, and it can be any weight, even over standard weight, others use it to mean a dog under 3 pounds, and everything in between. Since there is no definition, it can be used to mislead people, or justify charging more.
Toy on the other hand has a meaning, I'm not sure how the toy group started, but I think it started with the any dog classification that was less than 7 pounds. Remember some breeds have three categories, standard, miniature, and toy, for the yorkie, there is only one category, and that's the toy category. Any dog that does not exceed 7 pounds is considered "standard." Dogs over this weight are still in the toy division, they are just over the standard weight, but a yorkie can't be under the standard weight because that's 7 pounds and under. Perhaps some breeders started using the term because dogs under 5 pounds should not be bred, and so were sold as pets, and to increase the value, they marketed them as "teacups." At one time, nearly everyone who bought a dog wanted to breed it.
I see what you mean, I guess some people could say the word toy implies the dog is a stuffed animal, but it has been used in reference to the smallest category for a long time, and at one time it did seem like people understood that animals of all sizes required care, and that's the part of the "purse puppy" trend that bothers me.