[DerbyLayne]

Wow that took awhile to read all that, but great thread!

Ok, I need to really put this out there.

I often think back to my husband's decision, and the breeder he chose to get Derby from. We look back now and we were very uneducated. We did look through classifieds, and websites, seeking a good Yorkie. (I know, I know....) We emailed a lot of people, but only a few got back to us. We were willing to wait for a litter, or take one now, whichever happened- happened. My husband also wanted a larger Yorkie, so he sought out breeders who had larger-sized Yorkie litters (ones we'd hope would be the 5-7 pound full size Yorkie size)

Now, if he only knew then what we know now- right?

I felt like we really tried to do research the best the we knew how. We knew that those seeling "cheap" priced Yorkies, were probably not the better Yorkies. We thought that the more we paid, the better the Yorkie... but we know now, that we thought wrong. We also looked at what came with the puppy, and found those who seemed like better breeders, offered the most stuff. I mean, how nice was it be all set with your new puppy? It also came with a set of papers that listed his breed on it, and the first round of shots that he got. (We found later, he didn't have all the shots he needed).

I've expressed my shortcomings of Derby around this board, and it's not that I don't love my dog because I do! but I feel really lied to, and our breeder who so kindly said "oh email us! we want to see pictures as he grows up", and a their daughter who cried giving Derby up to us, meant that they were good people/breeders and they're not. They dissapeared off the face of the earth, and the emails I sent with pics and updated on how he is doing got returned to us.

My husband had extensive conversations with them, and they listened to all our questions. (I went through this with all the breeders we had in mind) and in the end- my hubby suprised me with Derby from the one with the little girl/the family oriented one who seemed generally more interested in our life, and our future life with Derby. He ultimately got to choose, and I was away doing some wedding planning at the time. Derby was delivered. We never saw his parents, but they were from out of town. We couldn't physically drive there. We thought it was so nice of them to do this for us.

I guess what I'm saying is- how do you KNOW you've got a good breeder when you believe in your heart the breeder you've been in contact with seems good?

I want to believe that Derby came from a loving home environment. I want to believe that he is a purebred (albeit maybe, badly bred) Yorkie. I want to believe that maybe there was an email issue, and we just lost contact with these people.

I know now that he came from a BYB, when I had never known what that was. My purebred Chow we had growing up came from a home who bred purebreds. I guess I just figured, just because they did it in their home means they're good? But I also came from a very small town where the only places you got purebreds were from home breeders. I live in a big city now, and it's not that at all. I am exposed to so much more scam now, and I guess I still have that small-town honest heart.

I feel really cheated. I know there is no price we should put on our loving pets, but I believe that we paid a heck of a lot of money for a dog that was dropped off and never got to hear from his parents again. They were excited to have money in their pockets, I guess. Those people will never know what an awesome little guy he is, but we also can't guarantee that he is a purebred at all. He does not meet standard, but I also have no idea what the other puppies or their parents looked like.

I know this is long winded, but the older he gets and the more he comes into his own, I just feel like it's not fair. We did the very best we could, with the knowledge we both had, and we still came up short of having a Yorkie up to standard. If he's even all Yorkie at all.

Thanks for listening.