About me... I am a former breeder/rescuer, and do to life circumstances, have been without a dog for far too long. I have two daughters that were raised with dongs, one with behavioral issues, that I truly believe were exacerbated by the lack of a dog in the house.
For the last year, I have been thinking about getting another dog. The problem is where we live, we're not allowed to have dogs. However, the last few months, I have seen numerous neighbors blatantly in violation, and with my daughters problems, I take the position is it is better to seek forgiveness than to seek permission.
That left dog breed. If we're going to have a sneak dog, we needed something small. While I am sure I could find a small dog from my former lines, (they were getting to the point where the litters averaged 25-30 lbs as adults), they would still be too large.
So I needed to get a toy sized dog. Frankly, I always wanted Chinese Cresteds, but I don't like the look of the powder puff, and my daughter wanted something soft.
I really have never met a poodle I cared for. And again, coat was a consideration. They're too wooly, lol. So there went any wooly, cottony, puffy breeds.
And I hate stains. So a white dog was out of the question. After having to clean grass stains off a 75lb white bitch the morning of the nationals (BAD Kona!! RIP), I refuse to have anything to do with white dogs. They are my bane.
I almost went with a long haired Chihuahua... But the good looking purebred tiny Chihuahua's all seem so skittish and nervous. Most of the snappy fear biter type dogs I have came across were Chihuahuas. And the more stable mutt type Chihuahuas didn't LOOK right.
Careful consideration lead me to the Yorkie. This is a breed that looks right in full coat and short. They are fun, and they're terriers, so they have that spark, that spunk that many of the little dogs seem to lack. And I'm a terrier lover.
Last fall, I almost had one, an impulse, that didn't work out, which was good. An online friend had a Yorkie that was suffering from fleas badly, and could not seem to get him flea free because of the feral cats that would roam the yard. I offered to take him in, and get him flea free, and even sent her some money to buy flea stuff, since she was broke, but she talked to the breeder, wanted to get the OK first, and the breeder wanted the dog back.
You know what? I respect that. It's what I would do.
At any rate, it didn't work out. And I went back to looking at pictures. Then one day, my boyfriend said, that's it, we're getting you a puppy.. after listening to me whine about missing my dogs.
Now, he is to be excused. He doesn't know the intricacies involved in making a puppy purchase, he's never done it, I know the dance, as a breeder, I have lead it, lol.
He found an ad that said Yorkie puppies for adoption. He contacts them. It was one of those Nigerian puppy scams.
We're Christian doctors and we have these puppies we have to get out of Ghana because of some stupid reason or another, and they have all their paperwork and something or an other, we just need 400 dollars and you can have the whole litter shipped to you.
We had a good laugh. You know, I told him.. you would have thought they would have found homes for the puppies BEFORE they went to Ghana.
Then he found out one of his co-workers had just gotten a Yorkie puppy, and got the number of the "breeder". I was sent pictures. Talked to the "breeder" myself...
And my boyfriend went to go pick the puppy... The smallest, calmest female. If none of the females were calm, I didn't want any of them.
He meets with the "breeder".. He offered for ME to come to his house, but wanted my BF to meet him some where.
Maybe because I live in PA and my BF lives in MD in the same town as this guy.
My BF is a sweetheart. He didn't realize what a red flag that was.
My BF looked over the papers, and everything seemed in order to him, and he picked out Pixie who was smaller and more quiet than her sister, who was literally climbing the grates of the carrier, yowling and yipping to get out. PLUS, he said Pixie was cuter than her sister.
I had had a bad couple days. I had been up all night, all day and all night again. Then to drive to Maryland?
That's OK, enter the back up driver!!! My brother, who lives in Philly, who use to be a long hauler. I went to Philly, picked him up.
I was good to drive and he'd had an all nighter, so the deal was I drive, he sleeps. Well.. we ended up talking the whole way down, lol.
I will freely admit, being tired, I was grumpy, and me and my boyfriend got into a bit of a tiff minutes from his house. (Grumpy is an understatement, I am one of the approach with caution types when I am irritable from lack of sleep).
I had my brother drop me off at a McDonald's to eat (did I mention I had also forgotten to eat since the night before, and it was getting on about 9 pm?), and he went to pick up the puppy.
He came back and told me, I thought I was picking up a puppy, not a ball of fluff. He'd brought his smallest puppy carrier, and Pixie was LOST in it, lol.
It was love! Absolute love!
I would have taken a picture, but it was too dark, and you couldn't see her anyway.
My brother drove, I cuddled puppy the whole way back.
I was given a whole lot of instructions. Some of them on paper, some which made sense, some which went against the grain. I was too tired to make sense of it at that point, I just took my brother home, and then went to where my mother was with a godsister, waiting with my daughters, who had NO idea I was bringing home a puppy.
Everything was worth it to see the look on my daughters faces when they saw Pixie.
So far just about everything has been perfect. Of course Pixie's breeder wasn't her breeder, he was her broker.. I pointed out to my boyfriend that the vet papers were from OHIO. And that the guy he bought her from was NOT the breeder of record, and that there was a supplemental transfer of the papers.
Last of which, the papers were limited, which annoyed me to no end, because we had wanted to show her, regardless if she came from pet lines or not. And the guy knew this. But my BF didn't know to look for that on the papers, lol.
I come from a different registry than the AKC, my view on showing is different than most peoples. I wanted to show her first for the experience of showing AKC, and for my daughters to also learn how to show.
I see the ribbons as something "extra". I believe FORM follows FUNCTION, and that dogs should be more than something pretty that fits a (usually) artificial standard to be bred.
BUT I also believe that a dog should fit the standard of their breed. Performance titles mean far more to me than conformation titles, but I think that any dog should at least be evaluated as to their conformational aspects, and those aspects should meet the breed standard to a high degree.
After she is microchipped and DNA'd, I plan on approaching the breeder to see if they would consider lifting the limited registration so that we can show her.
I don't plan on breeding her. She is charted to be too small for that (see, I HAVE been doing my research and learning the lingo, lol).
I do plan on doing EVERYTHING with her. And am especially upset that the AKC doesn't Earthdog Yokies, but they will Silkies.. NOT FAIR.
Yes, there is an image in my mind of Pixie doing dock dog competition, lol. And I am actually wondering how much it will cost to have a custom weight pull harness made for her, lolol.
Right now, we are raising Pixie as a therapy dog for my oldest child. Thus far she is everything I wanted and more than I expected, although "someone" got her bum padded for hand humping this morning. *Glares at ball of fluff, gazing back innocently*
I should warn, I am not a pet mommy, Pixie is not my fur kid, I am a believer in a dog is a dog, and she gets treated like a dog. A super extra special dog, but a dog none the less.
That being said, I respect everyone that sees their dog as an additional, or substitute child. It doesn't bother me in the least. But even if I tell Pixie "go to Granma".. There is still that line.
Even if I spoil her rotten, there is still that line.
I do what I want, even if I ask advise, I may not take it. I have about as much time in MY breed as some of you have had with Yorkies, so I'm not a noob right off the turnip truck. I have firm ideas, and I'm as stubborn as the pit bulls I used to rescue.
BUT I am NOT adverse to learning. If someone is so arrogant as to think they know everything there is to know, they should just curl up and die, because there is nothing in life for them anymore, IMO. Having said that, I plan on living forever, because I strive to learn something every day.
Now, my subject is the Yorkie breed. Pixie is my teacher. And with me joining this site, class is now in session
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z.../Photo0136.jpg
If you look closely, you will see there are horns in that hair.. So don't let the angels face fool you.