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Originally Posted by gracielove  People have strong feeling about this because of the problems that the Yorke breed is suffering now due to indiscriminate breeding. The genetic defects that have been brought forward are serious and life threatening. It may seem as though people are putting pressure on you to go according to their view but if you have read some of the posts by people who have suffered through purchasing a pup with genetic problems or other health issues you would understand a little more where people are coming from.
I know to many people a dog is a dog and puppies are cute and Yorkies are adorable but genetics are a very important consideration in deciding the purchase of a dog. The ethics of a breeder are equally as important. Breeders who breed dogs with no consideration to what kind of a life they will live or the kind of health problems they will have do not have the dog's best interest at heart. So what is their reason for breeding? When you go to look at that puppy take a second look at your surroundings. Do you want to support the continued breeding of dogs in those conditions? Do they care or ask questions about what kind of home you will give the dog? Will they guarantee the pup to be free of genetic defects for one year? Will they show you where all the dogs are kept and where the puppies are kept when they are not showing them to you? If they have that many dogs I doubt that they are keeping them all in the home as pets. They have to cage them to keep them from interbreeding all the time. There are some red flags here but you have to decide for yourself what the right thing to do is.
The cost of the dog is not necessarily the thing you want to go by. There are puppy mills out there with fancy websites that charge thousands for their defective pups. Buyer beware. |
A perfect post from Gracielove. She said it better than I ever could.
So, yes, where your dog comes from does matter. I'm sure no one on this board wants to support a puppy-mill type breeder.
I searched long and hard for my breeder, and while not perfect I'm sure, I can say with certainty that her dogs are not caged; and are raised in the home by a loving family. I wasn't all THAT educated when I got Lucy - but I knew enough to know that I would never want to support any type of industrial breeding facility.
Now, there's even more criteria I would look for.
Good Luck!