[YorkieMan10]

I have a lot of comments/questions, so bear with me

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

All breeders, not just good ones are leery of the general public coming into their homes.

People in general are leery of the general public coming into their homes. Just as YorkieTalk does in its "for sale" forums, breeders should be doing their homework before they let just anyone come into their homes.

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

I suggest that people call a few breeders and let the relationship build. As many have said you are buying the breeder, not the dog.

I don't think most people want to buy a breeder. Most people are most interested in finding a healthy "pet" of a specific breed, sex, size, etc. Most people are very busy too. Why not use the power of the Internet to save everyone some time? It's certainly working out extremely well for puppy mills.

Making it impossible to easily get in touch with people who believe in the breed is only helping to promote puppy mills. I don't understand how so many people are against puppy mills, but nobody is interested in working on a reasonable resolution. Telling people to go to dog shows, research breeders, meet breeders, etc. is just not reasonable. Asking people to come to a site like YorkieTalk and offer a "for sale" thread with sellers that can be trusted seems like a much better idea. Unfortunately, that idea does not scale well enough.

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

I think it's important to support breeders who are following a standard, and if you don't like the standard for the Yorkshire Terrier than I think you should find a dog breed where you like the standard.

Like most other average people, I don't know the standard for Yorkies. I'd like to think that is the breeder's job to understand and sell me on when I choose to buy from them.

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

You feel like it's more about picking the puppy that you like the way it looks

That is important to me. I also feel that it's very important to buy a healthy puppy from a reputable breeder/seller.

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

but if you have ever had a dog that died early due to genetic illness, you might feel differently.

That happened to me 3 weeks ago. My 3-month-old Yorkie had a liver shunt, went into a coma, and I had to put him to sleep.

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

I wanted a healthy puppy, one who had every chance to go through life without any genetic problems, so finding a breeder who knew her line did health testing, and kept in touch with past clients was important to me. She championed dogs before breeding and so she was breeding to an acceptable standard, and that important to me

I think this is very important to everyone -- even if it's more indirectly for some. The problem is that there isn't a place where you can go and be guaranteed to only find sellers who are doing these things.

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

I feel like it’s more important to really support a great breeder than it is to get the cutest dog on the block.

I can appreciate that. However, you are not going to buy the ugliest dog on the block just because it came from the best breeder.

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

it's really probably easier to find a great breeder if you choose a breed that not a bit popular.

And with the power of the Internet, that statement blows my mind. Puppy mills have no trouble helping people find them, so it's not impossible for reputable breeders/sellers to do the same.

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

The only breeders you will find are those that truly love the breed and are only breeding for the right reason, and that's never to produce "pets"

I'm not sure what this means. Yorkies are not "pets"? So, do you recommend that I go buy a "pet" from a puppy mill instead?