[Nancy1999]

I had a Cairn Terrier when my sons were young that developed a genetic disease and when my vet looked at me with a tear in his eye and said “damn backyard breeders” it was a life changing moment. It was devastating watching my sons see our little dog deteriorate, and at the time there was no treatment for his condition. Over the years I had several pound dogs that were relatively healthy, but it wasn’t until Yorkietalk, I learned that there were breeders who not only didn’t breed for the money, they actually cared about the future of the breed and did what was necessary to increase the chances of having healthy offspring. I found a great breeder and Joey has been very healthy besides and vomiting scare which could have been a spider bite, and an eye ulceration. The problem is that Yorkies are extremely popular, and so many people think it’s an easy way to make money, so they breed animals who haven’t even been health checked, and keep on passing genetic diseases down the line. In the case of my Cairn Terrier, it was a brother sister mating and the breeder assured me that’s very common in the dog world. It may be common, but it’s inbreeding, not line breeding, and very bad for offspring. Sorry about the lecture, I feel so strongly about this, the financial cost of a sick dog is one thing, the emotional costs will bankrupt you!