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Originally Posted by Erin It's reassuring to hear that not all breeders feel this is a non-issue. I truly feel like it could impact his quality of life. The vet told me it is not painful, but it does effect him. Again I feel like it is my fault for not looking into this, but I did so much research before buying him and so many people even on this board raved about his lines that I thought I did enough! My trainer said usually the only way people learn is to do it wrong the first time.
As far as his parents, I don't see why I can't list that info? It's on his papers. Molly Malone and Supreme Kort. Neither of them have Ch's although there are a lot listed on here. I have his pedigree back 4 generations. Also, he has the same great grandfather listed on each side, Mischief Maker and he has a Ch.
She just asked what grade it was. The vet said it is at a 2 now but as he gets older it could get worse, or not. But the vet said he can't do agility I assume because he could get hurt. Vet & trainer (a breeder herself of another breed) said it IS genetic and not caused by injury or jumping. I asked if I should restrict his activity and both said no. It will not heal. He likes to run and jump like all Yorkies. That just wouldn't be fair to him.
Anyway, once I said it was a grade 2 Susan just said that grade 1 and 2 are "no big deal" and that they (breeders?) don't worry about it until it's at a 3 or a 4. She said surgery is not done until 4, although according to the information the vet gave me, grade 3 means once it pops out it will not pop back in by itself, which I think is very serious for such an active dog. I asked if she wanted the names of his parents so she could test them (OFA) and she said no one OFA's Yorkies and that she'd take the parents names but she hasn't had other issues. Maybe that's true, I know there are throwbacks and recessive genes and other things, I've had advanced biology :-) Maybe no one has called back to tell her, I don't know. I'll never know. But I do wish I knew was OFA was a year ago!
No matter what I would never give him up or give him back, I just feel like I did the research and we're having to deal with issues we should not have. He's still my awesome little kid, but I could do without the growling/agression. We're working on that and we have the best trainer I could ever ask for so while I think he will always have agression issues I'm confident we can manage them, but only because we take the time to train him every day and send him to the trainer's often for daycare (aka bootcamp). I just worry what would have happened if he got placed in a home with someone who did not do these things. I know a LOT of people do not formally train their dogs. He'd be seriously running the show and that would be very bad. My parents aren't strict with him and he walks all over them. He growls and barks at my husband when he comes in the room, even though he does 75% of Loki's training and they are together all day without issues, until Loki throws a temper trantrum for no reason. We meet big dogs and he barks in their faces and the other person corrects their dog and apologizes and won't believe me when I explain my tiny dog is a total bully. Where does the aggression come from? He is *very* well exercised and has been immersed in obedience (and socialization) from the very beginning. Can it be genetics? I'm probably overthinking it. Sorry for going on, I'm just trying to sort all of this out and learn something from it. Hopefully by learning why he is like this I can do more to solve the problem.
Thanks for asking about him, I really appreciate it. |
Hi, Erin.
I really feel bad about Loki. His great grandsire, CH. Mischief Maker, is my Kia's sire. (Smooth As Silk is her Dam.)
It concerns me that Susan wasn't concerned when you told her that your vet said the L.P. is genetic.
I will tell you one thing; Kia has a bad over-bite. I did drop Susan a note in the mail about it. (Like you, I thought she might want to know about genetic issues. I wasn't expecting her to do anyhting for me, because I knew bites were not guaranteed. And I wouldn't have given Kia up for anything in the world! Because other than the bite, she's perfect!)
Did you tell Susan that the co-breeder is on StewiesMoms USDA breeders list? Who is the co-breeder?
I wonder why a breeder of her caliber would breed two dogs that neither is a champion. And no champions until that far back.
Reading your description of Loki's personality helps me understand why my Kia is such a barker. She's not agressive though, just "bossy". (Guess she figures someone has to tell me what to do and when to do it.)
Sheila