Ever say that? "If only I'd known then what I know now..."
My wife always wanted Yorkies, so finally, the kids are grown and gone, I'm retired (but still young:-) and so we thought "Now the time is right" our lives have finally settled to the point that we could not only get a Yorkie or two, but train them, spend time with them, and give them the love and attention they SO deserve...
Grant it, we knew nothing of "Backyard Breeders" and all that title entails...
So, we happen across this lady who sells Yorkies and she brought us the cutest little girl, our lovely Bella. As 6 months or so passed, Bella developed wonderfully, and looked beautiful, and we fell head over heels in love with her, and her with us! As she started showing signs of liver disease, (bouts with hepatic encephalopathy, picky eating, etc.) We started spending tons of money at our local vet trying to figure it all out. When he told us he believes she either has a shunt, or MVD, we began our research... We changed her to a low protein diet, added d-manose, and a good probiotic and digestive enzyme, and milk thistle, and a little lactulose, we had her back to normal, symptom free, and her blood work even comes back perfect every 3 months. We still didn't realize that it could have come from poor breeding, or be a genetic thing. So what did we do? We bought little Jaxon a year after Bella was born from the same lady! (This lady advertises her pups are akc, but she tells you she forgot the papers, and she will send them to you after you buy the pup. They are NOT checked by a vet nor do they have their first shots or worming, their tails are way too short, and they still have their dew claws. Plus, she brings the pups to you, never with the parents, and lies about where she lives. She preys on the UNEDUCATED Yorkie buyer!) Jax was tiny. Never grew past 3 lbs, but never showed any health issues other than I thought his coat was a bit dull and wasn't growing well, (even with top notch food and supplements) We lost him as I posted earlier... If I'd only known then what I know now!
Well, what do we know now?
We recently visited an AKC breeder a couple hours north of us. They come highly recommended, and actually provide an AKC folder with a full registration packet. Their pups com DNA certified, and they have a copy of the sire and dams pedigree for you to look at, which in this case shows DNA certifications by the AKC on about half of the ancestors), and they give you a full health disclosure (make the parents medical records available for you to see.) They have the puppies dew claws removed and the tail docked to the correct length by a vet. They have their shots up to date, and their worming is done. The parents (and the rest of the litter
is on site (at their home) and they give you a guarantee, and all this for LESS money than we gave for Bella or Jax!
We have talked to a member of the YTCA that lives near us, and has bred show Yorkies for 35 years. (She happens to live near us, and has recently retired from her breeding program, but has been nothing short of a mentor to my wife and me. According to her advise, we spoke to and visited a few Yorkie breeders, and asked TONS of questions...
We decided to not give up because of a very bad beginning in the world of Yorkies, and I brought Bella and my wife a present.
I am proud to introduce the newest member of our family, Riley! I brought him home last week, at 12 weeks old, and he is a fully registered, Beautiful Yorkshire Terrier! He weighs 3 lbs, and is lively, happy to be at his new home, and is helping us all heal our broken hearts.
I guess I am sharing all this so that in the future, anyone looking to buy a Yorkie puppy might not make the "rookie mistakes" we made in our first babies...
Don't let cuteness alone and a smooth talking "breeder" sell you! EDUCATE YOURSELF on the breed standard, look up terms like "Backyard Breeding" and really spend quality time researching every move you make before you buy a new baby.
For anyone who has taken the time to read all this, thank you, and God Bless. I haven't posted in a while, but it takes a little time to gather my thoughts after a heartbreak like losing my lil Jaxon.
As for Riley, well, here is the little guy :-)
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