[DBlain]

Originally Posted by KentuckyWoman

Thank you all so much! Last night I found the Yorkshire Terrier Club of America and contacted Kathleen Hackworth here in KY. (I had already contacted the other two.) She does have puppies available, but is holding on to two girls to see if she will be able to show them. She has 3 male champions and a male puppy she is keeping to show. I'm still waiting for her to tell me the price of the puppies, but she lives in driving distance for me to go and see them.

The champion bloodline is really nice, doesn't mean a whole lot to me because I want a pet. BUT... I want a healthy pet for the next 15 years or so.

Backstory: I lived in Alabama and after my mother died I agreed to move away from my home so that my husband could move up in his career. His first move was to the UP in Michigan. I could see the bridge to Canada from my house. We moved 2 kids and 5 dogs with us. Two of my dogs came from the shelter. My first dog was Steinway. She was medium size, beautiful, and happy dog. Long story short... As a puppy she ended up at the vet. He said she was the sickest non parvo puppy he had ever seen. We were lucky she made it through. She was sweet, easy to house train (only one accident ever and that's because she was sick!), and quickly became part of our family.

When we moved to Michigan she picked up blasto. The local vet didn't know what it was, so off the the university where there is a specialist for everything... We were in Michigan for three years and them moved 5 dogs to Texas for another promotion. There Steinway had to have surgery on her leg (we knew her knees were and issue for a while) and was diagnosed with Cushings. We had my beautiful Steinway for 14 years. I used to joke to the vets that Steinway had earned her name because she was so expensive.

Steinway's health issues are what I'm trying to avoid. She was a mut and I thought she would be healthier than a purebred.

In case you are wondering how I ended up with 5 dogs: I next adopted Sadie from the shelter. She looked like a small German Shepherd. About a year later someone dropped a dog that came to our house. He was covered in sticks and stickers, but we brought him in and cleaned him up. This little guy became "The Love of My Life". That's what his nickname was. We named him "Scruffy". He was a Yorkie of some kind. He may have even been full blooded, but he was blonde. He was smart and loving. I swore we wouldn't keep him, but the night he feel asleep in my arms like a baby I was a goner. Scruffy wasn't house trained, so he slept with me. Great excuse, eh? I could go on and on about him, but I think you can see how he stole my heart.

My brother brought Cookie (a chihuahua) and Snow (a little maltese) back from Thailand. He traveled a lot, and they ended up with us.

We lost Sadie in Texas to cancer. We lost Steinway in the last year to complications from her cushings, and Scruffy a month ago. I still have two dogs left who are 12, but life is not the same with the craziness of Scruffy.

sounds like you are on the right track, although I know it is frustrating to not know if she will sell her pups or not, but stay in touch and ask questions and so forth, chances are she will not want to finish off three puppies at the same time. However even if it does not work out with her she can probably help you in your search and be helpful in telling you what to look for