[Yorkiemom1]

First thing you must do is know enough about the breed and what is considered strong genetic building blocks. You will need every minute of that 4 years time line you have set for yourself. The best thing you can do at this stage, is start hanging out at every dog show you have access to, and you will have to travel to do this!....GOOD sanctioned dog shows through AKC, not little pet things at local parks and fun runs.....as you get acquainted with established, reputable breeders of yorkies, you will learn tons of information from them....but be advised, these people dont cater to "breeders" because 98% of the people that want to get into breeding, are actually looking for a way to make money, and this is NOT a money making venture. You will need a substantial deep pocket, in order to finance your travel to reputable dog shows to meet the true professionals that are involved in breeding the best yorkies....you need a substantial amount of money to purchase excellent show quality breeding stock....your building blocks for a breeding program need to be strong, strong, winning, reputable breeding stock, and you must know exactly what that means....you are going to have to have an efficient, complete working knowledge of at least a minimum of 12 generations of pedigrees behind every dog you put into your breeding program. Every educated breeder knows who we can mix and who we cant, what line are stunningly gorgeous standing alone, or when mixed with specific pedigrees, and which lines absolutely DO NOT MIX and will essentially produce genetic disasters. I well remember seeing a picture of a lady that was at this stage of her education, and she had pedigrees going back at least 15 generations, taped together and spread out covering her entire floor in her dining room! THAT is the kind of research I am talking about! I just wish I could remember who that lady was.....she deserved to be remembered because of the time and dedicated effort she was investing into her breeding program! Shame on me for loosing those brain cells that stored that information!!!

Start collecting reputable, well written, informative, educated breeding pedigrees/breeding books on Yorkies.... I love "The Book of the Yorkshire Terrier, by Joan Mcdonald Brearley.....this is like one of my bibles of the Yorkie....I have the binding of this book, taped in some places because the pages are coming loose from continuous referral....this book will educate you on the building blocks of this wonderful breed....you must know where you have been, in order to know where you must go and how to get there!

I would advise spending a year and a half, reading every single REPUTABLE book you can get your hands on, that covers this breed, where it started and with whom, where it has been, where we are now, and where it is going....past, and current well known, established show breeders....their pedigree choices, why they have selected the dogs they have selected to pattern their breeding program after.....you will begin to see what lines mix and what lines you just dont mix.....

You need to then start hitting dog shows and mingling with reputable show breeders....you will have learned enough information over the previous 18 months from reading/studying pedigrees and lines and breeders, that you can "talk the talk" with these people, who absolutely do NOT want to waste time with back yard breeders or people that think breeding yorkies is a meal ticket to fame and fortune.....ONCE they get to know you and know what YOUR motivations are, they will be more open to talking and sharing with you. Hopefully, one of these breeder/showers will get to know you and your true intentions, and this will open up the opportunity for you to either purchase a retiring winning show dog or at least the chance to go in with a reputable breeder on a wonderful winning show dog....this is the building blocks you need for your own breeding program.

Good luck, God speed, and start cracking books!!!