Thank you for the help Gemy and Yorkiemom! I hadn't even considered joining a local breeding group that is AKC affiliated (for all breeds) as luck would have it there appears to be a group here in Waco, that is great news. I have looked on AKC's website and see a toy breed competition event in August, in San Antonio (a few hours away) I will be attending for sure.
As far as motivation is concerned, my story goes back quite a bit, (feel free to skip this long sappy story if uninterested haha) 2 years after my father passed away my mother surprised me with the most beautiful puppy I had ever seen! (I had been very depressed, as you can imagine) and had been watching the Westminster dog show a few months back when I was completely lovestruck with the Yorkshire Terrier. I was 14 and loved my Sebastian to bits, he was AKC registered and when we received his pedigree I was inspired by the special gift of knowing my boys lineage (I am quite the history buff as well) fast forward 10 amazing years with my boy. He was STOLEN from me by my condominiums maintenance crew, who were there to repair a faulty ac unit while I was at work (never has trusting another human broken my heart this badly) I put up every dime I had to retrieve him ($1500!) Slept with my door open for days, so dangerous! Of course to no avail, I never saw my baby again. I still cry sometimes about him. When my husband and I met he purchased me the sweetest fuzzy baby, Ziggy, he was AMAZING with everyone, the biggest heart ever. At only 4 years old he was also stolen from me in a different way (by an irresponsible neighbor and their rotmix) poor Zig was so brave, he ran to protect us from this loose and aggressive dog on our property and paid with his sweet life. Because of my love of THESE 2 dogs I have spent countless hours reading about the breed (I'm a bit of a bookworm hah) the standard, what judges look for in competition etc. LONG PART OVER LOL
fast forward yet again, I decided it was time to bring another yorkie baby home, though my last two boys were both AKC registered (and beautiful!) I recognize their faults from the standard & wanted to find a companion that was closer to the ideal. WOW this was harder than I anticipated! I was ASTOUNDED to see obviously mixed breed dogs being sold (even some papered) as PUREBRED Yorkshire Terriers many of the "breeders" I spoke with had parents over or under standard (and let's be honest, pretty ugly builds :/ almost 90% of the puppies & parents I looked at online or via email from the breeder had very obvious faults, ranging from coat colors to ear sizes/shapes, to build (lanky legs, long noses, etc.) many of the breeders I contacted that seemed reputable had litters born to very tiny Dams & it seemed many of those tinier babies had teeth, overbite issues. I personally hope to breed Yorkshire Terriers that are as close to perfect in standard as possible because I see SO FEW that are. I hope to educate more potential new puppy owners and people in general WHAT a Purebred Yorkshire Terrier is supposed to look like.
As experienced breeders I completely understand this is not new information for either of you, and hope you're not bored to death! I just wanted to Answer Gemy. |