Sorry, just got caught up on this old thread... didn't realize it had come to life again.
I just wanted to say that my husband and I personally visited Betty 2 years ago with the intention of buying a little girl she had. We saw her ad in the Houston Chronicle. This was to be my first Yorkie and although I didn't know much about them, what I saw at Betty's place made me want to run away fast. Out in the yard were a LOT of Yorkies - all cut down short - and on the covered porch of her trailer house was a whole bunch more. There were some separate ones in cages too that she called her "teens" and they were for sale also. These dogs looked nothing like any Yorkies in the magazines and books I'd been looking at. They were quite grungy looking. She also had a play pen inside that was really stinky where I guess she kept the puppies at times. I only looked at and held the one girl puppy she had (I think it was about 8 weeks old) and what I saw in her eyes made me really sad. I had to take my husband outside to talk to him and I told him that what I really wanted to do was get this puppy out of this situation but that I was afraid it would be a big mistake. The puppy was stinky and oily and just overall sad-looking.
When I told Betty that we had one other puppy to go look at and then we'd decide, of course she tried the "well, it may not be here when you come back" speech but I just couldn't take that puppy without comparing it to the other we wanted to see. We then drove all the way to the other breeder's house - all the way wondering if we were giving up a good puppy. When we pulled up to the other breeder's house, we both just looked at each other and smiled. My husband said "let's tell her we'll take all three she has!". That was just our first impression. SO completely different than our impression (first and last) of Betty and her and her dog's surroundings. Tatum's breeder was so helpful - patiently answering all of our questions and giving us lots of space and time to pick our puppy. At the same time, she had a Cavalier King Spaniel (is that right?) in labor and we even went to peek at the mom and marvel at the whole birthing process. We left there with Tatum knowing that we had definitely made the right decision.
After we left, we stopped into a Petsmart to grab a couple things and the first person we ran into asked if I was holding a Yorkie. When she asked who we got her from, she told me that she and her sister also had Yorkies from this breeder. She said unfortunately, one of her sister's had a bad seizure and died shortly after getting her but that this breeder had replaced it with another and neither of them have had any further problems. That kinda scared me to tell you the truth. I had to have faith that this was not a common problem for her litters. We are fortunate to have had Tatum now for two years this month and I have never had a healthier dog. She is about 5 lbs. and very proportionate. She has the sweetest personality and is so well behaved.
I do not out-right advertise our breeder's names unless personally asked because in all honesty, not knowing what I know NOW about this breed and about unethical breeders, I probably did not ask her all the right questions and check everything out sufficiently. I knew to ask to see the parents and she did bring them to the house to show me. She had a separate building (like a small barn-type building) next to the house that she had her dogs in. I honestly do not know how many breeding moms she has. I'm satisfied that what we received from her is exactly what we wanted and I hope that she continues to provide such healthy pups.
Sorry for the novel-length post but I wanted to share my experience with Betty so that it's not just Villette's opinions here. V, Chanel is just precious and has turned out to be a lovely girl despite the scary times you started out with. You were definitely lucky.
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~ Angie |