[SoCalyorkiLvr]

Hi and welcome to Yorkie Talk! Glad you found us. You sound like a well versed dog lover. I used to have shepherds as a kid. Love them!! What you do for your local dog club is commendable too! Way to go!!

First, to put in my 2 cents with respect to the "generalization" that "all pet stores" are inherently bad...that's like saying all men cheat on their wives. I hope I do not offend anyone with this analogy, but it is a good one in my opinion. Maybe "most, some, or a majority" of men cheat on their wives according to the statisitics, but we do not condemn marriage as a result and say, "Don't marry men!!" Not EVERY pet store in the world buys their puppies from puppymills and it is a generalization and not true to say so. It is fine to want to close down and put puppymills and disreputable breeders out of business, and I am in no way defending these establishments and individuals because I think they need to be stopped, but we lose our credibility when we generalize like this.

Okay, that said...on to coats and yorkie hair texture. There are definitely different coat textures in adult yorkies and puppy yorkies. There is what they call a "cotton" coat which is not as silky and sometimes wavy and mats more easily than a silky coat. The breed standard is a silky coat as an adult, much like human hair which doesn't tangle or mat easily. Maybe some breeders and more experienced owners can elaborate further.

Hope you become an active member here. I think we could learn a lot from you! Welcome again!