I believe if more breeders did sell on spay/neuter contracts you'd have less unwanted dogs in shelter and rescues....if the demand wasn't there there wouldn't be any supply...

You are so on target it is scary! I have mellowed out a lot over the years.

Yes, I agree, I think many people become breeders because the think "why not?" Until I found YT, I didn't realize all the why nots. Purebreds are easier to place, and they usually end up in a rescue and not a shelter, but there are so many other reasons why the average person or dog should not become a breeder.

You have some outstanding looking Yorkies. I am not expert, but even I can see that they are. I agree with you on the spay/neuter

Lol, a mellow Marine, isn't that an oxymoron? :p

I suppose it is Nancy, and my answer now would not be the same if you asked me back in 68-77....My kids now think I am a lot smarter than I was when they were young, especially in their teen years, but my IQ is most likely lower...just a few points!

I suppose I still have the Marine Temperment....sort of like a Yorkie!

How is the weather in AZ? We had a home in Anthem for several years. I would escape out there in the Winter and head back in the Summer. My wife did not get to make it out there, so she "suggested" we sell it. We built it in 02 and sold it in 06, so we made out. The home is for sale again, at over $100,000 less than what we paid for it 8 years ago. No, she will not let me buy it back.

The Chicago area is finally warming up. We actually are in the 70's.

YT is not paying me the big bucks to be boring! Wait, they are not paying me. Darn!

Lol, I love that, Joey's my little Marine!

The weather here has been beautiful, a very mild winter, and things were blooming in January, right now orange blossoms fill the air, and the fragrance is beautiful. Unfortunately my allergies are killing me! Yes, we did get a huge explosion in house prices, Californians started coming here because of moderate prices and reasonable energy costs, and really drove the housing market sky high, but I don't think they could take our summers, big difference. So most of them left, and the housing market fell. The only thing I noticed is my property tax went up, so I didn't really make out in the housing boom.

Thank you on the compliments :) The ones on my website are ones I carefully selected to purchase with the exception of my homebred champion Brooklynn's Harvest Moon aka Harvey. He's my first and only homebred champion but I'm hoping to start up breeding again with Radar when I bring in another female carefully selected to compliment Radar and his pedigree.

I will in the future not let a yorkie leave my house into a pet home without first being spayed or neutered and that means no puppy will leave my house before 6 months of age :)

Donna

My last litter was almost 2 years ago and breed formost for my next show baby for me. So we just do not breed to have puppies to sell. We breed only after great research, studying pedigrees, examining the dogs to make the best match, and know the standard as well as health screenings have been done too.

I have a strict spay/neuter contract since if I sell my pups while they are still puppies - at that young age we just do not know forsure if they would be worthy of being breed. Also you just never know what someone will do years later. Will they make a good choice to breed to the best representation of the breed? You really do have to mentor someone and know them well, so that they know the standard, know quality, and do breed with excellent ethics.

Also if you take a look at the YTCA Code of Conduct #7 - it states that pet puppies will be sold with spay/neuter contract. And any pup under a the age of one and not any experience in the ring is in MHO a pet. Sure you can buy a show prospect at a younger age but you are working with the breeder together hoping the dog will have the qualities. It is a long waiting game, especially with yorkies.

As the others mentioned before - it is more than just putting two dogs together for the purposes of having puppies. It is about protecting the dog.

"Of course if I place a puppy in a pet home, the breeding did contribute to the supply of the pet market but I just don't produce that many pups."

i don't know - it reminds me of saying, "i only threw out one cigarette but, so i didn't really contribute to the littering problem."

this is off topic from the OP, but i saw the mention of how many yorkies were on the petfinder website in need of homes, and if that's the case, what's the point in breeding if the real objective is to prevent unwanted pups?

you see it as your pup is taking the spot of a pup that may be purchased from a pet store or a "backyard breeder" but it could also be seen as your pup is taking the place of a pup who will die in a shelter.

i'm not trying to have an argument - i appreciate all of the honest, mature responses so far, and i'd like to continue the discussion that way.

AGAIN, i personally want a purebred yorkie. the thing that has held me back from buying one so far were my visits to shelters and rescues in search of one. i began looking online at local shelters to see if they had a yorkie and i was heartbroken at the number of animals in need of adoption. i felt like the animals already alive (and about to die) were more important than my selfish desire for a purebred yorkie.

<puts on helmet and gloves>

My shelter has a bumper sticker reading, "Don't breed or buy while animals die."

OTOH, in your cigarette analogy, the ideal amount of litter is zero, while this is not the ideal number of dogs.

By the way, you might be interested in a thread in the articles section, "Is Pet Overpopulation A Myth?", since you seem interested in animal rights.

well, we're getting down to the nitty gritty with semantics now aren't we - lol!

i think you get my point. you know, if one person donates a dollar to the cancer society - it's not a big difference, but if everyone does it then it adds up QUICK! so, while someone doesn't think their contribution makes a difference, it does indeed because there are thousands more who are doing the same.

i read the article - thanks for that. here's a quote:

“The next part is something rescue groups could change. They need to rethink their adoption policies. Some groups make it so tough to adopt that they scare people away.”

i found the agreement i signed for my "pound pup" to be similar to the ones i've seen when looking for a purebred. for example, they must be spayed/neutered. if for any reason and at any time i can't care for the pup - i will return her to where she came from (i will not sell, give away, abandon, etc). if the vet finds a problem - i have a time frame to where i can pay the expenses to fix the problem or request a refund.

i don't see a whole lot of difference there.