Oh man Topknot - that is so sad and I believe the dogs DO understand what we say.....poor babies. I just hate thinking of how many are put to sleep every day and how many wallow in cages waiting for someone to choose them.

i have a yorkie-poo and just love her to death. i also love the puggles...i have seen three and they are just adorable and each one of them so loving.
i dont believe in the high prices b/c they are not purebreds.

Some of them are really cute, but I cannot seem to understand paying $500+ for a mutt.

As for calling them "Designer" it's just to jack up the price on them, and is a way to get people to buy small dogs as a fashion accessory instead of the real reasons to buy a dog.

What beautiful blue eyes!!!

just wanted to let you know that not all doodles are shedless. i've seen many that have curly hair like poodles, but shed like labs. some have wirey hair that sheds too and some have lab hair. so if your really going for that shedless thing study the coat hard before you buy it, but remember there is no garuntee that its not going to shed

Oh my! :eek: I haven't done much research yet on the breed. Thanks so much for the info! It will be a good while before we get one, but I always appreciate any heads-up that I can get! I will definately be aware of that now and be on the lookout. Thanks again! :thumbs up

np, i don't want you to end up with something your allergic to

I think that some mixes are absolutely beautiful. I've owned several in my life. Heck, we have a 15 yr. old mix that I wouldn't trade for anything now! But, as a breeder of Yorkies, my intentions are to better the breed and to carry on good lines. I just can't justify breeding to something else. And who knows, maybe somewhere down the line I will own a yorkie cross from a rescue or something, but I would never intentionally breed a cross.

I think they are just like any other mixed bred dogs, there are sooooo many of them at shelters right now, and just because they call them designers they are supposted to be very expencive, that is just play stupid. I have a mix breed Lab. should I call him disigner too? there are to many dogs out there needing a home for them to be breading more at those gross puppy mils

When I bought Darla I wasnt looking for any breed in specific it just sort of happened that I met the breeder who happened to have puppies ready to go at the moment. I tried to find out if there were any others online who had a mixed breed like Darla and for the first time heard the phrase "Designer Dog" and found that Darla is called a Borkie or a Yochon..(Yorkie/Bichon) I paid $450 for her which I didnt find too unreasonable for her size. I would pay it again and I really love the mix of the two breeds. I was lucky that I got to meet both parents, see health records, check out the home and can talk to the breeder at any time I like...we actually have become quite close...I guess you have to be careful but you have to be careful with anyone you buy a dog from:)

Dawn

I don't know who started the term designer breed, but the truth of the matter is that yorkie/maltese mixes (morkies/yorktese, whichever you call them) are in high demand in the area I live in. People are actually on waiting lists for them.

Now my Autumn is a purebred Yorkie, but when I tried to breed her to a yorkie I had problems finding a stud because the breeder we purchased her from wouldn't paper her. No one with a papered yorkie wants to breed with a non papared yorkie. The one person who WAS willing to stud his male out we turned down because his dog was blind in one eye. I wasn't gaurunteed the health of the pups. Also I didn't want a male larger than my Autumn. I was concerned that would cause pups to large for her to deliver. So we decided to go with my FIL's maltese as he was the same size as Autumn and we know his health records and vet background.

How much would I sell them for? I honestly have no clue. They are going for upwards of $750 or more in several of the larger cities North of us and I think that is ridiculous. I paid $400 for Autumn. If I had had a small male yorkie to pair her with I probably wouldn't have done the mix.

The truth of the matter is, no matter how much people disagree with it, people are going to sell their dogs for however much people are willing to pay for them. The fact that there is a waiting list tells me that these so called "designer breeds" could be sold for MUCH more. The law of supply and demand will always win...that is why it is called a law. There is just no way around it.

Willow, if $750 was the going rate for a mixed breed in my area, I'm not gonna lie...I would be selling my puppies for $750. Why not when someone who can provide it a great home is willing to pay that?

I guess because I feel like it is so greedy.

Willow~
 

Just a simple question: What was your motivation for deciding to breed your dog to a Malteese rather than a Yorkie? You seem very convinced that breeding was what was right for you due to your determination to persevere and find a suitable stud...what was your reasoning for doing so?

We decided to go with my FIL's maltese as he was about the same size as Autumn and we know his health records and vet background. (I just found out yesterday that he is actually half a pound larger than Autumn.) And we had a hard time finding a stud yorkie that was comparable in size and healthy. The maltese is my father in law's, lives right next door, and was a proven stud.

Gotcha, having a proven stud is always a plus, especially with you actually knowing the owner.
But, what I meant was, what made you decide to breed her in the first place? Not just what made you decide on the stud. What was your reasoning for wanting to breed her instead of having her as a pet only.

Oh ok. Well originally I wanted to become a breeder for the yorkies. I wanted show dogs originally. I had several people talk me out of it because they said show dogs and breeding show dogs was costly to get into. I got Autumn but she wasn't papered so I knew I wouldn't be able to breed her for show dogs or AKC. We did make the decision to breed her though just to give her the chance to be a mommy before spaying her. I know many people do not feel that is a good enough reason, and I understand that.

I understand...thanks! I was just wondering. Yes, breeding show dogs is costly from what I have come to know. Course, I don't show and it's costly to me too, so...no escaping that I guess.:rolleyes:

I also like some of the mixed breeds I would like a yorkie s**tzu mix I think they are cute but I to would only pay 200.00 for one. And I think I would breed my yorkie with a s**tzu for the pick of the litter.

When we got Piper, both her parents were registered. The breeder showed that her mother was a full bred Yorkie & her father was a full bred Maltese. I always thought a mutt was a dog that was from unbreedable parents. So if the parents are full bred dogs with papers, what are the off spring? My opinion they are mixed with no papers from full bred dogs. I don't consider her to be a hybred, but I guess that what they are calling them.

I would still call them mutts. Theres nothing wrong w/ that term, to me atleast. A lot of people think of them as mixed dogs that you can't tell all the breeds, or dogs from shelters. Everyone has different meanings for the word. As for the parents having papers and being purebreed, the puppy is still a mix. Hybrid is just a term for someone or something that is half and half, like the cars. In my area sometimes to describe a person that is mixed people will say hybrid.

Back when I owned mixed breeds, they weren't called designer dogs, they were called mutts. And most were free.

Using the term designer dogs is just a clever marketing tactic to make it look like they are something special.

I guess if someone is foolish enough to spend an arm and a leg for a mixed breed dog then they have more dollars than sense.

You know the sayings.

There's a fool born every minute, or a fool and his money are soon parted.

I agree, but if they have the money then it's their money. Atleast that's how I am with what I spend my money on, yeah I spend a lot on certain stuff than I don't have to, but I just want too.

I think that designer breeds term sounds something like how parents will pick out the color of their babies hair, eyes, etc. I know it's not the same, but it reminds me of that concept. I think they should be called "mutts" its soo much cuter!

Resulting offspring of two registered purebreds of different breeds are still mutts and I will add that the breeder that bred two different breeds of registered dogs are doing a grave disservice to purebreds.
This is why any puppies I sell are sold under spay/neuter contracts and more often I am holding puppies and have my Vet do the spay neuter before they are placed.
I am not showing my dogs in shows for their championships and striving for the best I can for the Yorkie breed standard to have someone come along and breed a pup from me to a totally different breed to produce a mutt.

I completely agree with this.:thumbup:

I think a yorkie was a mix at one time. I found this interesting.

.

Yes, it was and this was done before most dogs were registered in England or in the USA. However, it was bred for a purpose and not to be sold as designer dogs for big bucks. Peasants were not allowed to have large dogs, that right was reserved for the noble and rich. Yorkies were bred by the poor working class for ratting and hunting of small vermin.

Mary:animal-pa

that's where designer dog breeders and mixed dog breeders are misleading you.
Yes many of our purebreds of today were derived from breeders or more acurately, a group of fanciers for that certain type bred certain breeds of dogs to create the breed along with the traits that they were looking for. As a quick example the sporting dogs have their breeds of pointers, retrievers etc, herding dogs have their breeds for herding purposes etc.
The Yorkie was and still is in every way a terrier but through selecting breeding stock many of those traits have changed including size, they are smaller than those first created in the late 1800's, early 1900's.
So, what is the difference and why is not a Yorkie poo for example not accepted as a new breed? Because the work hasn't gone into it as a breed within itself and it has not been standardized.
For Yorkies to be the breed we have today and indeed for them to be recognized as a purebred took many many generations of breeding what they created as the Yorkshire Terrier, including keeping breeding records and producing a breed, in this case a Yorkshire Terrier, that will breed true and not end up looking like something else as is the case of crossbreds that are just crosses of two dogs of either purebred or mixed breed status.
They Yorkie poo you see can look like anything from a Yorkie to a poodle and everything in between including size and colour variations that can be anywhere from 4 lbs to 20lbs and can look like a Yorkie in colour or any of the poodle colours and derivations. You breed a yorkie poo to a yorkie poo and you won't be assured of getting anything that will look like either parent.
Yes within any purebred you can get some size differences as undersized or oversized, colour not quite right that may have thrown back to its origination or is the result of a genetic recessive gene and other reasons.
Or course, what you also get in a Yorkie pup will reflect somewhat back to its pedigree and parents as to how good the quality of the Yorkies that contributed their traits and genes to that pup. You breed poor quality Yorkies and guess what you aren't going to get a show dog and indeed it could even look like a small breed mix although certainly is a purebred.

I definitely agree, . I know that there are some "standards" circulating for designer dogs now, but anybody can make up standards, including Joe Blow in his basement. These designer dogs aren't going for AKC recognition, they're just being bred, given a fancy name, and that's it.

I love mutts, I'm owned by two of them. However, with all of the dogs sitting shelters out there today, with the 9.6 MILLION dogs and cats euthanized every year in the United States alone because they don't have a home (according to the American Humane), with as many as 64% of animals entering shelters being euthanized, I don't think that anybody should be breeding mutts (and that's what they are, plain ol' mutts). Then again, I don't think that people should be breeding any sort of dog that hasn't proven itself to be a fantastic example of its breed and has many titles. In my opinion, any dog who's bred should be titled, health checked, and the puppies should come with a contract stating that they MUST be returned to the owner if the purchaser is unable to keep the puppy for any reason. Breeders have to start taking responsibility for the puppies they produce, but unfortunately, far too many are solely interested in the money, or having their kids "witness the miracle of birth", or letting their dog have "just one litter".

I'm owned by a wonderful Maltese/Yorkshire Terrier X ("Morkie"? I call her by what she really is...my mutt, my Maltese/Yorkshire Terrier X, my angel). She's my beautiful little rescue dog. She was originally given some fancy name and some complete moron who obviously knew nothing bought her. After this idiot abused her, after she was attacked, after she lost an eye, after she barely made it past her 7-month birthday, she was finally safe in my arms thanks to a wonderful rescue.

These rescues work day in and day out working because of people's mistakes. They're working because somebody couldn't bother to spay or neuter their animal or become educated on the problem of pet overpopulation. This is what "just one litter" or "I want a puppy just like my dog" does. My foster "Yorkie-poo" lived a terrible life and died in June because some moron couldn't be bothered to include an contract and follow up the puppies he brought into this world. These countless dogs are suffering due to no fault of their own because of mistakes humans make.

I have no doubt in my mind that a lot of the people out there breeding their dogs care about them. I also know that a lot of people say that they're not looking for a show dog, just a pet. I'm not looking for a show dog either, which is why I rescue. There are also always pet quality puppies from every litter from a reputable breeder. With all of these caring people out there, it's my dream that they'd spay/neuter their animals and share that love with a dog who would be euthanized otherwise.

Of course, this is just a dream. Without people being fully aware of the problem and willing to make a difference, there will be more Yorkidoodledoos and Pikichuachuas and these rescues will continue to work around the clock, trying to help these animals, these innocent victims of other people's mistakes.

Wow, great post! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: