Also too, a lot of the dogs that are in shelters are products of people that let their animals run loose without spaying and neutering.

Crossbreeds are not the devil!!!!
 

Just a couple of points:

Actually, they are paying for a crossbreed, which is entirely different than a dog of mixed, unknown ancestry (a mutt). Crossbreeds are the first step to new breeds. Yes, they are unpredictable in phenotype for the first few crossings, but that's going to happen when you're developing a new breed. You have to cull the ones that don't match the standard you want and keep breeding the ones that do.

If you did not get every single one of your animals from an animal shelter, this is a very judgemental, hypocritical statement to make.

You can find purebred dogs in shelters too. That doesn't stop people from buying them.

This is a blanket statement that could be applied to ALL companion animals, not just crossbreed dogs.

The stigma against backyard breeders is absolutely ridiculous to me, to be honest. Most of my dogs have come from backyard breeders because I refuse to pay thousands of dollars for an animal I could potentially get for free. What I am paying for is not the animal, but the physical/mental characteristics of that animal. If I can get the same pet quality characteristics from a BYB that I can from a show breeder, why would I pay hundreds of dollars more? It's impractical.

Again, not mutts. Crossbreeds. You know, the terrible, horrible breeders you're talking about are not always out for the money; some are also the kind of people who originally concocted the Yorkshire Terrier to begin with by mixing Clydesdale, Paisley, Skye, Waterside, and Broken Hair Scotch terriers.

Animal advocates with this kind of attitude turn people off of adopting completely.

That's a pretty hypocritical statement for you to make. Isn't anyone (yourself included... assuming you didn't rescue your Yorkie puppy) who buys a dog, purebred or not, doing this?

OP: This and some of your other responses were insulting and immature. I understand that you're in an idealistic period of your life, but you have a LOT of growing up to do. :animal-pa

- Ex-kennel crew member of a kill shelter, and supporter of the "horrid" practice of crossbreeding :rolleyes:

I'm sorry, but I LOVE ALL DOGS....mutts or not, a dog is a dog & it's not their fault. They all deserve good homes with loving parents.
If I could, I would have more than 1 dog.

I'm glad to see a 15 year old with such passion in trying to change the world. However I think the way you are going about it is all wrong sweetie. Many people on this board have purchased their cross breed from "back yard breeders" and own wonderful loving dogs.

If you want to make a difference, educate people about the downfalls of bad breeding (and this happens with pure breeds & cross breeds), educate people on purchasing from puppymills and pet stores. Yorkietalk is very good at educating the members, many people who didn't know about these poor practices before now do. Go around your community - Hand out flyers, get an article written in your school newspaper, build an educational site. Most importantly - state the facts and don't let your emotions get too involved. If you want people to see your point, you can't offend them.

Currently there is a little issue going on in my city at the university. Pro-life students put up very graphic posters comparing abortion to the numerous horrible offenses throughout history. Including the holocaust. People were obviously very offended and wanted them took down - eventually the issue went from pro-life to freedom of speech - their point was being missed completely. On top of that I heard many people comment on how they were so against what these "pro-lifers" were doing that they didn't want to support their cause.

Same has happened in your thread. You point is being missed because your being offensive to the members here. Get involved, stay positive and keep being passionate about what you believe.

I am very curious to know where her yorkie was purchased at.... If a dog is in need of a new home who cares where it comes from yes the shelters need ppl to adopt but sometimes dogs from these other places that are in bad shape need to be helped out too. My dog is probably from a puppy mill and if I didn't take her and she ended up in a shelter she would be PUT DOWN. So who is the bad person here? I am bad for supporting "puppy mills" or am I a good person for taking responibility and giving life to this animal. I love animals, I wish I had alots of land to have more dogs. We adopted out Boxer 6 years ago from a shelter in Quebec. We drove 9 hours to get her, I can say she is the best dog ever and so smart.

Keely_momma... I understand what you are trying to say and I appreciate it that at your age you are aware of these things. Alot of other teenagers don't have a clue!

I think what you were trying to bring up is that...

*Some people are breeding two breeds without regard to health issues from either breed.

*Some people who are breeding two breeds are not doing it to develop a "new breed" or they would be collaborating with others and documenting their progress and findings. I think there are certain guidelines that they would have to follow and submit in order to ask for a "new breed" to be acknowledged by AKC. This takes time.

*Some people are breeding because they can and not because they are actually trying to accomplish anything to better any breed.

*Some people are allowing their dogs to breed because of a lack of responsibility.

My position is that if people want to start a new breed, like Parti's, that's fine but then they should be doing the work it entails to get the breed "approved". Tracking the history of their lines, DNA testing, and documenting diseases or weaknesses etc. There are some members on here doing just that. :thumbup: Keep up the good work ladies!

I believe all dogs are a mixture of several breeds - but most of that happened along time ago and we have learned about over population and congenital diseases since then.

I don't agree with any person breeding just to be breeding when there are so many other dogs available. That goes for purebreds and mix-breeds!

This is a young girl who has some passion - that's a good thing! Alot of teenagers don't care about anything but themselves. She was upset - she said she was - you knew it was going to be a rant - and if you didn't want to get involved or "hear it" why did you even come in here to read it? :confused: Telling her to grow up was uncalled for.


Kudos to JenniferLeigh for being calm and trying to tell her how to go about expressing her passion.


While I love ALL animals and have no problem with mix-breeds... I am tired of hearing how some are offended by comments made about their mix-breed. Well, I am offended by the people who are coming on here promoting "designer breeds". After all, I joined a Yorkie forum! :D

Did you read all of the posts???
Her saying some of the things she did was "uncalled for" I dont care how passionate or old she is, she said some way harsher stuff then "grow up" to some of the other posters. She NEW what she wrote was going to cause trouble. IMO.. she does need to grow up and think twice before she decides to go on another "rant" :thumbdown

Quote:

My position is that if people want to start a new breed, like Parti's, that's fine but then they should be doing the work it entails to get the breed "approved". Tracking the history of their lines, DNA testing, and documenting diseases or weaknesses etc. There are some members on here doing just that. :thumbup: Keep up the good work ladies!

I agree. Breeding to a new standard without eugenics work is irresponsible. My point is just that not all people who crossbreed dogs are "designer dog" pushers, and they tend to get shoved into this category by overly zealous "old breed" advocates, which hurts their cause significantly. That's not fair.

Quote:

I believe all dogs are a mixture of several breeds - but most of that happened along time ago and we have learned about over population and congenital diseases since then.

Yorkshire terriers are only a little over a hundred years old. At what point are we forced to say, okay, that's enough new breeds? Animal breeds are constantly evolving to fall in line with the new phenotypes that people want out of them. Who has the authority to say that new breeds cannot be developed at this point in history? The same overpopulation issues and congenital diseases occur in the purebreeds we already have, so what's the difference?

The Paisley terrier has been bred out, as has the Clydesdale terrier. Who knows, maybe the Yorkshire terrier will eventually become an extinct "heritage breed" a few centuries down the line. You never know.

Quote:

This is a young girl who has some passion - that's a good thing! Alot of teenagers don't care about anything but themselves.

Passion is only a useful emotion when it's tempered by tolerance and maturity. Otherwise it becomes a self-righteous diatribe.

Quote:

She was upset - she said she was - you knew it was going to be a rant - and if you didn't want to get involved or "hear it" why did you even come in here to read it? :confused:

Because being upset doesn't give you the right to insult people, and 15 years old is a great age to learn that. I applaud her for apologizing, and I understand she's very emotional about the issue, but being emotional doesn't help if you're trying to actually inform people.

Maybe I'm just the devil's advocate, but I believe the only way to approach a controversial subject rationally is to understand both sides of the issue.

Quote:

Telling her to grow up was uncalled for.

I didn't tell her to grow up, I said she had a lot of growing up to do. Which is true if she goes around telling well-meaning strangers that she will think of them every time she watches a dog die. :rolleyes: What's next? Throwing paint on people dressed in fur on the street? It's a slippery slope...nobody respects activism like that, and certainly nobody's mind was ever really changed by it.

In any case, it was not meant as an insult, and if it was taken as such I apologize.

Quote:

While I love ALL animals and have no problem with mix-breeds... I am tired of hearing how some are offended by comments made about their mix-breed. Well, I am offended by the people who are coming on here promoting "designer breeds". After all, I joined a Yorkie forum! :D

I'm not offended at all. I just think ranting about the faceless Evil Monster Puppy Miller(tm) is counter-productive. Yes, they exist. But breeding ethics is not a black and white affair by any stretch of the imagination. It's a complex issue that should be approached as such.

Opinions about stuff like ethics, religion, and politics are like farts. Everyone indulges and all of them stink except your own. :D

My bottom line: If you're going to have an enemy, at least know them. That's the only way to win a battle, philosophical or otherwise...

I agree with you. It seems bad breeding practices are encouraged on here anymore:thumbdown I have even seen people stick up for puppy millers on here.

I must be a horrible person then. Missy is from a homebreeder, and I am actually quite happy about that fact. And, I love the idea of crossbreeding. I don't see it any different from mixing races in humans. Alot of beautiful puppies are a result of crossbreeding. My last dog was a crossbreed. She lived 17 wonderful, healthy, happy years...and was the most intelligent dog that my family and friends have ever known. My purebred pug on the other hand, has had nothing but health problems. I'll be lucky if she makes it to 8 yrs old.

HELLO!! NO ONE HERE IS ENCOURAGING BAD BREEDING PRACTICES.. PUPPYMILLERS OR BYB'S. THE ONES THAT POSTED ON HERE ARE UPSET BECAUSE WE ARE TIRED OF SOME PEOPLE ALWAYS BASHING THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO BUY MIXED BRED DOGS AND WE ARE TIRED OF DEFENDING OURSELVES AND OUR PETS.
APPARENTLY YOU ARE ANOTHER ONE THAT BELEIVES ONLY MIXES END UP IN SHELTERS AND THAT YOUR DOG DIDNT COME FROM A BREEDER THAT DIDNT BREED FOR THE MONEY BUT TO SO CALL "BETTER THE BREED". :rolleyes:

Im beyond done with this converstation cause as usaul its going nowhere but in circles.. you die hard yorkie fans are always going to think that mixes are bad and only mixes come from bad breeders.. :thumbdown

Happy Holidays everyone..

Terri and her wonderful little YORKIPOO :animal36

I wasnt saying on this thread Ive just noticed that to be the case on this forum. I dont have any problem s with someone who wants to own a morkie, yorkiepoo or whatever. I have a problem with the breeders that are breeding designer breeds when there are already so many mixes in shelters. And on another post I even said I feel quilty owning pure breds when there are so many dogs in shelters. I dont think any good purpose is served with people splitting hairs over this thread. Many times Keelysmom said her rant was with the breeders yet this turned into like this was about people who owned mixed breeds

*Very* few people in this thread implied that mixes are "bad", I think that is a great misunderstanding.

Everyone here at YT seems to welcome all "mutts" - human and furry :)! If there are a few who don't, well, I guess to each their own.

Like Chachi said, this thread should not target or belittle anyone who owns a mixed breed - I don't think that was the intention of the majority here. However, I think we all can agree that bad breeders are something we'd all like to put an end to - whether they breed mixes or purebreads, period.

I'm closing this thread, friends. :)