We All go through the learning curve. I remember mine. Sometimes you can get all the advice in the world, but experience is the best lesson. I am still learning and this is after being around yorkies for almost 30 years. Yikes!

Who was it ??- one of the top yorkies, winner of multiple Best In Shows - his breeder almost or did sell him as a pet and later the owner brought him back for a view and the breeder said - let's show him. She sure did not know he would turn out so nice. (I forget the exact story, but went something like this. Does anyone else remember who the dog was?)

Yep, Dee 12 weeks is way too early to tell. We have hopes at this age, but so much can go wrong. I am still looking at yorkies at even 1 to 1.5 years and still hoping and keeping fingers crossed. Yorkies are one of the hardest breeds to predict. I am getting pretty good at this, but it is more less a feeling and not so much anything else. I have one female I will be holding on to because of her pedigree, outgoing personality, and her all together package (gait, looks, structure, etc..). I like everything about her, but her size. She is just one year now and the sire's breeder adviced me to wait till she was 2 years old to see if she could make size. So still hoping and keeping fingers crossed. She is up to just about 4 pounds now. So we are slowly gettting there. :D I just have my doubts, but the sire's breeder knows her line and she is an expert. She says she has had some really surprise her and came through in the end.
T.

I have question for those that show Yorkies
 

I have question for those that show Yorkies. I was talking to a groomer who said he grooms knows a show Yorkie (not sure if he grooms her) who spends all her time in a crate with her hair rolled up to protect her coat. I doubt, from the way you talk about your dogs, that you keep them in a crate all the time. What do you do to protect their coats? Do their coats need 'protecting' anyway?

Just curious.

Mine are in my house always near me. They are like my shadows. I can't even go hmmm you know, little girls room, without them following me. LOL My hubby calls me the Pide Pipper! LOL
Infact they are all under feet right now as I type. One is curled up on the bottom shelf of my book self, since it touches the carpet, another laying at my feet and several playing together. Here comes Cha-Cha to play with Trey now from the living room. So as you can see - they are my pets first and foremost!
I protect their hair by placing them in oil and wraps. Trey's side hairs are just pony-tailed to the side. Then several have the puppy cuts, since they are finished champions. ..And Cha-Cha is just a puppy (6 months), so her hair is still growing out.

The only time mine are crated is when we're traveling and when they sleep. Or when I'm not at home. Mine are kept in wraps and allowed to be dogs, they play outside with the non show dogs.

My dogs are in the familyroom/kitchen with me. Show dogs over a year of age are in oil and wraps. They run with the rest and I have a double fenced back yard they can run in and out from the house. Dogs that i am no longer showing are cut down into cute pet clips. They are at my feet, on my lap when i am home.
i would never keep them in pens and crates all the time to grow coat; I don't have to. They need the exercise and socialization just as any other dog would.
They sleep in large crates each to their own bed at night with plenty of room and travel in travel crates when they are in the car. At night for sleeping youngsters have a dog bed in a smaller pen with a wee wee pad, each in their own pen.

Thank you for starting this thread. I learned a lot. I thought buying from a show breeder would cost more. And to think boarding and grooming too? wow! i wish I lived closer to you! I am hoping to get another pup in a few years. : )

This has been the best thread yet!! Very imformative for the experienced and the novice! As, I don't breed much Lorraine couldn't have said it any better than she has!!! I, myself, would rather be in the show ring LOL...
My show dogs are my pets first and show dogs second. They are in oil and wraps and run in and out a doggie door, chase the dog next door along the fence ect...mine are only crated when I'm gone and on the road ( or when I have a bitch in season and the males drive me crazy LOL) but are switched out often so no one is in their Xpen longer than 30 minutes at a time.
Seriously, this is one of the best threads I've read in a VERY LONG time!
BTW...I offer free grooming also if the new family live close enough and I do NOT ship my puppies either ( when I have puppies )
Thanks Lorraine!!

Donna Bird
Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers

Donna, would you ever consider grooming by Yorkies, I would be honored...Lissette

by yorkies? LOL...I'm assuming your yorkies? LOL.....if you don't mind driving all the way to where I live LOL...I do grooming on the side after my full time job at the schools, and now starting my handling career LOL...Thank goodness school is almost out so I can go to more dog shows LOL

Donna Bird
Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers

Hey! I use to live in Garden Grove. Could see the fireworks from Disneyland from my backyard. I have pups in Texas that I groom when I get back there. I also have pups in Lake Elsinore that I groom.

Wylie is a bit of a drive from you.

Hey Donna, showing out here is really different. I've got to reoutfit my whole set-up. Most shows are outdoors, so you can't leave set-ups overnight. Everything is on wheels on a hand cart.

Ewwwwww better you than me LOL...I couldn't imagine loading up everything every night LOL...I bring way too much stuff LOL

Yup, Wylie is about 45 minutes I'm assuming....but I do groom someone's yorkie that lives just about that far from me LOL

Take a look at this...Home of the Original SMART-CARTS : Most Practical Wheels Ever Designed This is what they're using. Carries everything crate with a grooming table on top, arm, chair, grooming bag, umbrella, etc. Nothing comes off just wheeled from ring to ring.