YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community

Hello everyone this is my first time posting on the site, even though I have been a member for awhile and have taken advantage of the chatroom so I just wanted to say hi and make myself known. So although Jo-jo (my yorkie Josephine) is my very first small dog of any kind I have had experience in the large dog field being a puppy raiser for CCI, training a total of 3 dogs, one is now a family pet. Other family dogs we've had over the years were all large lab mixes, problem was I wanted a baby doggie I could dote on, bring everywhere with me and big clumsy labs weren't fitting the bill. Plus how different could a yorkie be anyways? Hahaha... I was mistaken. Obviously.

Lucky for me I have OCD, which meant once my mind latched onto the idea of getting a yorkie I had to research /everything/ about this dog. 2-3 months later and a binder full of notes later my mom found a co-worker who had two little yorkies from the same breeder (One was purchased 5 years prior and the other just recently) and these dogs were unlike any terriers my mother had seen before. They were calm, quiet, sweet and cute as could be. When my mother asked how they were trained so well the co-worker said it was all in the breeder, she gave my mom the contact info and we then checked out the website.

Unfortunately there were red flags. The breeder classifies her dogs as "teacup", "standard" and/or "baby doll faced" all of which I know to be fictitious classifications not embraced by the AKC even though she was a certified AKC breeder. But everything else checked out great, heck she was willing to give us an in contract 2 year guarantee so we took the leap and purchased a puppy from the next litter. My mother and I finally settled on Josephine, a small "teacup" puppy and the last female in her litter.

Both my parents decided to drive down to wear the breeder was located (8 hour drive) and were happy with how dedicated the breeder was about her puppies, making sure that Jo-jo was going to get the proper care, answering questions, giving them food to help the dog adjust, ect. On the ride home they were pleasantly surprised with how mellow this dog was. Josephine was curious and alert, yet sweet despite releasing a full bladder on my father's pant leg ~.^

Two days have past with my little baby at home and I couldn't be happier. She is all my mother's co-worker had said she would be and more. I knew I would love her, but I didn't know I would bond so quickly. We even joke that Jo-jo is my little therapy dog. I've started the foundation work for potty training, she came to us crate trained and potty-pad trained! I know that there will be 'ruff' patches here and there, the thought of how much grooming is a bit daunting even with a puppy coat, but I realize I wasn't giving myself enough credit. All of this worrying I've done got me prepared for this dog and its time for me to enjoy it, hmm?

Well, that's my introduction and yes I do talk a lot, sorry about that. If anyone wants the name of my breeder (I strongly recommended it) just ask. Oh and I do have a question! Conditioner - Do I wait until she's older or do I go ahead and use it now? The shampoo I bought was Espree's Puppy and Kitten shampoo it is tearless and ph-balanced. Thanks! -Kelsey Rose