is this paying too much for a morkie?
 

I usually don't talk about prices and whatnot about how much my babies cost me...
I was looking around at morkies and is $1000 -$1500 too much to pay for one?
and prices go even higher up because of colors???
any morkie-wise out there that can help with this?

A Morkie is not a breed. I would not pay that for a mutt. People who breed them have no integrity because they do this for $$$ only because of the uninformed public and sad celebrity rage of owning designer dogs. They do not use proper breeding ethics and should not be supported. There are also NO guarantees that these dogs will grow up to be attractive or healthy. Too many of them end up in shelters and rescues for that reason.

check out petfinder.com there's plenty of mixes that need home and will not cost you an arm and a leg...

here's one that I found in california...
Adoptable Yorkshire Terrier Yorkie: JJ: Petfinder

at some point, i was looking for a morkie b/c i thought they looked soooo adorable as puppies ... as i did my research, i figured out a couple of important things:

1) they have NO IDEA how the dog will look full grown, how much it will weigh, NOTHING, and they have no way of telling you (even if they say they do)

2) when i looked at a lot of adult pictures i found online of morkies, i was not NEARLY as impressed as i was with the puppies

3) for all the money they wanted, i could have a purebred dog instead!!

there was too much uncertainty, so i decided to look for a purebred yorkie instead.

btw, yes, i do think that's very expensive --- again, you can pay that and get a purebred dog.... btw, i think the picture posted of that dog in oakland is adorable!!!

I agree with the others. Years ago you would have paid a fee like that for a Show Dog of a specific breed. That is way to much to pay for a mixed breed dog.

I think its outrageous to pay that much for a morkie. ALL puppies are cute and just because they are cute people charge up the behind for them.

Did you do your research and find out about the parents or did you see a designer dog in a pet store? I would say it's to much $.

Nancy1999 just posted a great article regarding the price of yorkies, the posting has great information that could help answer your questions.

The 'designer' dog market is really getting on my nerves. I can understand things like laradoodles which are bred a lot for specific purposes like for disabled/blind people with allergies, and also cavapoos to be great with kids with allergies (though not always), but all this shorkies, chorkies, morkies thing is driving me mad. They are mongrels. They give them designer names and designer prices but they are just mongrels. Lovely, yes...but their prices are ridiculous and it's a rip off. Sadly, that won't end until people stop paying silly money for them. Over here, the crossbreeds are often more expensive than the pedigrees. And as has been said, you don't have any idea how they're going to turn out. There are cavapoos and there are totally different cavapoos. Some look like cavies and some look like poodles. Don't buy into the market. They are just lovely mutts and there's nothing wrong with that, but there is something very wrong with people making money from it just for the 'name.' And the worst I've come across is a jack russel cross shih tzu...renamed as 'jack sh**s!' Grrrrr.

:thumbup::thumbup:

I have to agree with what everyone else has said.

IMO, yes, that is too much to pay. IMO, I would never pay anything to any breeder for a purposely mixed dog/designer/mutt.

I agree with pretty much everyone here. I mixed breed dog can be easily found in shelters and rescues, puppies too. I think it would be pretty crazy to pay more than a few hundred dollars for a mixed breed dog, even in CA.

There is a horrible ghetto pet store near my work in a mall and they sell mixed breed puppies most with no papers or ACA or APRI "registration" for $1200 and up! I had a customer buy a morkie from that shop :mad: She brought in her pup and she was 8 weeks old a huge! I thought she was 8 months! She looked nothing like a maltese OR yorkie! Even she herself said the bad thing about mixes is you have no idea how they are going to end up looking, yet she still bought her! :thumbdown

If you have a picture in your head of what you want your yorkie/maltese mix to look like I would for an adult on petfinder.

With them being mixes you have no idea how they will look.

There are so many designer breeds on petfinder that you can not only get at a great price, but you will be saving their lives!

this is from a breeder of maltese and yorkie. they do both breeds separately and mix them also. their website looks very well prepared and they seem to love what they do genuinely.

but yes, it is much to ask for a mixed breed dog.

The morkie up for adoption is adorable! I will look into the rescue foundations and adoptions first
Thank you guys for solidifying what I knew deep down inside. :animal-pa

Good for you! :)

FYI, there are a lot of really shady places with FABULOUS websites. There's a lot of great info on this site about how to pick a good breeder. #1, go visit the home and meet the parents.

I think morkies are darling, and I don't have strong feelings on mixed breeds. However, malteses and yorkies are both adorable breeds on their own, and it's much easier to find a good breeder. You're won't be getting any benefit by getting a cross between these two breeds, and you will be taking a much bigger risk in finding a healthy, well cared for puppy.

Or of course, you can rescue a morkie. :)

:yeahthat:

Nancy's thread has nothing to do with the pricing of yorkies. It's on educating new puppy buyers on how to support reputable breeders.

I'm glad you decided to change your mind :) there are alot of nice mixed breeds in shelters that are in need of rescue and that is where money should be invested in wanting a mixed breed. If you want a pure bred do your research on a good reputable/responsible breeder.
If someone is purposely breeding a "designer" dog it should not cost anything and if money at all just the cost of a spay/neuter and I do NOT condone breeding one breed to another...you just don't know what you are going to get healthwise. I don't even believe in breeding a labradoodle...labs do "SHED" and if you have allergies you are running the risk of getting a dog you could be allergic too....I don't care what anyone says about a labradoodle on the allergic aspect of it because you can't garnuatee it won't cause allergies...why run the risk..there are other breeds for that and purebred :)

Donna

Well, I was hoping to educate on the pricing as well, many people such as the OP have no idea what a dog should cost. There are lots of different prices on websites and pet stores. They really think that they can't afford to buy from a really good breeder, so they often turn to back yard breeders and mix breed breeders. For $1000- $1,500 dollars you can find a purebred from a reputable breeder, if you do your homework. I would never recommend buying a mixed breed, there are too many in rescues.

YES!!! Way too much to pay for a Morkie. I have two and paid 950 for both. Just find a good breeder that only has Morkies or one of the mixed breed. Ask lots of questions get refrences and call them.. Go see the puppies if you can. I had to do out of state, bcse the breeders where I called in my area sounded like Puppy mills.
Next time I will probably do a rescue.

I have to "Morkies" that are rescues, they are in my avatar. If you look at them they do not look anything alike. Bogey is from a shelter and I paid $35 for him plus the cost of a neuter. Doodlebug was from a rescue and I think his fee was $250 from a reputable rescue. He was 12 weeks old when I brought him home. They are both very cute (I'm partial ;)) and love them very much but they do not look anything at all alike. Bogey has brown eyes and Dbug has black, are over 10 lbs and one has a cotton coat and the other silky. So you can see there is no reasoning they will look a certain way. They both have the very sweetest personalities and are total love bugs too. ;)

After rescuing both of my boys I would have to say there are plenty of mixes that are available if you look. :)

Great post!

The problem with mixed breeds is no breeder can predict what the offspring will look or act like as adults, there are too many genes thrown in the mix. It's a problem for purebred breeders as well, but they have "some" idea. Mixed breed puppies can change in ways that puppy buyers didn't expect and that's why so many end up in rescues, they make wonderful pets, but it's best to only support those breeders who are breeding with a goal and purpose in mind, and making money shouldn't be the goal or purpose.

I think that is SO SAD!!! :mad: I can't believe the family surrendered him because he was bigger than they expected!! I would never do that to my babies...I feel bad for JJ. Hope someone snatch him up because he sure is a cutie!! I totally would if I could!

To the OP, yes the price is WAY TOO HIGH for a mix breed. I see SO MANY ads of morkies that are OVERPRICED. Don't they understand that the price they are charging for a mix breed is enough for buyers to get PUREBREDS? :confused::confused: Yes, I see many that don't turn out to be very cute on CL, it's really sad.

This is so true. When we were looking for a puppy as a companion for Daisy we met a breeder who had Yorkie/Bichon puppies. The breeder told us that Teddy Bear was from 2 breeds that don't shed - Yorkie and Bichon. Well Teddy Bear does shed, just a little, but you can see the hair if you are wearing black or a dark color. She said his parents were 5 and 9 lbs and he should be around 7 lbs. He is 14 lbs. She also told us that mixing the breeds will 'weed out' the health problems that one of the breeds might carry. At the age of 6 we found out Teddy has LP. I want to add that Teddy Bear is a total sweetheart and a love bug. His temperament is perfect, he loves every animal and person he meets. I love Teddy Bear to death and don't regret getting him for a minute, but he did not turn out at all like the 'breeder' said he would. We paid about the same as it would have cost to adopt from a shelter so at least we didn't get gouged on the designer dog price.

I'm glad you are going to look at the shelter. I'm sure you will find a great dog there. Every dog I have gotten from a shelter has turned out to be wonderful dogs. The dogs I adopted were 7 to 8 months old and healthy and already potty trained when I got them. Any dogs I get in the future will most likely be from a shelter again. The only reason we went to breeders this time was that we were turned down by a shelter for a small dog and we were heartbroken. They never gave us a reason and I gave up on getting a shelter dog. He was a mixed breed Maltese and we would have given him a great home.

The SPCA is horrible in my area. I understand being picky about the adopting family, but it gets to a point where a dog could have had a good home, but the family was turned down. 13 years ago before I bought my Cocker Spaniel, I went to the Humane Society to look at dogs. When I said I was looking to adopt, they grilled me and said I couldn't adopt from them because I didn't own my home and I didn't have a back yard....all before I even looked at the dogs. After my Cocker died I rememberd that. I do own my home now, but I don't have a back yard.....I do have lots of grassy running space nearby though. My babies love it.

I realize that the Rescues and Humane society need to be careful about who they adopt pets to but I have to agree with you. Sometimes people end up buying from BYB's because they meet up with someone at a rescue on a power trip. I went through that about 8 years ago when I wanted to adopt a dog. They wouldn't consider me because I worked and they didn't feel I could give enough quality time with the dog. I think that's bullpoopy. I work full time now and my pets are well adjusted, much loved and very well taken cared for.

I recently got turned down from a rescue because I didn't have a fenced in yard. The first words out of their mouth when I called was "do you have another dog and do you have a fenced in yard?" No other questions...I was heart broken as the dog I was interested in was what I was looking for and had been in the foster home since september.

This is true sometimes, and it makes me mad whenever I hear of so many people have been treated the same way. I have a customer who wanted to adopt a dog from the petsmart (or it could have been petco) adoption days. He said the lady had such an attitude and was power tripping, and bc since he worked, he couldn't adopt a dog bc he wasn't home for 9 hrs each day. Well, doesn't everyone work? Don't you need to work to make money to spoil the dog? Don't these dogs need homes? Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to me. Another customer heard his conversation with the adoption lady, and she told him, sometimes you just have to lie.

Now that I am a foster mom, I interview potential adoptive parents too. I feel there is absolutely NO reason to be mean and power trippy. If you don't feel the person is a match, then they are not, but I dont understand why some have to be so downright mean.

Now that I am a foster mom, I interview potential adoptive parents too. I feel there is absolutely NO reason to be mean and power trippy. If you don't feel the person is a match, then they are not, but I dont understand why some have to be so downright mean.[/QUOTE]

I agree that you don't want to adopt to everyone, I just wished they would have gotten to know me first.

But I will still continue to look at humane societies and rescues!

:thumbup: Thanks for posting this. Rescues are filled with mixed breeds (or) what they now call designer breeds. One reason is because people see someone else's mixed breed (or Morkie for argument sake) and they fall in love with what that dog looks like and think that if they buy the same mix that their dog will look like that. The problem is that because it is a mix there is no guaratee what that pup will look like as an adult. And, breeders can tell you all they want that they breed for a specific look or size but that means crap, because with a mix you will not know until that pup is grown. Elaine