A puppy (or kitten for that matter) learns a lot from its mother and littermates after eight weeks. They may be physically able to be weaned and be able to remain healthy at eight weeks old, but there are many things they do not learn until after that. The mother teaches them manners. She teaches the puppy how rough is too rough. She teaches it good hygeine. A mother that is potty trained teaches her puppies where to go the bathroom. In addition to what the mother teaches the puppy, there are other benifits to waiting until the puppy is older. It is really hard to tell what kind of personality a puppy has at eight weeks. It is still such a baby. When a puppy is over twelve weeks old you can tell a lot more about the personality.

I would like to know the answer to these questions as well.

I would never buy a dog again from someone who didn't have the parents on site. Nor would I buy them site unseen, off the internet, in addition to a multitude more reasons. Why would I trust someone on the internet, a complete stranger who is interested in my hard earned money, more than the caring people on here (who do not want my money) who have been through it all already? I wouldn't, but some do.

I would never again either. Some of us learn the super hard way hopefully our mistakes ca aid in someone else being spared from making it themselves.

You and I both know now that wasn't the smartest way to get a pup.

Op, if the breeder can honestly answer Concretegurl's questions, and can prove all of the sites and damns are health tested, then and only then are they good breeders. There are no shortcuts to being a good breeder. Even a small scale operation tha produces "pets" should be breeding to some standard. And I mean a standard or healthy puppies.

getting a pup without seeing the home is a bad idea. also getting a pup at under 12 weeks is a bad idea. getting a pup from a breeder focusing on more than one breed or designer dogs is a bad idea. Sadie's breeder was ALL these things and more. :(

This place has a lot of red flags in one statement. I'd run.

If you search on me, I am one of the people that said I believe that some people CAN cross breed dogs and be reputable, but in your case, I have my reservations.
The little blurb on their kennel is just that, a sound bite made to make everything seem as though everything is wonderful in La La Land.
I want you to note, not one word was said about what KIND of vet checks were done. Not one word was said about bile tests, OFA, CERF. Nothing was stated about the betterment of the pure breeds.
Just a couple feel good paragraphs.

As for what you have read on the net about what age puppies can be sent home. Yes, GENERALLY puppies can go to their new homes when they are 8 weeks old. However toy puppies have special needs far beyond 8 weeks. Hypoglycemia is the foremost concern, and any reputable kennel will state that they hold the puppies until X time just to be sure they're past the time when they are most susceptible to hypoglycemic events.
That is typically 12-14 weeks, and even as long as 16 weeks in the case of super tiny puppies.
And what about liver shunts? That is a big concern in little dogs. What kind of information do they have about testing for it, symptoms to look for?
What other genetic issues may be present in the breed? Does the site say anything about that? And that goes back to what I said before.. What kind of genetic and structural tests have been done on the breeding stock?
Also, you will find Yorkies can be a bit difficult to house train. This is one of the reasons leaving them with the mother helps. She helps to teach the babies, making it easier to complete the training, because the basics are there. She also helps teach the puppy other little things that you don't think about, like coming when called, and bite inhibitionamong other things.

One thing sticks out to me as well...
Our dogs live in air-conditioned / heated buildings with all ground runs.
In other words, the dogs are kennel raised and NOT house raised. THAT in of itself is a huge red flag to me. You can't get to know each puppy when they're in a kennel.
And how do they match each family to each puppy? Do they use, for example, the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test or similar temperament tests? What kind of questions are the buyers asked to insure that the family and puppy are actually matched?

As DvlshAngel985 said, yes, all dog breeds came from somewhere, but they were not made by just throwing dogs together. There must be a plan behind the specific cross breeding to create a breed. And this cross breeding must go on for generations. At some point, introduction of parent breed genetics must stop.
A one generation cross is NOT creating a breed. Again, understand that I wrote several posts IN DEFENSE of people that are cross breeding dogs and COULD be reputable, and that there ARE people crossing breeding with the intent to create a new breed. I consider myself open minded, and I don't condemn people just because they're cross breeding dogs. However in this case, it doesn't seem to be the case. In this case, it seems that this person IS a large scale back yard breeder, or small scale puppy mill, and I would be hesitant.

I understand ALL TOO WELL how the hunger for a puppy can make a normally rational person do things they would not usually do, based on that emotion of wanting and needing.
But I am in a financial position to be able to afford MOST of the health problems my puppy may have as a result of not being bred from a line of tested dogs.
Can YOU afford a $1,200 liver shunt operation? What about a $3,000 femoral head osteotomy to treat for legg-perthes?
These things while known in the yorkie breed as a whole (and in the poodle as well) are LESS common in reputable breeder stock because of the extensive tests done on breeding stock.

And on those lines, how much is the breeder willing to assist in the cost of these operations should your puppy prove to need one or even both? What kind of health guarantee does she have that also protects YOU, the buyer?

These are things that you have to think about rationally, without the I WANT hunger. I didn't, and I KNOW that there is a chance I'll have to deal with one or both of these problems in my puppy.
Buying a puppy IS an emotional thing, but it always helps to think logically, and critically when buying a puppy, so as to make the very BEST choice for you.

Oh yes we sure do!
Also when I got my Elvis the breeder gave me all the right answers OVER THE PHONE.

I was an idiot I had a dog shipped from the other side of the country having never verified any of the information, having never seen the Greeder's home or even meeting someone and not seeing their home or kennel is a HUGE red flag. Most likely they aren't protecting their safety or privacy they ARE HIDING things.

It wasn't until my dog arrived I became aware of his issues and later received more telling information via photos from the Greeder and the environment my dog came from.

Buying a dog is NOT saving a dog. Good luck OP, I hope whatever you do it all works out for you.

Excellent questions to have the answers to BEFORE buying a pup.:thumbup::thumbup:

I have a girl I rehomed after her owners fell in love with her and brought her home early. The fact that the breeder even allowed her to leave her mother and littermates prior to 12 weeks and let her go with an open registration told me they did NOT have her best interest at heart. She has a world of "issues" that mothers and littermates will help correct: eating habits, playing/social manners, potty training. You name it, we have had worked 100 times harder to correct these issues with her than we had to with our other two pups who came home at 13 and 15 weeks.

Please do yourself a favor and find a reputable breeder who breeds genetically tested and health guaranteed pups with a limited registration. All puppies can "look" healthy and appear to be great with people, kids, and other pets. However, some health issues may not show up the first year.

I got my Yorkie from a breeder who said all the right things yet provided no PROOF of health, temperment, anything. It was over a year later a genetic problem with her eye developed. Now, my "good deal" of a dog has cost me over $2000 in eye surgeries/procedures alone.

I have learned the expensive lesson and will not make the same mistake again.

Here I go again. Not "sites" but sires and dams testing. I really have to stop coming on YT with my ipod. It is doing me no favors!

depends what you like better. curly coat, less grooming, bigger or long coat, more grooming, smaller.

i would say go with your heart.. i have a mutt who i adopted from the SPCA here and love him to bits. i got him as a puppy and have had him for 5 years now. i have had purebreeds and mutts and i tend to think a dog is a dog. and all dogs were once mutts while their breed was being designed years ago.

but anyway, im bais coz i love the breed (yorkies rule!lol) but i just think trust your heart.. good luck with your chioce

First of all I would not buy from anyone that is not trying to improve the breed. Mixing the breed is not trying to improve it. I agree with ArmaniMan, go to you local shelter and adopt one, but dont support this kind of breeding.

I did not understand this sentence at all. :confused:

I think they are saying a yorkiepoo has "curly coat, less grooming, bigger" and a Yorkie has "long coat, more grooming, smaller".:confused: maybe...however, imo, not accurate. dunno

:thumbup:
F1 hybrids are no guarantee in any way shape or form of any conformity and more prone actually to have recessive genes pop up, as well "block gebnes" creating a seriously unexpected features to be presented.

For example my Schnorkie is an F1 hybrid (first generation crossing) he is almost 2 feet tall and about 19-21 lbs! he's a cross of a Yorkie and miniature schnauzer yet he looks like a fraggle, deer, wolf griffin cross...check my pics...and yes he was DNA tested as well I followed his microchipping to research his geneology.

GOOGLE LIGERS...

I don't think that is very accurate to say.
A recessive gene is a recessive gene, and in a closed gene pool, the chances of that recessive trait being expressed is much higher as the inbreeding gets tighter and tighter.
I'm not talking about the upfront pedigree, I'm talking 20-40 generations back, where you have the same dog names popping up over and over and over again, the further back you go.
Many people have no idea just how inbred dogs from closed registries are.

When you make a cross breeding to another breed that has the same recessive trait, the chances are no higher of that recessive being expressed than they are in pure breeding. If the other parent does NOT have a common occurrence of that recessive in that breed, then the chances are much smaller to none, in that F1 cross.

As for a Liger.
Lions and tigers are different SPECIES. Not breeds. I'm not sure your dog is the size he is for the exact same reason that ligers are the size they are. If it were, just as every time they breed a male lion to a female tiger to get a liger, and the result is these giant hybrid cats... every time they made the cross that produced your dog the dogs would be oversized as well.

But I will agree that every time you make an F1 cross of two disparate breeds, you have a huge range of conformation, coat, color, temperament, and other things that will express in the puppies.
IN GENERAL, though a yorkie-poo will probably have more curl to the coat and will be bigger... Though I'm not to sure about the less grooming part, lol.

LOL, good points...Belle Noir have you been researching genetics or have breeding experience?

The Liger comment was sheerly for a random example, but actually Yorkies that are crossed out have a wider range of size differential than the vast majority of breeds, schnauzers also are known for that result. It's due to their being "recent" breeds and the compositions they came from.

I have a yorkie poo and he is neither stubborn or hard to train. He was pretty much potty trained at 7 months or so. He is a sweet, playful, loving little 10 month old. He can come, sit, shake, speak, lay and fetch. He loves everyone in the family and is a joy to have around. (well, maybe not at 5am when he is raring to start his day.). You can see photos of him in my YT album. I bought him from a local "breeder" because I had already fallen in love with him before I realized what she was all about. My mistake, but his origin is not his fault. His coat is still curly and while he was pitch black, I can now see hints of reddish brown when he is in the sun. His mama was a cream colored poodle and his daddy was a yorkie. I was just thinking today that he sure scored when I found the ad for "cutest yorkie poo puppies ever" online. He has a fabulous home and will have a great life with us

Okay... So I am on the fence about this. I feel kind of stupid. I guess I just want a yorkie so bad, and I found one that I could afford, that all the red flags went out the window. The breeder does seem like a very nice woman, I have known her for a while, only in passing though. But they do keep the dogs in kennels, and they have so many of them... There is no way they could "get to know each puppy personally" I wish I could find one to adopt. I love the "shelter dog" I have now, its almost like he is extremely grateful that we adopted him.

I do know of some other breeders, but they are so expensive! But I guess you get what you pay for. As much as I don't want to, I may just hold off and hopefully I can find one from a shelter. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. I guess I'll find out Saturday when I'm supposed to go see the puppy again.

People have strong feeling about this because of the problems that the Yorke breed is suffering now due to indiscriminate breeding. The genetic defects that have been brought forward are serious and life threatening. It may seem as though people are putting pressure on you to go according to their view but if you have read some of the posts by people who have suffered through purchasing a pup with genetic problems or other health issues you would understand a little more where people are coming from.
I know to many people a dog is a dog and puppies are cute and Yorkies are adorable but genetics are a very important consideration in deciding the purchase of a dog. The ethics of a breeder are equally as important. Breeders who breed dogs with no consideration to what kind of a life they will live or the kind of health problems they will have do not have the dog's best interest at heart. So what is their reason for breeding? When you go to look at that puppy take a second look at your surroundings. Do you want to support the continued breeding of dogs in those conditions? Do they care or ask questions about what kind of home you will give the dog? Will they guarantee the pup to be free of genetic defects for one year? Will they show you where all the dogs are kept and where the puppies are kept when they are not showing them to you? If they have that many dogs I doubt that they are keeping them all in the home as pets. They have to cage them to keep them from interbreeding all the time. There are some red flags here but you have to decide for yourself what the right thing to do is.
The cost of the dog is not necessarily the thing you want to go by. There are puppy mills out there with fancy websites that charge thousands for their defective pups. Buyer beware.

@concretegurl
Both. I used to breed and show dogs once upon a time, and I find genetics fascinating, and I study genetics for the fun of it. :D
It's interesting that you say that about the schnauzer, I had the thought in mind that not too long ago, minis and toys were being born in the same litter (like with cockers and springers), but never bothered to check.
The thought I had was that one can be phenotypically a toy, but genotypically a mini.
And even within the purebred Yorkie, you have "teapots" being born from standard parents.
That tells me that even within the purebreds, the genome for size is still unstable, or heterozygous, with many options possible. That could cause the size disparity in your dog from his parents.
(My daughter is reading over my shoulder and suggests a possible mutation, but I've told her that isn't likely, and explained the background of the discussion. She's disappointed, she liked the idea of a mutant schnorkie, lol).
This is the kind of thing that makes genetics so fascinating for me. Is your dogs' size because of gene imprinting? Is it because of a heterozygous size genome? Could the schnauzer side actually carry mini genes, even though they looked toy? Is it a mutation? Ohhhh I wish I knew!!!! Where is a Star Trek genetics lab when you need one?

@dustinleephil
Believe me, I understand wanting a puppy so bad, common sense goes out the window. Sometimes you have to curb that hunger though, and lead with logic and not your heart. I know I sound like a hypocrite, because I didn't do what I am advising... But isn't peace of mind with it?
Every little thing that she does that isn't normal, I start worrying. If she had come from health tested stock, I wouldn't worry as much, and I would have her breeder to go to, and ask, is this normal, is this OK, what does this mean?
As it is, I'm pretty much alone when it comes to questions I may have, save for this site, and the reputable breeders in my area, who I limit my calls to once a week, because otherwise I would drive them crazy, lol.
If I could change how I went about getting Pixie, (letting my boyfriend who is not a dog person buy her for me), I really would, just for the peace of mind. It doesn't matter that I can afford most medical issues she may have without insurance... It matters that IF she does have any problems, it's likely because she wasn't bred properly.
So she may suffer in the future, because someone didn't take proper care bringing her into this world. Her life is only equated with money in someone's eyes, and they didn't care about her future, only what they could make off her.

Belle Noire, thanks for the response, me too, well the researching part I'm still very uneducated in it and have never bred myself though. Yes standard schnauzers were a 'created breed' but mini's and giants were completely man manipulated and have serious throw backs in sizing without very controlled breeding and it like Yorkies comes up (size variations) very often. I spent a long time in choosing my breeds for many reason 9mainly looking for non shedding hypoallergenic breeds) but I wanted intelligence, train-ability, bearded toys with serious personality. I got my pound/pup mill rescue schnorkie first and then my yorkie and mni schnauzer.

Scary fact: these "teacup micro mini schnauzers" that are being bred now for the masses are coming up with hypoglycemia just like undersized Yorkies!

As luck would have it... my local animal shelter has TWO female yorkies both 3-5 that were rescued from a puppy mill. They were under nourished and missing teeth... What is your opinions? Rayne & Roxy

They are so cute.

They look adorable!! :)

These rescue dogs are going to need a lot of time, patience, and training. Puppy mill dogs are not housebroken and do not have the social skills that a home raised dog should have. They can be trained though. There is information on how to deal with a rescue dog on this forum. You should read up on it and see if you are up to the challenge. They look so in need of love. I hope someone who knows how to love and train a puppy mill dog will give them a good home.

Hi dustinleephil , welcolme to YT! If you stay here & READ READ READ, you will learn & benefit SO MUCH!

I think I know how you must feel. I remember wanting my first yorkie so badly 25 years ago. I decided to research first, and the advice I was given was much the same that you are getting. At that time I didn't want to hear it! I didn't want to pay for a yorkie from a reputable breeder. I thought their prices were outrageous! I was also insulted that they didn't want to sell to me because I had small children. I was sure that the advice I was getting was crazyness from a bunch of "dog fanatics".

I ended up adopting a pair of 3 year old "teapot" yorkies from a shelter. I was not happy that I had to pay double what the shelter charged for "mutts", (X 2, because my pair had to be adopted together)!

I loved those pups so much! Fannie lived a long healthy life, but her brother Fawn had epilepsy, and was only with us about 4 years. I never knew their background, so am not sure if his condition was a result of poor breeding or not.

I have been involved in yorkie rescue & have had MANY yorkies in my life since those days. I have seen so many heartbreaking things that resulted from poor breeders wanting to make a quick buck.

I am urging you to think about taking the advise from the expierinced people on this board. They are not just "dog fanatics", they speak from the sad things they have seen and lived through.

I have absolutely nothing against mixed breed dogs.... they can be WONDERFUL! I am just re stating: If you are going to get a mixed breed, PLEASE adopt on rather than support a back yard breeder out to make a quick buck!

Good luck with whatever you decide, and please come back to YT for help & advice. You won't find a more caring or knowledgeable group of yorkie owners anywhere else!

Yorkiepoo
 

Molly is a Yorkiepoo and I wouldn't trade her for the world...
She's the sweetest thing and if I could clone her I'd be rich*LOL*
Everyone is going to tell you something different. Do what your heart
tells you.. They are all cute !!!!!