I could use some help???
 

Hello everyone I am new here and I have a question, I was considering getting a tiny if possible But I have been researching and I keep reading that they are not as healthy. That they might actually be sickly. This burst my bubble ;) . Since all of you are yorkie owners and lovers, I was wondering if this is true and if so how true it is. Thanks

Shanna :)

Hi Shanna!
When my husband began looking for my baby, Toto, we wanted a tiny one because of our lifestyle. Our work causes us to travel a great deal and we find ourselves living in hotels for long periods. We spent several months studying everything we could find and learned that most of the health problems in the tiny ones are a result of inbreeding which is what some breeders do to try and produce tinier and tinier dogs! [I am by no means expert in this subject ... just want to share what we learned] We found a breeder who only bred show dogs with pure bloodlines but occasionally would have some that are just tiny. Since they have to be at least 4 lbs. to show, she will part with some of them! We were fortunate that she had three little females that appeared to be adoptable. She actually discouraged us rather than tried to "sell" us a puppy! There are lots of considerations ... they can have "bad knees", Trachea problems, hypoglycemia, ear infections, etc. Bottom line ... after all was said and done, we have so much respect for this woman and how much she truly cares for this breed! We use her vet and although it's a 45 min. drive for us, it's almost 3 hrs. for her!! Our "Dr. Lucy" is an expert in these tiny babies and was instrumental in our getting the breeders approval for us to get Toto! [We had two interviews with the vet] When the day finally came for us to "see" our baby we all met at the vets. I would have died if I couldn't have brought her home that day! She wanted to keep her for several more weeks!! We had already missed almost 16 weeks of her life and didn't want to miss another minute of it!! I begged and pleaded [I'm not proud! :p ] With the vets approval she gave in! ;) I would have paid twice what we paid and signed anything she wanted! I had already made my choice ... new car or Yorkie!! :p Toto was absolutely the sweetest 1 1/2 lb. piece of fluff we had ever seen and we were terrified!! :rolleyes: She's a brat now ... spoiled rotton ... and much to everyone's surprise, two weeks ago weighed in at Dr. Lucy's at a whopping 4 lbs!!! :cool: We are taking her soon to see the breeder and let her see what a good job we are doing [that was a verbal promise we made]! Can't wait for her to see her ... we, of course, think she is the most beautiful little girl ever born! :p
Bottom line ... if a "tiny" is what you're looking for, please be very careful in your selection. We have been so fortunate that Toto is so healthy! All we do is see that she has the best food, NutriCal, and make sure that we are home at least once a month so Dr. Lucy can take a look at her!! Our friends and family think we are out of our minds to plan everything we do around her but that was just part of our committment when we decided to make her a part of our lives and haven't regretted one minute of it!! She is our joy!! :D

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post. Also thank you for all of the wonderful, truthful information it was a BIG help! It is so hard to know who to trust, and I haven't found many yorkie breeders that live near me. So if I get a small yorkie I will probably have to travel to find one. Thanks again it means so much to me that you took the time to answer!

Shanna

mishasmom: you'll find that even 7 lb Yorkies are pretty tiny! They are still tons of fun and you can pretty much take them everywhere. You could start by looking through the newspaper ads and go to a few breeders locally. There, you could see the Yorkie litters as well as their parents and then determine what size may be best for you. Many breeders will take time to discuss Yorkies with you. Good luck on your search!

The members here at YorkieTalk.com are very knowledgable and are always there to help answer any questions you may have.

Thanks fasteddie,
There is one local breeder that I have found, and I e-mailed him, so we will see what comes of that. Thankyou for the replies, are there many people that visit this forum daily?

Shanna

Quite a few visit us daily. Lots just come and read about Yorkies, but many do post very interesting tidbits about our beloved little creatures. :)

Yep!! And some of our regulars are camping, vacationing, etc. and don't have online capabilities where they are! :o I for one, miss them!! :(