Puppy "Huge" Misunderstanding
 

:confused:
I posted here recently about purchasing a second puppy. My little boy, Angus (4 lb.), was missing his buddies. There were two Yorkies, Pepy and Pica, who lived next door, and he used to play with them all of the time. After much thought and research on the matter (realizing he needed the company, and we love Yorkie's so . . . it wasn't a problem), we decided to look for a little girl. I purchased one who was 6 weeks old. We have had her for 3 days. The breeder told me verbally that she was "one point fifteen pounds". Doing the math I thought "ok, that is 16 oz. plus 15/100 of a pound. That would be 18.4 oz." This would put her at approximately 5 lb full grown (bigger than Angus, but not overwhelming for him). My neighbours had told me that a 5 lb companion would be a good size for Angus (he is definately on the smaller end of the standard). I realized later, at my vet's, that when the breeder said "one point fifteen pounds" she meant "one pound fifteen ounzes". Doing the math again I found that I had just purchased a puppy who would be twice Angus' size full grown. I feel I was misled, because the breeder had told me she would be 4 or 5 pounds full grown. That made sense with my first calculations, but not when I put in the correct weight. I am seriously considering returning her to the breeder. She is very sweet, but not what I thought I was purchasing. My conscience has been eating at me about this - not only is it a long committment (hopefully 16 or more years), but also a family dynamics thing. Was I misled? Is it ok to return her?
:questione :angry: :omg:

:zip:

I don't believe you were mislead. My pup weighs 2.3 pounds. That means 2 pounds and 3 ounces. 1.15 would be 1 pound and 15 ounces....1 ounce shy of 2 pounds. 6 weeks is honestly too early to take a Yorkie puppy home with you. If the breeder "insisted" you take the pup at that age, you probably don't stand too much of a chance of her taking the pup back because of a misunderstanding. Was there a contract?

:zip: :mad: :zip: :zip: :zip:

After much thought and research
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I wouldn't use this word if you STILL buy a pup at 6 !!!!!!! :eek: weeks.
You can spend about 2 hours ONLY over internet to understand that GOOD breeder will NEVER sell a yorkie at this age. If yorkie is 12 weeks you will know APPX. adult weight.
Sorry, but this is YOUR fault, you shouldn't complain now. Hopefully, your pup is healthy.

Please, all of you who are looking for a pup, educate yourself. It is not difficult.

because the breeder had told me she would be 4 or 5 pounds full grown

no ONE breeder will tell you that in age 6 weeks. NO ONE. This is a BIG lie :thumbdown .

In my opinion you need to do what you think is best for the pup and your family. Just remember there is no way a breeder can guarantee the final weigh of the pup, just estimate. If you think you were misled then you need to do what you think is best. I wouldn't return the pup just cause it might be bigger, but that is just me. I agreed with Julz. Good luck.

:zip: :zip: :zip: :angry: :confused: :confused:

It really shouldn't matter if the new puppy is twice as big as Angus. Dogs with even more substantial differences in size get along fine. Even a ten pound dog is still a very small dog, and so as long as you teach your dogs the right ways to interact with each other, you shouldn't have any problems.

No, you weren't misled. That puppy should go back and be with her mom for at least 6 more weeks though

Gracie was 2.3 lbs at 8 weeks and topped out 5 1/2 lbs. Rebel was 2 lbs at 6 1/2 weeks and has stayed at 4.12 lbs for the past 1 1/2 months. Would I have purchased Rebel had I known his true age? No, I would not have. The breeder had not gotten back the papers and she told me he was 8 weeks. After months, I finally got back the papers and saw his true age. I was very disappointed.

But, you should not have gotten her at 6 weeks nor should the breeder had let her go before 8 weeks. If you take her weight at 8 weeks and triple it, it should give you a ball park figure. If you take the weight at 12 weeks and double it, you can do the same...but all of it is estimates. Rebel got big really fast and has stopped growing.

Best of luck to you.

Does Size Really Not Matter?
 

I am not sure what ":zip:" means, but I think it is not good. It is either "I should not have posted" or that you can't believe I was this stupid! All comments are welcome, though. I am from Canada and we are on the metric system for measurement. If any weight is given as "something" point "something" it is a decimal fraction. I am sorry if anyone does not believe I could have made this error. So be it. As to the comment about size - do you really think it would be ok for Angus that his companion is twice his size? Does size really not matter. I've never had two dogs at the same time - I just assumed that they should be close in size. Does anyone else have two Yorkie's with a large size difference and they are still good buddies? Am I just being over protective of Angus?

I know of someone that has a 12 lb yorkie and she also has 5 lb yorkies. She's never had a problem with them but then again, they are older. I can see the concern when they are pups (up to 1 1/2 years) since accidents could happen when playing. But, I believe they will be fine.

Best of luck! :)

no, you were not mislead at all. She told you exactly what the pup weighed before you got her. Also, my breeder told me that Ceeby probably would be three/four pounds max when grown. he might be bigger from the looks of things. I was not mislead nor ever even thought I was. I know enough to know that no breeder can guarantee a size . All anyone can do is give a rough estimate. As far as I can see, you have no complaint. The only thing is six weeks is way to young but you should have known this. Please, if you are not happy with the puppy, take her back for her sake.

My Dixie is almost 6 lbs and my Chihuahua is not quite 2lbs and they play fine together. Sometimes I worry about my Chi hurting my Yorkie! lol I also have a 3.5lb Yorkie that plays well with the 6lb and the under 2lb Chi.

If I were you, I would prefer to buy appx the same size like yours. For instance, my Jessica loves to play with dogs from 4 to 7 pounds. She is 5.5. I go to a dog park all the time and I see that.
i have been looking for a second female too, and I don't consider buying dogs who are smaller then 3.5 and bigger than 7. I know my dog and know that she just does not feel comfortable with other size dogs.

I can't say that I am not happy with her - she is adorable, healthy and full of life. It sounds like I don't have to worry about her size compared to Angus'. The more I think about it, the more I think everyone is right - I should have known that 1.15 meant 1 pound 15 oz. As for her age - I knew that 6 weeks was very young, and still purchased her. The breeder said that she was eating well (and is!) . . . I don't know what I was thinking. But she is a living being - not meant to be moved around like a toy. Am I just obsessing?

I have 6 lb yorkie and a 9 lb yorkie and they play just fine together.

Yorkies can play great with "bigger" dogs! remember a 10 pound dog is STILL very small. I don't think you have to worry about the weight difference, heck I have a 9 pound yorkie and a 75 lb chocolate lab mix. As for the 6 weeks thing, other people have touched base with that so I don't need to repeat them. Good luck! :)

What I meant by this is that I was going to keep my mouth shut until I was better prepared for saying anything.

First, as a breeder, my biggest concern was that the breeder you got your pup from, was willing to sell her at so young an age! That is criminal! There should be a law against selling puppies before they're ready. There is a lot of teaching that a mom does between 8 and 12 weeks. They're just NOT ready to go that early (IMO).

Second, is that I don't know how everyone else feels about a breeder saying that a pup will be a certain weight at any age!! The most you can guarantee is what the pup weighs at the time of the sale. You can guess-ta-mate til the cows come home, but to give you a weight guarantee to me is ridiculous!! If all you want is a "friend" for your other dog to be with, it shouldn't matter if she's a little bigger or not, as long as she is loved and well cared for. Don't shun her for being bigger. That's just more to love!
Suz

Thank you for letting me know that. I really appreciate the advice. Now that I have made the mistake of purchasing her too young, is there anything I should be doing to help her out where her "birth" mom would have?

In my opinion, if you love her and you love Angus AND you take the time to acclimate them to one another, it shouldn't matter about size. My Gabby girl weighs in at a whopping 16 pounds and Gage is a scrawny (at least compared to "Miss Piggy"...LOL) 5 pounds. And although Gabby did not end weighing out in the 5-8 pound range like I thought she would, I cannot imagine my life without her! My two furbabies get along rather well now. It was an adjustment for Gabby at first but once she realized Gage was going nowhere (man was she pissed at me for bringing another baby into HER house), they have gotten along great. As several people on here have stated, there are no guarantees on weight at maturity. If you love her and want her, then keep her, shower her with love and kisses

Lots of play and socialization is the best thing for her now. You also need to establish who is boss. My mom will place her pups on their backs to show them they are doing wrong. I know that you can place your little one on her back, gently, and keep her there until she doesn't struggle. It wont hurt her but she may resist the idea. You definitly don't wont her being over dominate, which tends to occur in pups that are taken to soon from their mom. I'm not saying all are that way, but it is a a known occurance. Angus will also help her mature too. Pups pick alot up from other dogs. Just make sure she is getting a balanced diet, and that she doesn't get low blood sugar. Good Luck with your little girl. Don't worry about her adult weight yet, she is to young to determine even an estimate. She may lvl out and only be 5lbs. Just love her lots. Being as young as she is she may have more trouble maintaining her body heat, so a heating pad may be necessary.

Agreed. My 4 lb. babie's brothers are a 26 lb. fuzzy mutt and a 65 lb. pitbull/lab mix. And Cohen, the lab mix, is his best friend! He's very gentle with Bouncer and only plays while laying on the ground and letting Bounce jump all over him. haha. So if you're worried about the size issue as far as playing and things like that, there is no need to worry at all. Maybe though, if you really feel that you were mislead, you can call and talk to the breeder. From the way it sounds though, you were the one that misunderstood the weight when you were told it. So in a way it's mostly your fault. If there is really "fault". Either way, Things will work out! ;)

Obsessing?
 

LOL, if you are obsessing, JOIN THE CLUB! LOL!! Really, that's what this place should be called "Yorkie Obsession", not Yorkie Talk, lol!!

I am happy to see that you have learned here what you should have learned during your research. You are a quick study, and welcome here! This sign :zip: means "Lips are zipped" and the person who does it in their message usually means they do not feel they should say a word, or in many cases, does not DARE to say a word so that no one's feelings get hurt or they get in trouble for what they may say! Passions run pretty deep here when it comes to the health and well being of fur babies. You made some heads spin with words such as "6 week old", "mislead", "weight", etc. As you spend time here, you will learn what the hot buttons are.

I also vote that you should keep the pup. It is obvious to me from this post that you are becoming attached. Youngsters like her require some special care, and there are lots of wonderful and reputable people here who are willing to help, for the sake of the baby!

Nice to meet you, and enjoy your new baby whom you will keep for many years and raise to be a perfect companion to both you and your other pup! :p

I have 2 that are different in weight and it's never been a problem at all - each one thinks they are the boss of something so it really works out...

Are you thinking of returning her over out of worry for your other one ? ...or is it something that bothers you personally ? If it's the first question - they probably will be just fine...

You sound like your already 1/2 in love with her - I would just accept her the way she is because you really don't know at this age how big she'll be and she sounds really adorable.....Congratulations on your new puppy and I'd love to see pictures

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will try the "on the back" to show who is boss, and of course we are with her all the time - socializing. She wants to socialize with Angus, but he backs off (backs up?). After I am sure the bladder is not loaded, she gets to run around in the living room/dining room. Then she likes to chase Angus around. He is fully capable of jumping on to the couch to get away, but doesn't. Maybe this means he is getting used to her.
She has just discovered the "other puppy" in the kitchen. That would be her reflection in the sliding glass door. Gotta go!

My vet said that she was very healthy. Her heart is strong, baby teeth are in and lots of space for the adult teeth (he said he'd would be surprised if she had any problems there!). No mites, no fleas, nails needed trimming (which I did as soon as we were home - and she wasn't squirmie for it at all). He said that at her age any joint problems would not be apparent, but hips and knees were good. She has quite the tummy on her - but he said that was fine and would "trim down" as she grew.