I got Lexie in 2008 as a retired show & breeding dog. She was 5 at the time & I only paid $500, which I thought was an absolute steal for such a little beauty. I realize that is probably a major exception to the rule. The breeder (in CO) had been breeding & showing yorkies for 30+ years. Lexie was one of her favorite babies & she just wanted her to go to a great home & didn't care about trying to make money on her.

I got Izzy from a breeder in January. He is a good breeder. I paid $900 for her at 11 weeks old.

I bought Hazel Nut from a private family, not a breeder. She is registered AKC and both parents were in the home. I even got pick of the pups and paid $650.00 for her. My last Yorkie was $800.00 and that was over 12 years ago. Hope this helps ~ sure looks like the results of the poll right are within that range too.

Lynn, try going to the bottom of any page & where you see the Google Search, change it from Internet to Yorkietalk. Then use keywords and you'll find many of the old threads I'm sure, which may help you in your search.

Welcome to YT & thanks for researching before purchasing. As the saying goes "buy your breeder first".

Tuffy is a broker dog we got before I knew such a thing existed. Bella came from show people who'd held her but then discovered she was going to be over the breed standard of 7 pounds. I wouldn't recommend either of the people we got them from.

This topic is quite difficult to give a good answer to. There is such a very wide variation in pricing across the large USA and Canada.

There are several things that a potential purchaser would do well to keep in mind.

1. Cost or purchase price will be the least amount you pay over the lifetime of your puppy. Therefor look at lifetime cost and see if you can actually afford a puppy.

2. A healthy dog/puppy is priceless. Just ask any-one here who loves their dog with chronic health conditions, some of which are a result of genetic problems with-in the breed.

3. Remember Murphy's Law. Buy Pet Insurance that actually covers the dog in a meaningfull way. There is a great article in the library that evaluates several different insurers'.
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/die...rifaj-dvm.html

Use the above as a guideline as insurance companies can change their policy rules at any time they want. Use this article to denote the questions you should be asking, prior to signing on the dotted line!

4. The first year or so is always the most expensive. Bringing up to date on vaccinations. Spaying or neutering. Training costs. And yes I believe all dogs of any breed should take puppy obedience classes, and then further obedience classes. Buying your crate(s), leashes, halters, etc.

5. Irrespective of pet insurance you need to have a savings or kitty for your dog; as many insurance plans require you to pay up front for treatment then you get re-imbursed.

6. Find out and get a rough idea of annual vet visit costs in your specific city/town. Do this prior to actually purchasing the dog. Ask them about a full blood panel screening, as well as booster shots, office per visit cost, after hour care, etc.

************after all of the above*******************

I would like pet owners to know, that good breeders, breeders who actually health test their breeding dogs, have spent thousands of hours studying lineage and related health problems in their lines, spent many $thousands of dollars on their dogs on-going care, PRIOR to breeding them.

I have detailed this out in other threads here. But a very conservative amount of pre breeding screening tests per dog, is $500; and that pre-supposes one can take advantage of the health clinics that are often run at dog shows where we breeders can let us say CERF our dogs for $60, instead of booking a private examination at the opthamologist for $180 or so.

For most breeds of dogs it is customary to breed at 2yrs old, once all available health tests can be done are done, as well as the physical and mental maturity of the dog has developed.

So let us look at a new breeder (that is somewhat easier) please remember that as you go along with your breeding program, you will have to repeat certain tests.

You purchase your breeding pair, a male and a female. Approximate cost $5ooo or more.

You do all the health testing x two $1000 **please note this is NOT regular vet visits at all but the breed specific tests that should be done, prior to breeding.

You champion both dogs = $3000 or more.

You are already at $9000. This excludes the cost of food, training, housing, and pregnant mother and litter care.

How much will you charge for a puppy??? Average litter size 3-4

Average number of litters over the breed lifetime of your female. Starts at 2yrs old, retires at 6 years old. Oh let us say four litters. Let us say 12 puppies.

$9000/12 puppies = $750


And that is not let me remind you, even remotely a break even cost.

So in my mind if you have a breeder who does all the above, and much more, we have not talked about the breeder who spends an hour on the phone monthly with each of her puppy buyers, who sends the pups home with detailed instructions, and offers to help groom or train for free, then at the minimum you will be looking at $1000 or what is more likely $1500 per pup.

And let us not forget that good breeders will give you a meaningfull health guarantee. This means we do need to set aside money to cover in case we do in-advertently breed an un-healthy pup.

I hope this helps clarifies things in the mind of future purchasers.

I paid $700 for Honey I got to see both parents and all the brothers and sisters. She is not a standard yorkie. She is only 3.7 pounds and she is now 1. She is not have AKC papers but I didn't mind. The breeder still allows me to call and is very helpful and every now and then still checks up to see how we are doing.

What do you mean she's not a standard yorkie? Is she off color?

:thumbup: Really puts it into perspective for us non breeders.

And another note, I get so tired of hearing "breeders" say they did health testing, which basically turns out was a once over by the vet. :rolleyes:

I thought her weight wasn't standard but I just looked at the AKC website and it says the dog should not be over 7 pounds. Sorry I messed up!

We found jasmin on Craigslist. She was 5 months weighing 5.8 when we first got her. We paid $280 which included a small crate, no papers or health records. we are lucky she is healthy so far. She now weighs 7.2 lbs and just turned 1.

I paid nothing! I got JuneBug from a no-kill shelter that is considered the finest in the United States, Main Line Animal Rescue (www.mlar.org/about/). This rescue is rare because there are no fees. Many rescues, even on Petfinder, charge adoption fees where this place does not. They are located in Southeastern PA on close to 60 acres of farmland and are constantly going out to the Amish farms and puppy mills to save these dogs. Celebrities such as Al Roker, Kristy Brinkley and Kathy Lee Gifford have adopted dogs from Main Line. This rescue was also featured on Oprah's award winning episode on puppy mills...this video is a must see even though how disturbing it is....this is where my JuneBug came from and I feel honored to have met Bill Smith, the founder, in person:

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO

Puppymills - YouTube

I found out recently that my JuneBug is a rare Biewer Terrier and was confirmed by the president of the BTCA and it's members. These dogs are sold for over 2K easily and thats without a pedigree! I feel overwhelmed to have this special guy in my life!

JuneBug came with a collar & leash, already microchipped, neutered, groomed, had dentals done, all shots and wormed. I was given a months supply of food, flea & tick preventative and heartworm. He was fostered so he is already housebroken and is between 3-4 yrs old. This rescue also has their own state-of-the-art clinic and on-call vet. This IS the best rescue in the USA!

Whether a rescue is the best or not is debatable in fact aren't they all working to save animals so in theory they all are the best! How do they afford everything if they don't charge a donation fee? Personally I could say Yorkie Haven is the best rescue because I have seen some of the dogs and what they have done to save and help these dogs and I also know one of the women who even after getting cancer and the day after a procedure going to the vet hospital with one of the pups who needed surgery!

It's wonderful that you had an excellent experience with your rescue. Congrats on your adorable JuneBug! I hope you have many years of love & happiness together.

I am happy that you were able to rescue your dog, and I do hope that you support the rescue that you got the dog from. After all they must operate on donations from the public.

But the public feeds the demand for these puppy mill and or commercial breeders' practices.

No dogs should be brought up and live in the conditions that was shown on Oprah's show, and as we have seen elsewhere through vids on you tube.

Have you looked at the laws, and what they the Department of Agriculture denotes as humane living conditions for these dogs? They are thought of as livestock. And that is part and will always be part of the problem. Until we can as a public huge voice change it.

The regulations do not include health testing for breed specific problems, the regulations do not include puppy socialization and stimulation, most especially to a home environment. For as commercial breeders they have no home environment with-in which to socialize the pups to.

Wow. Thank you for taking all the time to sum up all of this information for us and put it in some context. Wonderful post. Excellent information for anyone thinking about buying a dog. There's a lot more to it than surfing the internet looking for pictures of cute Yorkie puppies and popping down a deposit for that one that looks so appealing and is likely to always fit in your purse, I guess! :rolleyes:;):D