Average Price for a "conditional pedigree Yorkie
 

Good Morning All~ In June we purchased a wonderful little yorkie from a breeder (their first litter) and were given the paperwork to register him which we immediately did. A month later we received a letter from AKC saying that there was an issue with his parentage back to his great grandfather. Two months later after the AKC received no response to there letters from the great grandfathers breeder they gave our little guy a "conditional pedigree" which of course lasts for 4 generations. So here's my question...We feel we should expect to receive some money back from this breeder since this little guy is limited with this kind of pedigree. We paid $850 ....what is a fair amount to request that the breeder refund? With the initial letter from AKC we were in contact with this breeder and they have acknowledged that they too were notified by AKC and we indicated to them at that time that we would expect to get some kind of a refund when the AKC issued their ruling. We just want to be fair ...what do you, the Yorkie Community think??

Peggy

Welcome to Yorkie Talk. Prices vary fairly widely for a number of reasons. $850 for a well bred "pet quality" Yorkie is a fair price, in my opinion.

On the other hand, I would be unhappy that the breeder did not have the registration in order before breeding the pups. Hard to put a dollar amount on this.

If you were sold an AKC Yorkie for purposes of breeding, $850 would be extremely low and the first sign that someone was wrong.

Hope you can come to an understanding with the breeder.

How much were you charged for this baby initially? Was this baby sold to you as a breeder or potential show dog? What kind of an explanation has your breeder offered for this mistaken identity? Of all the babies that I have sold, less than 50% have registered their pup. I really do not know how I would handle this.....if the pup was sold as a breeder, yes, you should receive money back. If the pup was deliberately sold under false pretenses, a partial refund could ethically be expected. This was the breeders first litter, and this issue goes back to the great grandfather, which means THEY were sold a breeder with an issue with registration. I am not sure if or why they did not receive a letter from the AKC when they registered THAT puppy......if they chose to go ahead and breed a dog that they knew offspring would not be able to be duly registered with AKC, and did NOT make that clear to you when you bought your baby, they knowingly sold a pup with a registration issue, and if that baby was sold to you as a breeder, I would think you should expect some of a refund. If this breeder sells puppies at one price for registered puppies, and then a discounted price if you elect to buy the baby without the registration papers, you should expect a refund of part of your money. If your baby was sold as a pet companion, and not as a breeder or a potential show prospect, depending on the size of the litter, it probably cost the breeder less than $100.00 to register that litter, and they still put the same amount of effort, time. and expenses to get your baby whelped and nurtured up to age 12 to 14 weeks old.....Is your puppy healthy? Did your baby come to you fully vaccinated, except rabies shot? Lots of questions......were you intentionally sold a "pig in a poke" or was your breeder as surprised with this "glitch" as you were? Perhaps the AKC would verify if the breeder knowingly sold the puppy with a questionable registration dating back to great grand-father.....had the breeder ever been notified by AKC about the questions about registration of the questionable parent of your puppy?

If your puppy was sold to you as a pet w/ spay/neuter contract then you shouldn't expect a refund in my opinion. $850 is lower than the average price for pet yorkies. If this puppy was sold as a breeding dog, then of course pedigree and registration would be more of an issue so that would be a whole other story.

Can I ask what you were planning to use the dog for??

Is he just a pet?? Were you planning on showing him or breeding him???


I personally agree with Maximo in that $850 is pretty fair for a "well bred" pet quality yorkie.

I am not too familiar with what a "conditional pedigree" is, but I would think that it really wouldn't effect too much as long as you aren't trying to breed the dog. I am not sure if you can show it or not, but it seems like you' be able to since he was registered.

....But if you aren't planning on showing or breeding, than it shouldn't make much difference.

What exactly do you mean by he "is limited by this kind of registration"?

Did the breeder you got the pup from also own the great grandparents? If they didn't, then I wouldn't expect any refund because they sold the dog in good faith. $850 is cheap for a well bred pet quality yorkie, IMO.

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I am in agreement with this.....I have re-read this post and I do not see where the person paid $850.00 for this pup....where am I missing this info? I also agree that it is a low price for a well bred, healthy, pet quality Yorkie. You need to understand that sometimes the ONLY difference between a well bred "pet quality" and a "show quality" Yorkie, is ear size, ear set, or breaking color pattern, just to name a few "disqualifiers"....."pet quality" does NOT necessarily mean three legged, diseased pup.

In bold ;)

Conditional Pedigree
 

Thanks everyone for responding.............although many of you seem to be all over the place with answers. Ok so most of you agree that $850 is an average price for a puppy that a new owner would be able to register. We are not interested in showing but would have liked to have put him out for stud a couple of times to recoup some of the purchase price. Unfortunately with the conditional pedigree it will be 4 generations down from him before the pups would have a full registration. I am pretty sure there is next to none who would want to use him to sire pups if all they could get was a conditional pedigree. I spent alot of time on the phone with the AKC to try to understand what a conditional pedigree meant so I have a very clear understanding of it. I too wondered why the breeder did not know that there was a question with our little guy's father's pedigree...........but they were first timers so who knows. Perhaps they had purchased him for their female and the transfer of his papers had not gone through when the pups were born. We will be going back to the breeder to ask for $300 back on the purchase price because he was sold as a puppy who could be registered...papers given to us at the time of purchase. In answer to the questions about when we got him and what shots.....7 weeks and absolutely no shots and no spay/neuter contract either.

It sounds like you got him from what is called a 'backyard breeder' or a 'greeder'. A reputable breeder would not sell a dog at 7 weeks with no shots and without a spay/neuter contract. Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to stud him out to 'recoup' the purchase price... Do you want a pet, or a dog whose only focus is females? If you stud him out, I would be prepared for a dog that lifts his leg on everything and humps anything in sight. That to me, is not what I want in a pet. I really hope you reconsider pimping your dog out for money. Leave the breeding to the experts.

So, considering that you know the dog has questionable lineage, you still want to stud him out?


SMDH.

I do not agree that $850 is the average price of an AKC Yorkie male puppy. I wrote that it was a fair price for a "pet quality" and I meant, it is on the very low end of the price scale.

Pet Quality male Yorkie puppies, you should expect to pay $1,500, and more if you are New England, California, and some other parts of the country.

Yorkie puppies with breeding rights (no spay/neuter contract) cost more than that.

Prices can vary for a number of reasons.

I agree with CouversMom. Enjoy your pet. Forget about studding, which requires a lot more than a piece of paper showing several generations of AKC Yorkie names. I'm proud of my boys and they have a nice lineage, and they are healthy, but they are not perfect breeding quality. That is why the breeder sold them to me as pets.

It is wrong that the breeder sold the pup to you under false pretenses.

I am still confused on the conditional pedigree. So does the son, grandson, great grandson all have to be registered under the conditional pedigree before they will give the great great grandson full registration?!?

Why do they give a dog a conditional pedigree in the first place??


OP, you'd be surprised. There are people who breed all the time without having papers....and they sell the dogs for LOTS of money. Heck, look at the market for "designer dogs.

I would be hesitant, papers or not, to breed it...for a few reasons. It sounds like the people you got the dog from are brand new to the breeding world and they obviously didn't do their research on their dogs lineage or about breeding responsibly in general. You pointed out a few HUGE red flags...selling a 7 week old puppy with no shots and no contracts of any kind...

My guess is that if they couldn't even take the puppies to the vet to get their shots, they didn't do any kind of health/genetic testing on their dogs before breeding them either, which means your dog could easily be a carrier of it's parents genetic problems and it could be passed down to it's puppies and on down the yorkie line for years to come if you bred it.


There's only 2 reasons why someone would sell a 7 week old, unvaccinated puppy...either a.) they don't know better or b.)they are greeders and are too cheap. If they are greeders, than you probably have a very slim chance of getting your money back. You can always ask for your money back, but if you don't have any contracts, it might be hard to make them give it back to you.


I agree with the others...Enjoy him as a pet and pet only!! If your puppy is healthy and has a good disposition, consider yourself lucky because our little guys can have lots of health problems that are passed down genetically...especially from breeders who don't know and/or care what they are doing. Now that you are on here, you can learn the red flags to look for in breeders so hopefully, with your next puppy, you won't have any problems. They have a saying on here...you are buying the breeder, not the dog...and it's so true.

Another reason why they would sell a pup @ only 7 weeks old...to get rid of it b4 any health issues come up. Highly recommend you get pet insurance for your pup & reconsider using him as a stud...it's not a good quality of life for these little guys, mentally & physically if the owner is not experienced.

I'm sure your dog is very lovable and would make a great pet but he is not breeding quality. A reputable breeder doesn't give breeding rights to just anyone because they work very hard for there lines and they also do not let a puppy go before 12 weeks. Its so very important that before breeding a dog you really know there lines and know that there are no illness and stuff running in the lines.

OMG!!!! Blind....guess I need to wear my glasses and turn on the light over the computer....I reread that post several times and never saw that price....thanks for pointing it out!!!!!

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I'm a pretty new Yorkie owner and didn't know enough about (nor had the confidence to question) the breeder from whom I purchased my older (1 yr old) pet quality Yorkie. The low price should've been a warning, and I took my time in dealing with the paperwork which turned out to be worthless. But I love my pup and chalk it up to life lessons--I never even considered asking for a portion of my money back.
Not saying that's what you should do, but sometimes it's better to just focus on how wonderful your new addition is for your family.

Forgot to add: My boy is being scheduled for neuter surgery this week, so we don't expect to recoup any money by breeding him, but that's okay. He's worth plenty just being Keegan, and being madly in love with him is why I was more careful with my next pup's purchase. :)
Hope you can find peace of mind one way or another.

Thanks to those of you who had appropriate comments that were helpful in understanding Yorkies and their prices which is what I asked for. We normally go for shelter dogs that are unwanted and just as loving but this time hubby wanted a Yorkie. I did do research on Yorkies before we purchased him and found that pet quality pricing was in the $500-$600 range. For pedigreed dogs capable of showing etc the prices went up significantly from there. We were not interested in showing so didn't go for the high end but did expect him to have a least a full pedigree.

Truthfully I did not appreciate the comment about "pimping" him out. Expected more from those commenting on this forum. For those wondering if we will put him out to stud..........no ....because with a conditional pedigree no one would want to use him.

Again thank you for your comments....well at least some of you!

Hi Peggy, welcome to YorkieTalk. I am so glad that you joined our family of Yorkie Lovers. Being new to the breed, I can understand your questions. Unfortunately it sounds like you were dealing with a less than scrupulous breeder. I would never ever release a pup at less than 12 weeks - and even 12 weeks is iffy. Each pup should be carefully evaluated for his/her readiness to leave his/her birth home.

I, too, would be very upset if I purchased a purebred pup only to learn that my pup had questionable parentage. Sounds like that the litter may have had multiple sires OR the "breeder" simply didn't know which stud sired the litter and took a guess. As for the price $850.00 is actually a very reasonable price for a healthy pet yorkie pup.

You are to be commended for adopting pets from shelters and rescues. And I can understand getting "Yorkie Fever". Would love to see pics.

Thanks for the welcome and kind words and understanding! Much appreciated I assure you!

If you look at a lot of the yorkies who are rescues, you are looking to spend $300-400 for an unregistered yorkie and I've seen them going for even more if they are puppies!! Sometimes you can luck out and get them cheaper, but usually not the puppies though. In fact, a lot of rescues will jack the prices up on the puppies to offset the vet bills and the low cost they have to get rid of the seniors at. The good thing is, the shots and sterilization fees are usually factored into the adoption fee!!

I just helped adopt a dog at the local humane society and we paid $325 to adopt a 4 year old mixed breed mutt.

I think I can understand your frustration though....you paid to have a registered dog. If not, you would have just paid 1/2 the money you paid and been happy to rescue a dog.

Just as a final comment......Teddy as our little guy is named is really quite a joy. He was a slow learner about the potty training....as least slow compared to our labs but he has learned and now rings the bell to go out and thankfully living in rain country knows how to wipe his feet (pretty darn cute I might add to watch)

He is now 6 months old and yes we are looking at neutering him in the very near future. We too learned alot about breeders from this experience. Yorkies are high priced compared to our pedigreed labs and the pedigreed doxies my husband raised with his ex-wife but must admit that they are worth the money.

Now the thing to train him at is to not become so excited when people come to our house and jump all over them and lick them to death. This too will take some time and patience to get him to stop going wild when company comes.

I can tell you I paid 900.00 each for my two pets from Texas, and almost double that for my pet from a reputable breeder in Michigan. All of them do not have breeding rights.


Not sure where you're getting yorkie pets for $500-$600 dollars, but if so, I would be very cautious.

Welcome to YT. I am a little confused about one point, did this breeder sell you this pup with full breeding rights? Or did they sell him with a spay/neuter contract? Is that what you are calling a conditional registration? Most people who buy pets are made to sign a spay/neuter contract. A show prospect or breeder is sold with full registration.

AKC testing
 

AKC now does a DNA type test by the 6th or so litter, so a dog that is NOT 100% full will show up as such. That may be what happened, so it is no fault of yours.........the great grandfather is not 100%..........

They sold him with NO contracts....so yes, I guess you could say they sold the pup with full breeding rights.

What you are thinking of is called Limited Registration, which is different than Conditional Registration. Limited Registration is where you can register the dog but you cannot breed it. Dogs with spay/neuter contracts get this...


Condition Registration is still somewhat of a mystery to me...but it sounds like any pup this dog produces will not be able to be fully registered for 4 generations down. There's a question in his lineage somewhere and AKC will not let the dog be fully registered.

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