Adoption VS Buying
 

I got soooo much s**t from people when I announced I was purchasing from a breeder and not adopting from a shelter. If you bought from a breeder and had bad reactions, how did you handle it?

Off topic, but I just realized they censor cuss words on here. I'm dying of laughter!!

I buy from breeders and make no apology, although I have not been censored for it from the general populance.

I think what I would say, this was a choice I made that was right for me and my family. I would also add in that I believe in supporting good breeders who breed for health and temperament of the purebred dog.

There will always be people out there that will criticize you for buying from a breeder, and there is nothing you can say to make them happy so I wouldn't even bother trying to explain it to them. I always hate when someone asks, " oh, where did you get her from?" b/c I'm not sure what their reaction will be. So far no one has giving me any crap about it...

I also agree it is a personal decision - just ignore those that are negative. All mine have been rescues or rehomed. But I had thought about buying one from a reputable breeder, the rescue Yorkies just seem to come into my life just when I need them to, and I do prefer rescuing to buying but that's just me. Of my 4 dogs, 1 I took from an abusive owner, one I got from a breeder but only because she had contacted Poodle Rescue with a puppy that had broken it's leg (2 of my 4 dogs are Standard Poodles), my Yorkie was rehomed by a family that decided it was best to find him a home that had more time for him - but my IG I bred myself back when I use to be very involved with showing. Her dad was in the top 10 all 3 years I showed him. So clearly - I have nothing against breeders that are doing things right and breeding to better the breed. I only have problems with breeders that breed for money and don't do all the appropriate health testing before breeding!

Buying a puppy or adopting from a shelter depends on the person. I see no reason anyone should receive flack for getting a puppy. I have over my life time had 7 puppies, went through the crying at night, chewing of furniture, lamp wires, paper training, house breaking. training to leash walk. Over the years I have seen more and more about shelter dogs that have been abused, beaten, starved, disgusting living conditions, just broke my heart, made me sick to think ppl would treat dogs like that. I vowed if I ever got another dog, it would be a rescue one, and I would spoil and loved it and give it the life it deserved, but, I am older now then when I was when I got my first baby. When you rescue you don't know what you are getting, when you buy a puppy you raise it the way you want to, big difference. I LOVE puppies. I adopted a lil 3 y/o boy several months ago, he was a surrender, he was much loved and spoiled rotten. He had to be re-homed for financial reason, he didn't come to me with a lot of baggage. He is a true blessing. House broken, trained, just perfect. If he had come to me with baggage I would have taken him anyway. I ask to rescue, if ppl prefer to buy a puppy that's ok also. It's beautiful to see a lil baby grow into an adult, rewarding to train and see your results, puppies are way tooo much fun. It all depends on the person, freedom to choose. One day you may rescue or buy another puppy, but that will be up to you. I don't know why you should receive any flack over your decision. Your lil MJ is a BEAUTIFUL lil guy, just enjoy him and ignore comments.

Sadly there are many people who do that ... just enjoy your puppy and ignore people who have nothing nice to say.

It is no one's business where you get your pup unless you stole it from them!

You guys are awesome! Thanks for being so positive at a time where everyone else isn't.
I did look at EVERY shelter in 3 different states and had no luck finding what I wanted. I assume small, healthy, young, yorkies are very hard to find at a shelter. Sometimes you just want what you want and every puppy needs a mom no matter where they come from.

It all depends on where you live. There are a lot of homeless yorkies in your state but many times they go to rescues. Also, they are not in every shelter.
Bottom line though is that you owe no one an explanation for your choice to purchase a puppy.

I have not encountered any negativity about my Yorkies coming from a breeder. Sorry to hear people are giving you a hard time.

I believe the thing that matters most is that you make a commitment to your pets to take proper care of them for life.

I once knew girl that thought all breeders were in it for just the money and they were all puppy mills. I disagreed and still do. I believe in both adopting from a rescue or shelter and/or purchasing from a reputable breeder. I think it's up to each of us to decide what is best for us and the new family member we bring into our home. I strongly believe it's a life long decision regardless. Ignore them and be happy with your future little movie star!

I have no qualms with supporting a reputable breeder. An actual reputable breeder who breeds to better the breed, and not just one who knows how to pretend she is reputable. The problem I have is when people buy from brokers, unscrupulous breeders, from out of the country (Asia for example), or have them shipped across the country at 8-10 weeks old sight unseen with the click of a mouse and a credit card from some website.

ETA: I have one that I bought from what I now know was a broker and one that I adopted from the rescue I volunteer for. Once I found out about the broker I felt devastated and then decided I wanted to volunteer with our rescue. Been doing it about 5 years now.

I've only had one person get really nasty about it. On Lola's first trip to petsmart when she was 12 weeks old a dog food rep came up and started lecturing me about the evils if puppy mills and that I was horrible for not rescuing a dog. Her apron was full of pins saying similar things.
Other people have gotten snotty and superior about the fact that they adopted their dog and I didn't. Usually they don't even bother asking where I got Lola, they just assume she's a puppy mill dog.

I tried to adopt, but small dogs are adopted as soon as they arrive at shelters and I didn't want to wait 2-3 years for an older, bigger than I wanted, poorly bred dog from a rescue (not all rescue dogs fit that mold but that's what I saw on their sites).

Luckily these encounters are happening less now that Lola doesn't look as much like a puppy.

When it does happen I just stand there and ignore them or walk away, usually they're too self righteous to listen anyway.

Small yorkies do in fact come thru shelters and rescues. In my few years of volunteering I have had two smaller than average. Scrappy was almost 4 lbs and came in as a stray in a San Diego shelter. Lily was an owner surrender and was also almost 4 lbs.

Now I have Toto who is "bigger" at 6 lbs, also an owner surrender, who has long silky hair, big round eyes (I call them Spongebob eyes) and perfectly healthy. His muzzle looks shorter than Uni's but when measured, they are exactly the same. It's the eye socket positioning that makes all the difference.

I have had a total of 11 Yorkies, and of those 3 I bought and the rest were rescue's I adopted from Rescue Groups. Oh I did take one in that was being re-homed. A YT member posted here she had a neighbor that was looking for a home for his little girl and I was the lucky one to be chosen to have Luci come live with me.

I would also without a doubt if I was wanting to, buy a Yorkie Puppy from a REPUTABLE Breeder and have no problem doing that.

I support both Rescue and Buying from a Reputable Breeder.