I totally agree. My fiance feels the same way as you do (even said so with the same metaphors/words and it took me some time to come around, but I did. At first, I was in the same mind frame as everyone else here ("I will do anything & everything to save my pet, including selling my house, car, ect") but have since realized (and maybe matured?) that as much as I love my animals, I wouldn't lose my house/car/clothes on my back for them....

I agree with what you guys are saying. There is a limit for me. I'm not sure what that number is, but I would know it if I saw it.

What I was just trying to convey in my post was some of the points of pet ownership (sickness, vet bills, etc) that they may not be as prepared for as they'd like. I wasn't saying that only people with money should own a dog. Trust me, my husband is in the Air Force, and if you look at their pay charts, we don't make all that much money ;) But we do have savings for the dogs' health, as well as health insurance for us and the children.

Anyway, I hope I didn't offend anyone, I certainly didn't mean to.

_____________

I'm anxious to see what happened at the pet shop. Doesn't sound good.

I have a friend who was given a pet store Yorkie pup. Within 24 hours she was coughing. A few days later, diagnosed with pneumonia. Guess what--the vet had treated 5 puppies in that week from same pet store with kennel cough. Three of those went into pneumonia. My friend contacted pet store and told them about her puppy's diagnosis and they should treat all puppies in contact with her. Well, not! Friend threatened to go public if bills not paid. Over $5000.00 later, puppy still not well. But, they kept that little one. Now, they have an 8 month old terror who is totally neurotic and has a lot of emotional problems. Bites, will not house break(common in pet store pups) has other med. problems now. Fights with other Yorkie constantly and on and on.
Should they have kept the puppy in the beginning. My OPINION is NO! Theirs is the same. Pet shops count on impulse buying and will offer to finance the new baby for up to 3 years.. There are so many more red flags and to top it off,, the paper work given could be for a puppy who died enroute and was thrown in a garbage can along the route. There is no way to tell the authenticity of the paper work..
In the end you have to do what you think is right but remember you are endorsing the worst of conditions that this puppy was bred and lived in..Your money supports them and their evil ways of treating companion animals.
If you are offended, then I owe you an apology but only for offending you. I do not apologize for getting on a tear about the origin of most pet store puppies. Check NO Puppy Mills and see what I am talking against..

Has anyone heard anything on what the pet store said to them did he return the dog or did he keep it, or did he get some of his money back. can't wait to hear

I want to know to. We are "hooked" on this one!

So am I. I'm very anxious to hear the outcome. Don't leave us hanging....

Hi, I guess I'll say congrats on ur new baby and sorry that she is sick. I know by now you and your girlfriend have probably made a choice on keeping her or getting the other yorkie but I'll still post my opinion.
I honestly dont think most petstores care to give people a discount if they keep a sick pup of theirs. Especially if we were to go in there letting them know you found a yorkie that seems healthy and is less money. They know that if you are going back and questioning them for a discount it is likely cause you already feel attached to the new pup and unlikely to return. But who knows...maybe if they dont want to take a chance of having keep a sick pup around and resell MAYBE they'll reduce it. I know you mentioned a 5 year warranty. What exactly does this warranty cover?
If you decide or have already decided to buy a yorkie through a private breeder please be sure to get a written health guarantee. Without that you could do absolutely nothing if your new pup were to be sick or something more serious be wrong. Most states I believe have a puppy law to protect consumers(but I think its mostly if you buy from a petstore).
My yorkie was also sick when I first got him and now he is MUCH better. I did go back to where I bought him and got reimbursed for the cost of medication. Right now I'am happy to say that I dnt think hes sick anymore. He had a upper resp. infection and parasites which was causing the diarrhea. I know in my heart as much as I adored him that if I had found out he had something terribly wrong that would not go away even with meds I would have to return him. You know what, perhaps if people started to do exactly that....bring back these sick pups...maybe then these people would either lose money and shut down or be more careful to sell healthy pups. They keep doing it cause we keep keeping them.
I did not pay the amount of money you paid for yours. But I'm assuming maybe you paid so much also cause of the warranty.
Almost forgot to mention to be sure your careful when handling other pups that are not sick after handling yours. Infections and illness could be spread through your hands and clothing etc.
Either way I'll shut up now and just look forward to hearing what you decided and whatever decision you make I know will be the right one for you and your girlfriend.
Look forward to hearing from you...

Welcome to yorkietalk

Heres part of a article I found at petcraft.com searching for NJ puppy law. No one attack me pleease cause I didnt write it. Just thought it had some good info :)

When purchasing a puppy in the Garden State, the store is obliged by law to inform you of the State of New Jersey regulations covering dog sales. The law gives the pet buyer specific guarantees and legal remedies, if the puppy is ill - either afflicted with a genetic disorder or infected with a disease. If the puppy has health problems, the law requires that you be offered a refund or an exchange. The store quite possibly might offer other guarantees. Be sure to get them in writing. Find out what the laws of your state are before buying.

Immediately after you pay for your puppy, take your new friend to a local animal hospital for an examination. Bring the health documentation from the store with you. This will tell the veterinarian what shots are needed. Ignore it when the store tells you to save your money, since the pup was checked over by their vet. Their vet is quite possibly biased in favor of the store. Your local practitioner will be impartial and thus in a better position to give a true picture of the puppy's health.

If the veterinarian tells you to return the puppy, do it! Don't make the mistake of feeling sorry for the baby. It is the store's responsibility to nurse a sick puppy back to health, not yours.

If you want to get a puppy from a private breeder, all well and good. Check out the breeders knowledge of dogs and motivations. Many so-called private breeders, simply out to make a fast dollar, breed poor quality dogs. If you buy a sick dog from a private breeder, it may be more difficult to receive any compensation.

A dog can be one of the best friends you ever have. But, as in any relationship, you only take out what you are prepared to put in.

I'm sure I"m a little late for this one, but I'd have taken her back too. She was unwell. Period. You did not get what you paid for. (And what in the H3LL are two college students FINANCING a $2,500 dog for??????) (Sorry, the mom in me said that!)

Two days of bonding isn't a basis for spending that much money on a dog that you are going to incur further undeterminable expense on. And by the way, might I add that you didn't spend $2,500 on her if you financed her, you will end up spending more like $4,000 by the time she'd paid off! Geesh.

Give her a big squeeze, kiss her goodbye and get your money back.

And please, don't flame me with the "would you send your child back if she was sick?" Come on. This is a sick dog they've had for two days. Not somebody they carried for nine months and gave birth to!

No news Yet...Hey what gives....

Hi---You sound just like us when we got Skippy last summer. The biting; everything will diminish as she gets older. We had the same problem. Also-Skippy had diarrhea and kennel cough too. Turns out he had Giardia, and the kennel cough. He also had a yeast infection in his ears. Gotta go right now-more later. Good Luck and hang in there--it's worth it!

The Geanalyn Story .. Sorry for the delayed post
 

first off, i would like to apologize for leaving you all hanging here for a little bit. During the weekend, i barely have time to go online. But 9-5 M-F i am ALWAYS online at work. lol well here's the story ..

Saturday morning at 9am, I dropped my girlfriend at school and stopped by the pet shop to talk to the manager abut our sick yorkie and asked if it was possible to maybe give us a discount but she said NO right away. So I didn't have anything to hide and told her that we found a perfectly healthy yorkie for sale for $1000. She said that if I wanted to return the dog we can. So i left the petstore and waited for my girlfriend to get out of class. I had our yorkie with me and all she did was sleep the whole time. She would cough so often as well and spit would come out of her mouth which seemed like flem. So i knew she wasn't getting any better. When my girlfriend got out of class, we headed over to the lady's house who had a baby yorkie for sale for $1,000. My girlfriend wanted to check out the puppy. We had to wait for her because she was not home yet. As we waited my girlfriend and i talked about the situation. She wanted to save money and so did I, $1,500 is a lot to save on a dog so we decided to return our sick yorkie to the pet store. We saw the new yorkies for sale at the house, she had both male and female for sale. And my girlfriend really liked the male more since she says that she's soooo small and cute. In my case, i really wasn't excited about the new yorkie yet since I was still soooo attached to our sick yorkie.
We left her house to return our sick yorkie to the petshop at the mall. While we were at the parking lot, ready to go inside the mall, I cried and cried for a good 30 minutes nonstop. I was soo attached to her already! I know it's only been 3 days, but i spent soooo much time with her, caring for her and always being there for her. IMO i believe she already knew me as her "dad". From the day we took her home, I always let her sleep on my bed, I couldn't leave her in the cage at all. And to say the least, i really think that she got used to the homey feeling of being in my house around my family. Everyone loved her already, especially my mother, she even knitted and sewed 3 clothings for her.
I'm sad right now as i am typing. I really am. :cry: Getting back on track with the story, as my girlfriend calmed me down after crying (i never had any idea that i could be soooooo attached to an animal as I was with her ever until now) we entered the mall hiding my tears inside. Even before we entered the store, the manager already saw us and knew we were going to return her. So she did not hesistate and right away got to work with the paperwoks. I myself did not stay inside the petstore for even more than 2 minutes, as I said my final goodbye to Geanalyn and handed her to the manager, I asked her to take good care of her and she said we will. I also asked her what's going to happen to her now? as soon as she answered with "SHE WILL BE SOLD" positively and with atitude to me, I walked out of the petstore crying my heart out. (She said it heartlessly but I guess she's only thinking about her business and I can understand her saying that because that mall that we went to Menlo Park Mall in Edison, NJ is around a RICH upperclass community area). I stayed in the parking lot as my girlfriend took care of the rest of the refund transaction. I am sooo sad right now. I always wonder what Geanalyn is doing and hoping and wishing she is ALRIGHT safe and sound.

After the mall, we headed back to the house of the lady who's yorkie we were going to buy. My girlfriend fell inlove with the male yorkie(keep inmind that she was not as attached to the sick yorkie that we had as much as me because she barely spent time with her) so she decided to buy the male yorkie instead of the female. As far as my opinion goes, I really was not as excited but still supported her decision. So now we have this adorable male yorkie born on January 10, 2005. I know that I will come around into liking the new yorkie as much as i did with Geanalyn but not any time soon. If i was rich and had plenty of money to throw away, I never would have consider returning her to the petshop or even look for another yorkie to buy.
Perhaps this new yorkie was meant for us to buy. Since we did plan to share a dog for our anniversary, the lady's house # was 444 Winthrope Ave. 4/4/04 is when me and my girlfriend made it official. So this is where we stand. The lady owner of the yorkies also was nice enough to us and gave us some pointers on how to save on money by bringing our dog to petco for it's vet needs since they have a "LuvMyPet" program where all the care and pet needs are discounted price. She also told us to visit petedge.com for all her accesories that we need since they have wholesale prices. The lady was really nice and told us that if we have any questions or problem to give her a call anytime. She's no more than 30 min. away from our home.

This concludes our experience this weekend. Even though i only had Geanalyn for 3 days, i know for sure that I will never forget about her. I really hope and wish that she gets settled with a good loving family as good as us if not better! Here are some pictures of both Geanalyn and the new addition to our family. We still dont have a name for him yet. Since I am on this board and you all are such great companions in this forum to talk to, perhaps you can suggest different names on what we should call our new yorkie.

Geanalyn
http://www.crisgean.org/geanalyn2.jpg

New baby boy yorkie
http://www.crisgean.org/yorkiesleep.jpg

Thank you all for your support and kind words. It really means a lot knowing that we have people to relate to. This has been an experience that I will NEVER EVER forget! :aimeeyork

I'm so sorry you are feeling so sad about this. It is normal, and the pain will subside. I think you absolutely did the right thing. I believe you will come to love your new Yorkie just as much in time.

As to a name, hmmm, tough one. I'm sure the members here will have a ton of suggestions for you. I like Coby or Ollie :)

thanks so much for the update, I'm sure your new baby will bring you joy and happiness... he is cute. would love to see his little face, and i'm sure you will fall in love with your new baby it won't take long... and I just want you to know you did the right thing taking your sick puppy back.

i did the same thing
 

i just wanted to say that i feel really bad for you that you are sad, but you will definitely grow to love your new pup as much, if not more, as you loved geanalyn.

i bought a miniature dachshund from a pet store about a year ago and the same thing happened to me. he was sick with bloody diarrhea and very lethargic. the vet told me that i should take him back right away, as he could have parvovirus and he was very small and sickly... it was so hard, but i had to do it.

i have two dogs now and i love them more than anything! hopefullyl, they will be healthy for a long time!

take care and congrats on your new puppy!