I figured he wasn't being truthful with me. The dogs didn't look particularly lethargic or anything, but my yorkie is 5 months and I know how much energy he has.. He could NEVER EVER thrive being trapped in a small cage 24 hours a day. And this store was selling their dogs for ridiculous prices. They were selling a maltese for $1400!!!! I got my yorkie for $850 from breeder who had him on her farm with his parents and siblings.

The one thing I will say is that I rarely ever see yorkies in pet stores and I have to confess that if I notice a pet store with puppies I always go in and check. They're like a train wreck, you can't look away.

Does this mean you don't believe yorkies (Or any other small dog for that matter) should be in a home with small children???!! :confused: I would have to disagree with that as a reason NOT to allow someone to adopt a yorkie. I think you should base that decision on how the children behave themselves. I have four children ages 7, 5, 3, and 15 months. We are training them from infancy how to respect and show love to animals. I have NOT baby proofed my dog, but rather, I am training my children to respect the dogs personal space. Just because a person has a small child or children DOES NOT mean it would be a bad home or an abused home for a small dog. I get really irritated when people say, "Oh you have small children. Not a good home for a yorkie." Really I take this to mean that people believe you shouldn't have kids if you want a small dog or you shouldn't have a small dog if you want kids????!! I am sorry I do not agree! I DO think that if parents want children AND a small dog then they SHOULD be putting forth the effort to train their children in the proper care and handling of the small dogs from a very young age.

As for pet stores, the dogs there deserve a good and loving home too and if we walk in a pet store, see the sad puppies in those little cages, and then walk out without doing anything to get them out of those cages then IMO we are just as guilty as the "breeders" who bred them and sent them there. How can we judge breeders who send their dogs to a petstore if we are posting how we seen a sad puppy in a store cage, but we didn't work out a way to get it a home. Not our responsibility but that of the breeders? Well aparantly not a responsible breeder so there fore why should we turn our backs on an innocent puppy stuck in a petstore cage? Pet store puppies deserve loving homes too whether the store owners lied or not. If it really bothers us so badly that these pet store puppies might not be going to good homes then why aren't we doing more to find them good homes? Surely we all know someone who would give petstore pups a loving home and don't have 6 kids under the age of 6.

Because, that is not helping by trying to change the situation and prevent the dogs from ending up there. That is supporting the practice. I don't buy fur coats because they're already there and dead...that would just give someone more reason to make more.
Supporting these businesses is the WORST thing you can do.
Don't BUY a pup from them...don't buy ANYTHING from them. :mad: :thumbdown
You want to get them out of cages? Try to help educate about and put a stop to the breeders making a living off getting them in there, not put more $$ in their pocket!

I apologise if I caused offense. I didn't think of it from that standpoint. You have very good points, and I agree.

I think the solution to the pet stores isn't necessarily through boycotting them. Personally, I wouldn't set out to get a dog from one, but I can't say that if I walked into one and saw a yorkie sitting there all by his lonesome that I would be able to resist taking him home.

The solution to the problem lies within legislation. As long as their are laws that allow these practices to go on, there will be puppy mills and pet stores. :(

Unfortunately, politicians today have bigger issues on their plates than dealing with puppies in cages. Sigh.

I would love to see it become law in North America that puppies and dogs cannot be sold in pet stores as in illegal to do so. Wouldn't that put a different spin on irresponsible breeders and puppymills?
As for Yorkies for families with small children, I know there are many on this forum that have small children or soon will and have a Yorkie.
I don't really care if anyone does but for my yorkies I do not ever sell to anyone with small children or anyone who will have children in the future. The minimum age I will sell to a family is a child no less than 10 years old, I have to meet the family and approve first reserving the right to refuse sale.
There has been two exceptions where there was one child about 7 years old and there were older brothers/sisters. I never regretted selling them that puppy as the family were excellent and have been wonderful parents to the kids and a good home for the dog.
However, as Willow posted the ages of her children, you may be an exception and are just fine with having a Yorkie. You must realize however, that from my point of view of looking for a proper home for my puppies, it is far too risky most of the time for my puppy to be in a home with such young children as I wouldn't know a prospective buyer is going to be clued in.
Most injuries to Yorkies and behaviour problems in Yorkies occur when small children are not properly supervised 24/7 with the Yorkie and the Yorkie is hurt or tormented.
I was at a dog show watching the Toy group and saw two little girls aged about 5 and 7 with their mother who had gotten a chihuahua and was trying to show it. The kids were torturing that dog no end at ringside waiting to go in the ring. I finally couldn't take it anymore and got up and talked to the girls with the mother standing right there who never said a word to correct those kids.
Unfortunately, this type of scenario is what I most often see with small dogs and families with small children. They think it is just a new inanimate doll and the parents don't give a hoot about the dog.

You didn't offend me.:eek: Just offering another view and my take. :)