teacup yorkies
 

Before you start jumping down my throat, yes, I know there is no such thing as a teacup yorkie...just needed to catch your attention. This leads to more questions that I have:

1) What do you call a yorkie that is under 3 lbs full grown?

2) For those of you that have bred and ended up with a very small yorkie, do you still sell those with limited registration, or did you end up just keeping it?

I just wanted to know because I have a very small female that still weighs only 14 ounces at 4+ weeks. Even the runt of my litter has by-passed her in size. I am currently planning on keeping her because she is so small. I know that as an owner, people are quick to jump on people that call small yorkies teacups. But this is a term that has been coined by the public. If the public goes by this phrase then why not just go with the flow?

No, I'm not trying to make enemies here, just curious. :)

OMG YOU USED TEACUP!!!! :eek: LOL just kidding with you... :p i really would like to know too! because i mean what do we call them when they are so tiny!

I think the word "teacup" has come to mean "smaller than average". I don't think anyone will jump at your throat about it if you aren't going to put that word in front of "Yorkie" and try to sell it for 5 billion dollars. I'm only against the word "teacup" if a irreputable breeder tries to make a pretty penny off of the word. Fred is smaller than I thought in size and I just call him mutant, runt, rat or teeny tot. But, that's just me trying to be funny and I doubt Fred understands enough to get his feelings hurt. :D
From reading these threads, a lot of people like to keep the smaller ones but if they cannot keep them, they sell them with limited registration just to prevent the small dog from being bred. But, I'm no breeder so I might not be of any help! :rolleyes:

thanks for your replies. Let's see if we can get more.

I'd call the under 3 lb-er "small." Calling dogs "teacups" are, to me, a sales pitch to sell dogs that are very small, and to be honest, may have more health problems. I just don't like the implication that since my dog who is over 10 lbs. is somehow not desirable or cute because he's not a "teacup." Plus, the word "teacup" is SOOOO Disney...

You know, in another thread, i was talking about a woman who said, "oh, you have a regular yorkie, mine's a teacup." I think some people believe that "teacup" is a different breed of yorkie altogether, and that's not the truth.

Is there a substantial difference between trees and bonsai? They're both trees. Should we call small yorkies bonsais?although I believe there's a website called bonsaiyorkies.com or something.

I think a 3lb is just a small or tiny yorkie. I agree with everyone that "teacup" is a marketing term so that people can charge mucho dinero. A lot of people do think that a "teacup" is variation of the breed like in poodles. They even spoke about the fact that poodles are one of the very few breeds that actually have variations of the breed based on size.

If your baby girl will fit in a tea cup, then that's what you should name her. My Maggie is already 3.5 lbs, at 13 weeks. She is way past the tea cup size. I guess Maggie would fit in the Mixing Bowl catagory.

Ha Ha I like the mixing bowl!!!! Whether you like the word tcup or not you definitely can't get away from it. Everytime we go for walks someone asks if we have a teacup and how much tcups cost.

Four to seven pounds is the standard so I call a yorkie under four pounds small. It doesn't drive me crazy that people use the word teacup but I do think they use it to get more money. Why isn't there a cutesy term for a ten pound yorkie?

Mixing Bowl!!! LMAO! That was funny!

Bunny is estmated to mature at 3lbs (no guarantees) and my breeder just told me that she would be tiny, no teacup term. I think that people looking for a "teacup" need to do more research on the breed!

We can make a cutsy term ..."more than standard"? Standard-PLUS ?? Chanel is all that to me and more - more like "Special Jumbo Size" cause she's 10 lbs of FUN !

"Special Jumbo Size"? lol! Maybe we can call the smaller Yorkies "Bite Size" :p

"Special Jumbo Size" and "Yorkies Bite Size"...LOL! That I got confused with Teacup and tiny yorkie. And I was about to buy one until I came here on YT and found they were no such thing.

LOL!! Max has the biggest crush on Chanel, he told me he loves "Full Figured Yorkie girls with long hair" ;)

HIgh Dollar sales pitch.. A Yorkie is a yorkie is a yorkie. I raise smaller yorkies and i tell people there is no tcup. they have to spay or nuter them it's in the contract. (females) Who wants a young little baby having babies and have to have a c-section.

I agree totally. I've seen what goes on during a natural birth. I couldn't see putting my baby through a c-section. Grant it, sometimes, even a regular yorkie needs a little help, but tinies shouldn't be bred anyway! :thumbdown

I'll tell you what you call them...a yorkie! Small yorkies are still just yorkies! :) Mia is just a little over 2 lbs right now at over a year old, and people ask me all the time if she is a teacup. The word doesn't really bother me, what DOES bother me is breeders who dont know what they are doing who slap the word on the puppy to raise their prices. But 14 ounces at 4 weeks old sounds like it will be bigger than 3 lbs anyway, so no worries!

I agree on the term tiny I have heard reputable breeders use the word in describing the very small ones. however I also agree with Britt in that 14 oz at 4 weeks is going to be bigger than 3 lbs so you probably do not need to worry much:)

OK, I'm going to risk another teacup question
 

When I decided to buy a dog, I researched the web for qualities I thought would fit me. One was small. I am retired and wanted a dog I could easily handle, bathe, etc. I searched for about a year and finally found what I thought was going to be a very small yorkie. I saw her mom and dad, 4 and 5lbs, visited the breeder, asked all the questions I could, read everything I could, etc. I drove 450 miles to get Chloe, who was tiny and cute. She is now 7 lbs of cute, smart as can be and I just love her. She is, however, bigger than I thought. The next time I did the same, tried to get a reputable breeder, asked questions, etc and bought Lacey, who is 3 lbs. She's also a great pet. I paid more for Lacey but it wasn't because of any guarantee of size, it was because of her sire's championship lines. So, just how is a person who just wants a small yorkie able to judge? Not that I consider Chloe big, but people ask me things like, are these the same kind of dog? They are both yorkies, but size and coloring could not be more different. I guess when I do this again, I want to look for the right attributes and ask the right questions because I definitely feel I was not as prepared as I thought with the first two. I just made the best decision based on discussion, on site visit and I'll admit, love at first sight.

tiny
 

I call them tinies...and if RiniWhisper and myself kept every tiny we got, we would be up to our chins in dogs. All my pups go with limited regs unless the person is a friend and I trust them.

I don't know that your girl will be under 3 pounds.. is possible. She is just 2 oz shy of a pound at 4 + weeks...if she is no more then a pound at 8 weeks then she will probably be 3 to 3 1/2 pounds. If she is 1 1/2 pounds at 12 weeks then I would say it is a very very good bet she will indeed be 3 pounds.

LOl...or how about a Big Gulp?

Or yorkie under four pounds is a Teacup -- one over seven pounds is a Grande Supremo ??? :grin2:

Is that a "toy" Yorkie??
 

That's my own personal favorite!! Just in the past few weeks, two people have asked me if Mojito is a "toy" Yorkie. I think that with all the so-called teacup hype, people are totally oblivious to the fact that the standard AKC weight range is 4-7 pounds. And these were people that were looking to get a Yorkie!!

Sorry all, had to vent...

Tinies are teacups, X-Larges are Ventis!

Mmm... now I want Starbucks...

We took toby to petsmart the other day and someone asked what breed he was i said Yorkie to which her response is must be a mix i havent ever seen one so big to which i got rather defensive and said look just because my dog is "standard" size (6lbs) doesnt make him a freak besides even at 6lbs he is a small dog i dont understand people who specifically buy dogs that will be 3 lbs or less seems to me just asking for more health issues.

I have a small yorkie that doesn't have any health issues. In fact she can do anything my larger dog can do. I understand your frustration though people can be totally rude. When I go walk with them both I have gotten similar comments about my larger dog.

1) What do you call a yorkie that is under 3 lbs full grown? "below standard".

I call them "below standard" or "smaller than norm". For example, "Lisa has a new litter that is supposed to be smaller than normal when full grown".

2) For those of you that have bred and ended up with a very small yorkie, do you still sell those with limited registration, or did you end up just keeping it?

I'd sell it with a spay/neuter contract to a very, very responsible person without small children for the same price that I would sell a Yorkie that should weigh 6lbs full grown.

3) But this is a term that has been coined by the public. If the public goes by this phrase then why not just go with the flow?

The public has coined a lot of awful terms; some being racist and others being derogatory against women. As with those type of words, I ignore this word as well and become irritated when I hear it.

Chachi and Mojo - I know what you mean about people thinking your dog is freaking "weird" for being 5 or 6 or 7lbs! This woman at the Vet's office was like "wow, is that a Yorkie??!!". At this time Stewie was weighing in at a whopping 3.8lbs. I said "yes..." and she pulled this tiny sickly looking dog from a very very small dog carrier. I didn't even realize there may be a dog in there because it was so small. Anyway, her "teacup" was approximately 1lb and looked AWFUL. I'd take my little 6lb chunkster over that pathetic looking 1lber any day. I have peace of mind knowing that he won't fall out of bed and die.

Hello.We have 9 yorkies. Our smallest is 3.5 lbs, she is fixed. And we also have 2 that are 10 lbs and 9 lbs. they are also fixed. When Im out with Daisy Mae (our little one) and Molly and Katie (biggins) people ask if
Daisy is a teacup, and I tell them no, but the other 2 are bathtub yorkies. They cant figure that one out. lol :)

14 ounces not that small
 

14 ounces for a pup that is 4+ weeks is not that small. My Max weighed 1 pound (16 ounces) at 3 months. At 14 ounces at that age, pup should be in the standard range of 5-7 pounds full grown according to all the charts. We had one gal on here, cannot remember her name whose pup was 8 ounces at 12 weeks!!!! Now that is teeny. No matter what the size, we just love them, big, small, whatever. My Bengie is about 8 pounds full grown, most people think he is smaller, but he is the best and even if he weighed as much as my daughters lab, I would still love em the same. My Gare is about 5.5 pounds and love him to death.

I think we all have to get used to the term "teacup" as much as we may not like it. I see no difference in "teacup" and "tiny". Breeders use both to ask higher prices. It does not offend me since they are what is in demand and if they can sell them for that I think they deserve to because it takes a little more time and effort to get a tiny to 12 or 16 weeks where they can be safely adopted and the selection criteria is a little tougher since you cannot sell to people with small children.

I have talked to a lot of breeders and even the ones who advertise teacup yorkies will not sell to someone who is questionable about their motives or does not have the suitable lifestyle for one. I have been turned down because I have larger dogs, because I have a 13 year old child, and because I have a pool!!

Unfortunately, a limited regisitration is not an absolute guarantee that that female will not be bred. It does not matter to the average person that a dog is not AKC registered and some feel that they can breed a small female to a small male and not jeopardize the female because the puppies will be smaller. I do not agree with this, and the breeder is at least making an effort to be sure the female isn't bred, but it can still happen because, legally, they own the dog and can do with it what they feel is okay.

It does sound like your puppy will be larger then 3 lbs at adulthood based on the charts.I would probably not advertise her as a tiny or teacup for this reason.

I agree ... it really doesn't matter! We wanted a really small dog because of our lifestyle, otherwise I don't believe we could've gotten a dog of any type until we retired. Little ones are so much easier to handle when you are traveling. Besides, I had always wanted one that was really small. We didn't really know anything at all about Yorkies and had never heard the term "teacup" among the breed. Patrick searched all over the country, and when we finally found Toto, she was projected to be less than 3 lbs. fully grown. Ava strives for breed standard and health in her show dogs rather than for babies that will sell because she rarely sells one. Toto's growing up to be small was just a bonus because five minutes after we held her, we didn't care if she grew to the size of a St. Bernard!! Because she was so small, 1 1/2 lbs. at 16 weeks, it was very difficult to convince Ava to sell Toto to us, especially when she found out how much we travel. It took much reassuring that we would provide anything that Toto needed before she considered us! We have been blessed to be able to do just that! I personally don't think anyone should have a Yorkie who isn't willing to make the sincere committment to take care of it and that includes having the smaller at risk ones spayed/neutered without having to do it because of a contract, but because it is the responsible thing to do!! These tiny babies have no business having babies for the sake of size! ;)

BTW ... because Miss Prissy Paws isn't shedding the extra 2.4 lbs. she is lugging around, we now refer to her as "Portly"!! She is still on her diet and hasn't lost an ounce because her exercise hasn't increased ... :( She is so pudgy, you can\'t feel a rib on her! :eek: