| mattiematt | 12-17-2008 01:29 PM |
Yep, I had one for 15 years. . .
Her name is Mattie. She was a wonderful little girl. Father was a 4 pound Maltese and mother was a miniature poodle. She ended up weighing 6 to 7 pounds. Her coloring was black and tan like a Yorkie pup. The black turned to a silvery grey with a black back. Her hair was thicker than a sleek Maltese, more like a poodle, only not curly. Her ears were flapped at the halfway point. She was somewhat guarded as are smaller dogs, but she loved her human family and her best friend, Charlie. He is our Yorkiepoo. He has been with us now for 17, yep, 17 years. We are told his death is actually eminent, but nobody sent him the memo, so you wouldn't know that by looking at him save for the occassional "trip" for no apparent reason. He weighs in at 8 to 10 pounds, was all black when we got him and is now a beautiful dark silver. His hair is softly curly when we let it grow, his ears look like the donkey's ears on "Shrek" and he is extremely smart. Very friendly with people, aggressive towards dogs but only when Mattie was around. OK, so where did I get them. Well, I first got Charlie from an ad in the paper. I spoke with the person who turned out to be a Yorkie breeder. She explained that she had clients that would bring their female dogs to her to help them get bred. Occassionally a gate was left open and a dog would become pregnant by accident. She described "Charlie" as one of those accidents. I loved him so much that I called and asked her to let me know when there was another "accident". Two years later, we had Mattie. Now here's the glitch. When I contacted the breeder 15 years later, when Mattie had passed, she would not acknowledge me. That was just over a year ago. She said she had never sold that type of dog and never would. Well, I bought two, one from her and one from her father. I felt like she didn't want to be associated with dogs that were not purebred Yorkies. I now have a Yorkie, who shares her place with Charlie since Mattie has gone. I would not buy a dog from this breeder just because it didn't seem like a good place afterall. However, I know these things happen, so you could try speaking to breeders about what happens when that occurs or if they know of anyone in that situation, you would like to be called, etc. Today, people breed different dogs together to get the "designer dogs" as was penned several years ago. They cost quite a bit of money, not the $175 or $200 I paid years ago for my "mistakes". I would now advise you to look very hard at the person you are buying from, listen to your gut, and beware of people who have undersocialized puppies, won't show you siblings or parents or have an environment that is unkempt. I would also try calling vets. They often have clients with pregnant dogs that want mostly to find good homes for them. Leave your information and perhaps you'll get lucky, and I do mean Lucky! They were and are wonderful dogs who have been great additions to our family. They were both very healthy and rarely had to be taken to the vet except for the obvious health checks and shots. I love my yorkie now and I can't imagine life without her, but she is so much more costly than Mattie and Charlie combined. I can't quite figure out why, save for the fact that times are more expensive now, I guess. Anyway, it's worth trying to find one. I see them advertised often in the local newspapers here in the Los Angeles and Orange County papers. They range up to $600, but that's another thing I would be leary of. I do not believe there are any papers for these dogs, but I have seen people try and sell pups for higher prices because of "the papers"! So don't be fooled. Good Luck with your search. | 