Do: Research the breed. Make sure the dog will fit your lifestyle. If you want a low maintenance dog to take jogging with you, then a yorkie is probably not your best choice.
Do: Research the breeder. Not all yorkies are created equal. If you find the right breeder they will provide you with the right puppy.
Do: Ask questions. Responsible breeders welcome questions. Ask about their breeding program, What do they consider to be the most important qualities to breed for. Ask how the puppy has been socialized, are the parents kept in cages, at what age are the puppies taken from the mother, etc.
Do: Insist on seeing the puppy walk and play. Many breeders will put the puppy in your hands as you walk through the door and you have no idea of it's body shape or how it walks until you get home. If it's wobbly or hunched back it possibly has health issues. Pass on it and look for anlother one.
Do: Take your time in choosing a puppy. This puppy is going to be a big part of your life. Make sure it is a good fit with your family.
Don't: buy a puppy on price alone. If you have done any research, you have probably noticed that that there is a huge price range for yorkies. Beware of breeders that sell for too little, or for too much.
Don't: buy a puppy over the internet unless you are comfortable that the breeder is reputable. They don't always ship the puppy that you chose from a picture on their website. In fact that picture might not even be of their own puppy. Some breeders steal pictures from other websites.
Don't: buy from breeders who have more than one or two litters at a time or have multiple breeds. These are puppy mills. They breed for quantity and not quality. They will sell to anyone, anytime, anywhere.
Don't: buy from breeders whose websites are full of hype about how tiny their puppies are or those who claim to have sold to famous people. Just because some famous person bought a puppy from them does not mean that their dogs are well bred.
Don't: buy undersized puppies that come from undersized parents. All breeders will get an occasional tiny puppy, but those that are breeding tiny dogs, to get tiny puppies, are passing along bad genetics. Just as with abnormally small people, abnormally small yorkies have additional health problems and a shorter than average life expectancy. You just might find that you have paid a lot of money for a big heartache.
Don't: buy from brokers or pet stores. You have no idea where the puppy came from or how the parents are kept or what conditions they were raised in. Breeders, who care about their dogs, want to know what type of home the puppies are going to and how they will be taken care of.
Don't: buy a yorkie puppy under 10 weeks old. Young yorkies tend to get hypoglycemia. The stress of going to a new home and all the excitement tires them out and they forget to eat. They could develop hypoglycemia and die before morning.
