Important questions to ask the breeder of your potential new Yorkshire Terrier

The Yorkshire Terrier is one of the most popular toy dog breeds in the UK, and one that has a lot of appeal for many different types of owners. They are also one of the most common small dog breeds, and one of the easiest to find offered for sale; so if you are looking to buy a Yorkshire Terrier puppy or adult dog, you probably won’t have to search too far from home to get one. However, it is vitally important to choose a responsible breeder, and one that breeds Yorkies for the love of the breed and with the breed’s best interests at heart, rather than with the intention of making lots of money.

The Yorkshire Terrier makes for an excellent pet, but they can also be prone to a range of health problems and behavioural issues if they are not selectively bred for all of the right positive traits.

Good breeders will breed with the advancement of the breed in mind, and with the intention of breeding ever better dogs from their litters, and of course, you as a potential buyer will want to support this. The article below will help you to understand a little more about the breeding and sale of the Yorkshire Terrier, how to pick a good breeder, and what type of questions to ask your breeder. The breeder should also be available to offer you help and support even after you take your little dog home for the first time.

Questions about the health of the breed line

While it would be impossible for any dog breeder to guarantee that their puppies will be free of health problems throughout their life, you should do what you can to ensure that your breeder does everything in their power to produce healthy little dogs. Your breeder should have plenty of background information and insight available for you on the parents of the puppies and the breed line itself, and have had health tests performed on some of their stock of breeding dogs for issues such as eye problems, hip problems and thyroid issues. The breeder should also be able to tell you if any of the relatives of the parent dogs suffer from any genetic health conditions, and what the breeder has done to ensure that their own Yorkshire Terrier litters are as healthy as possible.

Veterinary treatment prior to sale

Before the breeder starts letting the puppies go off to their new homes, they should have undergone some of their first, basic health procedures. They should be wormed and treated for fleas, have met the vet at least once, and have had at least the first stage of their two-stage initial vaccinations.

Your breeder should also be able to furnish you with the paperwork to verify all of this, and be able to tell you the vet or practice that treated the litter and dam.

Also, responsible breeders should not allow a buyer to take a puppy home before the pup is twelve weeks of age; if the breeder you are considering is happy to let you take a puppy home sooner, look for a different breeder.

Temperament of the puppies and parents

The two core factors that dictate the ultimate temperament of a puppy come down to a combination of both their breeding, and learned experiences.

You should meet the dam of the litter, and possibly the sire too, and spend some time around them to ascertain if they appear to be happy, calm, confident and obedient. Yorkshire Terriers are busy little dogs that like to explore and get into mischief, and so the breeder should already have begun enabling this by providing toys and entertainment for the puppies, and socialising them with people and possibly other dogs within the household.

The Yorkie puppies should be alert, interested in meeting you, and not display fear of people. The Yorkie breeder should also be able to tell you about the different personalities of the puppies within the litter that will have already begun to develop, indicating that the breeder has spent a lot of time and commitment working with the litter.

What will happen after the sale?

Responsible breeders will remain interested in the wellbeing and development of the dogs that they breed long after the sale, and should provide support and help for you once you have taken the puppy home if you need this. Ask the breeder what forms of support they offer after you take your little Yorkie home, and find out if the breeder has a sale contract that demonstrates this in writing to back it up.

Finally, find out if the breeder offers any type of guarantee against foreseeable or immediate problems with the pup, and what they will do if something proves to be amiss shortly after the sale.