There is no such thing as a "Teacup" Yorkie!

People want small dogs. They are cute and adorable! They have charming personalities. They fit in a bag, they don’t need much space, eat less, tend to live longer and aside from being just plain cute with wonderful personalities! That is all good.

How small is too small? You must know the difference between a small healthy, happy and adorable versus an extremely tiny sickly dog. Would you want a dog that is so small that it has health issues, that ends up costing you a fortune in vet bills, can’t play, can’t run, and can’t enjoy life?

Toy breeds are small dogs (often 10 lbs. or less) in the Toy Group recognized by the AKC and the FCI. According to the AKC standard, a healthy Yorkshire Terrier weight is between 4.5 and 7 lbs. There are other slightly larger toy breeds such as Maltese, Pugs or Pekinese. A dog less than 20 lbs. is quite small; a 3 lb. dog is tiny, and a 2 lb. dog is miniscule. So, there are options to choose from. But why are some breeders out there breeding ‘teacup yorkies’?

Well… let me tell you… there is no such thing as a teacup breed, teacups are not described nor recognized by any canine authority in the whole wide world! Not AKC, not CKC, not UKC and less FCI. These canine authorities are people who sit down, study the main characteristics of the different breeds, write them down and establish a ‘breed standard’. You will not find anywhere a standard for a ‘Teacup’. Unscrupulous breeders describe ‘Teacups’ as half the standard of the recognized breed standard…. The smallest and weakest of a litter is called a runt. Did you read that? Smallest and WEAKEST! These dogs are so small that vital organs of their bodies (heart, lungs, liver) and other organs like teeth that try to grow to a minimum size to function properly do NOT fit in those bodies! What happens? Health issues, liver shunts, heart failure, underdeveloped teeth…. And on and on and on. Because tiny itty-bitty puppies sell well… some people breed tiny itty bitty -not health sound- parents to get itty bitty itty -ill- puppies often sacrificing the life of the mothers’ and most of the litter… These pups -if they make it to adulthood- will develop early problems, have very short life spans and live miserable lives. Very few of them are healthy and balanced and live long- very very very few of them.

Because I love the dogs and I love the breed, I select my breeding stock to the best of the best and refuse to purposely breed tiny itty-bitty dogs that will have miserable lives and cost fortunes to maintain AND break mine and other people’s hearts. PLEASE DO NOT ASK FOR "TEACUPS". I do not own them, I do not have them, I do not breed them!