"Teacup" is a term you may see thrown around. There is no such thing as a 'teacup' anything. There is the breed standard and there are puppies who are either above the standard in weight or below the standard in weight. The standard for the Yorkshire Terrier calls for the dog to be within 4 to 7 lbs. What people are generally referring to when they "speak" of "teacups" are dogs that are significantly below the standard. It is important to note that sometimes a puppy is extremely small because of serious health issues. Certainly this is not always the case but it certainly CAN be. Tiny dogs do have more risk factors for certain conditions such as liver shunt, collapsing trachea etc. Often breeders are not screening the pups adequately for liver shunt because they can charge more for a tiny puppy because of the demand. I also will charge more when I sell a tiny dog but the REASON I do is because I have done additional testing and the pup has had many more vet trips before I offer them for sale. Because of this my expense is more. If the pup doesn't pass the vetting process I will not offer them for sale. I will either keep them myself or place them in a home free of charge where the owner will be prepared to take on a pup with issues. My goal is to NOT breed those problems and so far I've not done so but never say never because we are dealing with live animals and you can't always prevent everything that can go wrong. Any puppies I have who are tracking 3 lbs or less will automatically stay until 16 weeks and then must pass a bile acid test before they are offered for sale. Any puppy who is tracking above that and also has episodes of hypoglycemia will also stay until 16 weeks and must pass a bile acid test. I will review my protocol on an ongoing basis in consultation with my vet as I need to, and always with the goal of providing a puppy who is well vetted before sale.

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