Any dog that meets KUSA's requirements for registration may be registered and receive "papers". The papers do not tell you if the Yorkie is of good quality or if it really is or even looks like what a Yorkie is supposed to be. All it can tell you is that your dog is registered with them as a Yorkshire Terrier and that its records are on file.

Many people misunderstand this very important point. Many poor quality Yorkies not bred to the standard are KUSA registered. You can't judge the quality of your Yorkie from looking only at his or her registration papers or pedigree. When puppies are whelped and the breeder registers the litter with the KUSA, they in turn will send a puppy application paper for each puppy in the litter. When the time comes, the breeder will sign the puppy over to the buyer.

KUSA registration means that the parents of the Yorkshire Terrier were registered as Yorkshire Terrier or it could also mean that an unethical breeder lied or was mistaken about the breeding that produced the litter. Registration itself is neither a guarantee nor even an indication of quality. This is why reputable breeders are have all their dogs, both female & male DNA certified.

No one examines the parents or the puppies to see if they really qualify to be registered as Yorkshire Terrier, and KUSA has to depend on breeders to be honest when applying for a litter registration. Some unethical breeders apply for registration forms for puppies that have died or were never born.

To complicate matters further, a female Yorkshire Terrier can be impregnated by different male dogs during her fertile cycle and if the dogs are not watched closely some puppies in the litter may have different fathers than other puppies of the same litter. In kennels where males and females of different breeds typically run together, mixed breed puppies can and will be registered as purebred if they look close to what the breed should look like.

With this in mind, you now know that a pedigree can only tell you what the breeder told KUSA as to who the ancestors were - it can't tell you if they were of good quality, bad quality, what they looked like or whether they had inherited health or temperament problems, had a history of heart disease or liver shunts. It won't tell you any of this.

If you purchased your Yorkshire Terrier for a companion pet, you probably aren't concerned about finding out more about his or her family. If you intend to breed or show your Yorkshire Terrier, however, getting accurate information about his or her background can be very important. You'll need to do much more than just look at the names on its pedigree. To find out more about the Yorkshire Terrier in a particular pedigree, you should visit the breeder to see the sire and dam. The breeder should be able to tell you where to find the grandparents as well.

Thanks Janine. In my case, i have the KUSA certificates so I know who the parents are and i have seen the parents. but I would like to know more about tracing those lines back...how would I do that? I see names i recognise in their lines but how does one really trace that back to see the quality of their puppy?

and how does someone have DNA testing done?

Thanks for the valuable information.

I want to add one thing to your last paragraph. I don't think that you should overlook these issues of quality when it comes to a companion pet.

The reason why it is important to buy quality dogs from reputable breeders is because if you are looking for a yorkshire terrier, you are only guaranteed a Yorkshire Terrier when you buy from a proper breeder. The temperament, the grooming, the training, etc. of a Yorkie is only predictable if it is bred well.

There are so many loopholes and shortcuts in breeding, especially in puppy mills and backyard breeding. You have no guarantee about what you are getting if you don't do the research.

The other major reason is that unplanned breedings often lack the proper tests. This results in the passing of genetic disorders. So then you get a litter of puppies with defects. The bad breeder won't even know or care. The pet owner will have to deal with a sick dog for the rest of its life.

Even if you only want a pet, buy from the best breeder you can afford.

i like that post :bounce:

Thatnks for the info Marilize and Janine!

Thanks for that Janine. Yes, it all comes down to the trustworthiness of breeders and the responsibility of buyers. You are so right it is just like with DNA testing. It does not tell you if you are buying a breeding quality dog or if your dog is according to the standard, just that its parents were both dogs of the same breed.

I would like to tell you all of my personal experience. A girl I know bought a unregistered Alaskan Malamute girl and later decided she would like to breed with her and bought a registered male, when we went to pick up the male she told the breeder that she is so sorry her girl is not registered. Well the lady without ever seeing the bitch quickly solved that problem for her by registering her for her and WALLA she now has a registered breeding pair.

DNA testing is a very simple procedure.

I send hair samples (with roots) of the dam, sire and puppies to Unistell Labs (part of the University of Stellenbosch) and request DNA profiles and parentage certification.

It does not cost an arm and a leg and the DNA profile gets recognized internationally.

Wow, that is great. And what do you know...I am just here in Stellenbosch

Does it tell you if it is a purbred Yorkie? Do they give you a certificate or paper?

To trace a bloodline back a few generations might be very difficult.

In our case, I can Google the registered name of the Yorkies on the reg documents and this has taken me around the world!

Many of the dogs on my pedigrees are still in the showring abroad and then I can even see photo's of them.

One of the dogs is Ozmilion Mystification from whom we have a few descendants. If you Google him you will be able to see his whole life history.

It makes very interesting reading!

Thats very interesting

It is called a Genotype certificate, but it does not tell you if it is a purebred Yorkie.

This is only a DNA profile and it is the same as what they do for people. Everyone of us as a unique DNA profile, like a fingerprint.

Ok. But it will be able to tell you that both parents were in fact yorkies?

I work in a micro lab and we do yeast DNA fingerprinting. Unfortunately our technique for DNA isolation protocol is standardised for yeast and bacteria DNA. But its an interesting field!!!

Very interesting thanks

about What Amoureux said about the Malamute a similar thing happened to me. When i bought Taylor I got her from the original breeder who was going overseas shortly and said because she was levaing she didnt have time to register the litter and i agreed to accept her unregistered.

After she left her daughter in law took over the breeding so I contacted her and asked her if it was possible to get my papers. she contacted me and said she couldnt but she wuld simply register Taylor as part of her next litter which was 6 months younger if i was happy with that which i WAS NOT! when we got hold of kusa there was a way to register them properly and i paid about R290 and got her papers and her sister's papers who belongs to a friend. but i was very shocked that it was so easy to do. In the breeder's defense she was new to the whole thing but still!

The only way you can be absolutely sure that your dog is a purebred is to have its DNA tested yourself.

It is a simple procedure and you will have written test results that you can rely on. There are two kinds of DNA tests available for your dog. A blood DNA test has to be administered by your veterinarian. The blood test is nearly 99 percent accurate.

You can also swab the dog's mouth and send the swab to a lab. They will test it and send you a report. These reports will tell you all of the different breeds that exist within your dog.

I think that this can be a costly operation for anybody to do,so rather buy from a reputable breeder.

Having 5 generations with me, I am pretty sure that my Yorkies are purebred.

I agree with you Janine, DNA testing is costly and it will still not tell you the whole picture like will your puppy have beautiful small pointy ears and are likely to stand or are they likely to be to big and floppy. The best way to go is to find yourself a reputable breeder.