Part 1:
I thought I had found a good hearted, decent Yorkie breeder to buy from. In her Facebook group it appears that she's the perfect breeder. It didn't seem like she had as many dogs as her most recent inspection shows (report attached, and link to the USDA inspection query below). If you look at her website she has 42 breeding dogs listed. When I initially made my deposit to buy a puppy only half, or a little over half, that number were listed. Her June 2022 inspection report shows that she had 70 adult dogs and 57 puppies, for a whopping total of 127 dog's onsite. Had I known that figure, I would probably not have chosen her as a breeder. (Side note, in her group she shares the first page of the inspection report-except one from before this year.) I feel as if this is some sort of deceptive practice on her part to not look too much like a puppy mill, since my first thought upon seeing that number was that it was and I didn't research enough before buying. People in the group are so happy with their little fur angels and people highly recommend her. That's great for them. My experience, however, was not.
Now I will begin my story.
I saw the cutest little blueberry merle tweed Yorkie in her group and immediately knew he had to be mine. As soon as she listed him I reached out to her and made my deposit. When I inquired about his charting weight (I was actually hoping he would be a little bit bigger than what she said he was charting) since he was the only puppy not to have a charting weight listed on her website, she sent me a chart and said about 4.5 lbs (to sum up the conversation). At almost 8 weeks, but not quite 8 yet, she responded to someone's comment that he weight was a little over 19 oz. When I looked back at the chart she provided, it look like he was charting a little over 3.5 lbs. She even made a comment that had she known he was going to be that small she would have kept him. I knew at that point I did not want to fly him. I kept in contact with her about the day he would be ready, originally she said at 8 weeks, so we decided to change the destination of our vacation to Springfield so that at the end of our trip we could pick him up and bring him home. When it got a little closer to the pick-up date, I asked if she thought he'd be ready. She said he was having a little trouble weaning, but would keep me updated. A couple of days before our vacation I made a final inquiry as to if he'd be ready by Oct. 28th. She said he probably wouldn't, but might be by the next week.
Fast forward to November 5th, the day we picked up our little Hopper. He was such a joy, and was such a great car rider on our long journey home to AL from MO (it took us 13 hours to get back home, as we got lost leaving from Josie's and it took us forever to get a signal to get Maps back up). As soon as we got home he was playing up a storm, then he sneezed. I didn't think anything of it, as our adult yorkie often sneezes sometimes when he plays. The next morning we work up and he sneezed and some snot came out with it, and he sneezed a little bit during the day, but he was still playing and eating well. Then Monday came and I had to go to work to get out an appeal for its deadline. My daughter was home watching him to make sure he ate when he was supposed to and to put him on pee pad to do his business. She called me at 8 and said he wouldn't eat his food. I told her to give him some Nutrical and try again to feed him in a couple of hours, if he didn't eat, to give him Nutrical every 3-4 hours. My daughter called me later in the day and said he still wouldn't eat, he'd been sleeping all day and his nose was really runny. I told her as soon as I got home I would check him out.
When I got home, his nose was indeed very runny, as was one of his eyes. However, he was alert when I woke him up and he sat in my lap watching TV (he seemed to really like watching TV) and he was drinking water and staying hydrated. I decided we would take him to the vet the next morning to get him checked out. Little did I know that there would be no next morning. He died in the middle of the night.
https://buffaloreflex.com/stories/two-persons-sentenced-others-receive-probation-for-crimes,12142
https://www.insideprison.com/state-inmate-search-in-correctional-facility.asp?st_abb=MO&facility=district%2020%20probation%20%26%20parole%20&a=500
(list goes alphabetically by last name - Lehmann)
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-8th-circuit/1063928.html
https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/details?name=Josie%20Davidson&citystatezip=Weaubleau%2C%20MO&rid=0x0
https://aphis-efile.force.com/PublicSearchTool/s/inspection-reports read more