We recently purchased Cassie an 8 week old puppy who the breeder told us was a Yorkshire terrier (dad) crossed with a norfolk terrier (the mum). Thing is we paid £300 for her but her hair is still very short which seems odd seeing as both the breeds have long coats . Obviously we love her no matter what she is but do you think we have been duped??

Hi, puppies of long haired breeds are born with short coats, the hair grows quite quickly, but I doubt if you can expect it to be full length much before 12 months. Incidentally, Norfolk Terriers are not what I would call long haired, and being a cross breed, you can't tell what your pups coat is going to be like with any certainty.
Dawn R.

Thanks Dawn and as I said we love her no matter what so will have to see what develops

Regards
Debbie

Hello i dont want to be rude BUT" £300 for a mutt? i am sure you love it and that has nothing to do with it no wonder so many people are dishing out cross-breeds and mutts if they can get this sort of money they dont need to work WHYnot go to a rescue centre you can get the same there at a lower price and you are not paying some fool to flood the market with yet more poor dogs for the rescue centres Jackie :-(

We tried the rescue centres but there were not any suitable dogs to house with children and I was unfortunately led to believe that this was the going rate for cross breeds as all the pedigrees we looked at were £500 plus....maybe I have acted with ignorance BUT I can assure you that this is one "mutt" who will not end up in a rescue centre.

I read someplace that Yorki's coat to fully grow out till about 1 year of age as long as u don't cut it... The going rate here for cross bred (small dogs) is anywhere from $150 - $450 :( Of course the pet stores are $300 - $700 how sad :(

ttfn :) enjoy ur lil one

thanx we are

Debx

Hi Debbie,
A Norfolk Terrier is not what I'd call long-coated by any means. And £300 for a cross-breed?....I know of well-bred, pedigree, KC registered pups that go for that........

Yes, I have seen some more pictures of Norfolks and Although they are somewhat shaggier than Cassie I now realise they are not particulary a long haired breed...thanx for your time. It was also very hard to find a breeder in our part fo the country.

Deb,

A young Yorkie puppy has a short, sometimes slightly curly coat. Norfolks and Yorkies have completely different types of coats. Yorkie's coats are silky and smooth in feel. Norfolks are coats are hard and wiry.

I have to agree with everyone, the only way you were duped was in paying £300 for a cross breed. If in fact you bought what you were told, you should end up with an absolutely wonderful, loving, charmingly stubborn and lively little companion.

By the way - the picture you probably have seen are of show Norfolks. There coat is kept shorter by continually hand rolling - pulling out the longest and oldest hairs. They are not long coated like Yorkies, but they can get shaggy if their coats are left alone.

Stacey

Can I be controversial here?

Firstly your puppies coat wont grow or change colour much before 1 year old.

Can I also say that a friend of mine had an accidental breeding of shih tzu x (shih tzu x lhasa) - its a long story! She charged 280 for the pups and sold them straight away - as well as vetting the phone calls she was getting, and the puppies were all health checked. The reason she said she was charging so much was because she wanted people who could afford to keep them - actually i'm not explaining this very well am I - but she didnt want them ending up in rescue centres so wanted to find people who were willing and able to look after the pups... She also said that a couple of people who rang said that they had been wanting a shih tzu for a long time - they werent after perfect pedigrees and felt that breeders were charging too much.

I don't think 200-300 is too much to pay for a xbreed if it has had health checks and is in good health - a friend of mine was surprised by her husband who bought her a yorkie - OMG you should see the overshot of this REGISTERED PEDIGREE dog - it is disgusting.

I think there are some people who breed brilliant family pets which are xbreeds and i think there are some disgusting people who pose as 'breeders' who do nothing but damage the quality of breeds and then pass off these puppies with more faults and health problems than i care to imagine! At least some of the xbreeders are more up front and honest!

Sorry to offend anyone!

No offence, there are as many unethical breeders of pure breed dog as there are of crossbreed, well lets face it to deliberately cross breed is not a responsible thing to do but nor is to breed from pure breed dogs with bad faults.

One point to make - just because people are willing to pay large amounts of money for dogs does not mean that they don't end up in rescue. Dogs end up in rescue for all sorts of reasons and usually through no fault of the dog - owners get very ill, working hours change, children come along, the owners can't be bothered, etc.,etc.

Paying a large amount of money for a dog does not mean they will be a good owner.
How many pedigree rotties/staffs/all sorts of breeds do you see with Mr. Hard Man - a show off, telling everyone about his pedigree dog, then keeping it in his yard, and then getting rid when the novelty wears off/lack of training causes problems/he wants a new pedigree dog? Or a fru-fru dog for a fashion goddess, who changes her mind when it pees on the floor. Have even heard of someone buying a very expensive GD pup, then getting rid because it grew too big. Dogs the wrong colour for the furniture even!
I think paying £300 for a crossbreed is appalling (no offense to the poster, more to the person who bred them, I'm sure you're great owners, and your dog is lovely) - when there are thousands of pups and dogs in rescues needing homes, for a fraction of that cost. And yes, in many if not most rescues, they have a full checkover by the vet, are speyed/neutered, vaccinated and flead/wormed. Some even microchipped - all that for probably a third of what was paid here.
And as for there not being one suitable with kids - I know how important that is, having 5 kids of my own - but I have two rescue adult dogs, and they are both fine. It's a case of patience, waiting for the right dog/pup to come along and good back up from a good rescue.
It's sad that some people can't wait to get a pup, so get the first one they see for sale, rather than hold out and rescue one :(
And there are so many yorkie crosses in rescues, and pups pups and more pups!
Sorry if this sounds nasty, I honestly dont mean to, but it's very frustrating seeing pups sitting in rescues with no homes to go to - and then people selling the same type in the free ads for 3 times the cost, and people buying them - wasting their money, and wasting a good home. :(

Well said!!!!! Jackie