Faux Yorkie
January 26, 2011 4:29 AM   Subscribe

A pet store sold me a Yorkshire Terrier but it's actually a Silky Terrier, can they do this?

About last spring I purchased my second yorkie from a reputable pet store. All of the puppies were displayed with their breed labels on show and I selected what was documented and priced ($1600) as a pure bred Yorkshire. As a small puppy I didn't notice any difference of appearance between the yorkie I already had and the new pup. As the puppy aged however the differences became incredibly obvious. At almost a year old now the newer dog is about 15 pounds and my older yorkie is a steady 5 pounds. The dog in question is much taller and longer and it's fur and temperament characteristics is that of a Silky and not at all like my first yorkie. In fact, he is most often taken for a Silky by veterinarians and on lookers, and all my research confirms as much. I've even been told by these veterinarians that there is no way that this is a Yorkshire, that that would be the same as saying a beagle is a poodle..

Whatever the case I love this dog and I'm going to keep him but I am interested in bringing this to the pet store's attention. I feel that it's unfair to future buyers that they may purchase breeds they had no intentions to receive. The dog has grown on me but I am disappointed that I didn't receive the advertised breed and the amount I paid was incredibly overpriced for a Silky. Can I hold this pet store responsible for this and is so what can I expect upon addressing this with them?
posted by xbeautychicx to Pets & Animals (20 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
You are probably going to get piled-on for buying a dog from a pet store, even a "reputable" one, instead of going directly to breeders and checking out the puppies' living conditions and caretakers. Good breeders don't sell at pet stores, full stop. If being a different breed than advertised is the only issue with the dog you got, you lucked out.
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:40 AM on January 26, 2011 [48 favorites]


Pet stores get a shipment of puppies and guess what they are from the shipping manifest, someone else out there has a Yorkie they were told was a Silky (or, more likely, you both have some kind of mix of the two). FYI, there is no such thing as an ethical breeder selling to a pet store (so the pet store is not "reputable" in any real sense when it comes to where they source their puppies, they ALL say they come from ethical breeders, but they lie), and unfortunately, I highly doubt you have any recourse whatsoever, especially since a randomly-bred Yorkie and a randomly-bred Silky can be extremely similar in appearance since they are related to each other (the Yorkie was one of the breeds used to develop the Silky), and since vets are not experts in determining breed unless they happen to be a specific fancier of one or the other breeds, there is no way to really prove that what you have is one versus the other (the genetic tests are a waste of money, and would be useless even if they were accurate in your case, since all Silkies have Yorkie heritage).
posted by biscotti at 4:46 AM on January 26, 2011 [13 favorites]


Best answer: Do you have evidence (receipts, papers, etc.) from when you purchased the dog that indicate it was sold as a Yorkie? Can you get your vet or another knowledgeable person to write an affidavit that it isn't a Yorkie? Can you gather evidence (prices from other stores, breeders, etc) that indicate the usual difference in price between the two varieties of dog? If so, take this in to the shop and ask for a complete refund. If they say no, take it to small claims court.

Also, if you bought a dog from a pet shop instead of from a reputable breeder, it probably came from a puppy mill. Especially if the pet shop isn't even knowledgeable enough about the provenance of the animal to be sure of its breed. Google puppy mills before you ever, ever consider buying a dog from a pet shop again. You're lucky your dog is just the wrong breed, it could have been diseased and full of congenital problems from unsanitary conditions and unscrupulous breeding. Those places are horrifying.

(please note that pet stores that feature shelter dogs are fine- it's shops that sell purebred puppies that are the problem).
posted by Wroksie at 4:48 AM on January 26, 2011 [2 favorites]


If you just want to bring it to the store's attention, tell the store. If you want your money back, then sue the store in small claims court. I have no idea whether a vet's statement would be enough evidence to win such a case.
posted by jon1270 at 4:49 AM on January 26, 2011


Or, you know, what biscotti said. I didn't realise that Yorkies and Silkies were so closely related.
posted by Wroksie at 4:49 AM on January 26, 2011


I'm not sure if you could take any legal action on this, but you could harness the power of social networking! Is the pet store listed on Yelp? Citysearch or another peer review site? By posting a (good) review, you could be helping lots of other people who are considering buying a dog from this store.
posted by lovelygirl at 4:53 AM on January 26, 2011


bring it to the pet store's attention. it certainly won't hurt you. make sure you at least start off nice about it. you could try telling them that you used to tell all your friends how great their pet store was, but that you found this very disappointing and upsetting (said with smile on face) especially given how expensive of a purchase it was and how it was worth it because you dream about those types of puppies all the time.....

if it doesn't work, do let everyone on-line know about it so they don't get screwed too.
posted by saraindc at 4:59 AM on January 26, 2011


Also, what you paid was incredibly overpriced for ANY puppy from a pet store, there is no "standard fee" for puppies, ethical breeders normally base the price on what it costs to produce a litter, and they generally just about break even if they do everything they should be doing before they breed, the puppy producers who sell to pet stores just breed dogs to each other without concern for health, temperament, appearance or the dogs' wellbeing (and sometimes without even concern for breed, you could well have a Silky/Yorkie mix), they produce puppies to turn a profit, period. You could have had a puppy from an ethical breeder for a similar price, and then you would have known for sure what breed it was, it would have been from parents who were health tested, who had the correct temperament and appearance for their breed, you would have had support if genetic problems cropped up (most ethical breeders will either help you financially or give you another puppy if this happens), and you would have the breeder's help with the dog for life (plus, the dog would have had a home to go to in the event you couldn't keep it down the road, ethical breeders always take a puppy/dog back at any point in its life if you can't keep it, so it does not end up in a shelter or rescue). I do not mean to "pile on", but please don't buy puppies from pet stores, this is what keeps puppy mills in business, Metroid Baby is exactly right that breed will hopefully be the least of your problems with your puppy.
posted by biscotti at 5:00 AM on January 26, 2011 [13 favorites]


IAAL. IANYL. TINLA.

If you were sold this dog as a Yorkie, and you have a receipt, KC papers, etc. which support this, then the sellers misrepresented the position if indeed he is not a Yorkie.

So on the face of it, you would have a claim for damages. Your loss would be the difference (if any) in the price of a Yorkie vs the price of a Silkie.

If there is no difference in price, and if you did not buy him for breeding purposes (where you could argue that you had lost potential future income by not being able to sell Yorkie puppies), then your loss would be nominal, just for disappointment that you did not get what you paid for in terms of the breed of dog you were buying.

You would need to have some evidence that the dog is not a Yorkie in order to succeed in any claim. Not all Yorkies are the ant-on-a-lead size, I've seen some fairly stocky ones, so you'd need to be certain that he is definitely not a Yorkie if you wanted to sue the sellers.

If the pet store did misrepresent the position, then you could also contact your State Attorney, local Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau.
posted by essexjan at 5:57 AM on January 26, 2011 [3 favorites]


No one can answer your stated question about holding the store responsible without knowing your locality.

However, you should take this as an expensive lesson you had to learn firsthand about the unethical basis upon which pet stores (at least in the US) sell "purebred" dogs. They invariably come from puppy mills or backyard breeders who breed for profit rather than betterment of the breed. When you're purchasing a dog from a retail ecosystem that values profit above breed longevity and improvement, then motives driving profit are what you'll deal with, including lying or being ignorant about what breeds they're selling. Caveat emptor.

Having said that, there's nothing at all wrong with expressing your displeasure to the business in question. It very likely won't net you anything at all, but in a perfect world, if enough people similarly ripped off complained (AND stopped shopping at these stores), the market for such overpriced, incorrectly identified, and badly bred dogs would dry up.

So yes, please write a letter to them, call the manager, write a review on Yelp (but state your case dispassionately and be careful not to libel anyone), and file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 6:00 AM on January 26, 2011 [6 favorites]


(And lest anyone think I'm some kind of purebred fascist since I mentioned "badly bred" dogs, I'm sitting here listening to the snoring of my golden retriever-basset hound mix, who came from a rescue group.)
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 6:02 AM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


What do you hope to get out of "holding the pet store responsible?"

If you want financial compensation, you'll have to prove financial damage: prove that you paid a Yorkie price for a Silky dog. Easier said than done; you'll need to actually prove that your dog is not a Yorkie (whether it is a silky or not), that the store represented your dog as a Yorkie (explicit receipt? papers?) and also prove that you suffered damages, e.g. you paid more money than your dog is empirically worth. Other damages might include increased cost of feeding and grooming over the lifespan of the dog, which is higher for a heavier, more grooming-intensive dog. You'll end up needing a lawyer, and suing in small claims court. IANAL.

If you want the pet store punished or shamed, then yes, yelp.com is the way to go, along with the BBB and your state's Attorney General. Depending on the state you live in (Northeast?) your Attorney General may be particularly interested in the sale of purebred dogs. Illinois recently had a crackdown on this kind of thing, and law blogs imply other states will follow suit; your case could easily represent the beginning of a similar bill in your own state.
posted by juniperesque at 6:12 AM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Also, it's a general rule of thumb that the wider a retail store's scope, the less knowledgeable it will be about each specific thing it sells. You wouldn't ask for running shoe recommendations at the same place you buy your heels. Even if the store you bought from specialized in purebred dogs exclusively, and even if they were hand-raised AKC champion lineage puppies, and even if the owner had years of experience in breeding and showing dogs, it'd still be difficult for them to identify the breed of a twelve-week old puppy on sight alone. If this place also sells parrots and hamsters, forget it.

But, anyway, this is definitely worth talking to the higher-ups at the pet store about. Do your research before going in, ask a lot of questions, document everything they say, do more research afterward to confirm if they knew what they were talking about. You might get some money back, you might not. You might decide to take it to court. But use what you learn to educate potential future buyers, even if it's just your friends or people on Yelp, even if your only takeaway is not to go to this specific store. Spreading accurate knowledge always helps.
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:18 AM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Mod note: sorry folks, but please don't use this thread as your anti-pet store campaign. Not saying you don't have a point, just saying you're not answering the question. OP is not anonymous. Thank you.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:36 AM on January 26, 2011


FWIW, it's not uncommon for Yorkies to grow to be 15 lbs. Don't start smearing the store/breeder until you're actually sure that you got the wrong dog.

My parents have two Yorkies. One is a 15lb giant, with a full tail, and floppy ears, which makes her frequently mistaken for a Silky. The other is a tiny, 5lb one with a docked tail and clipped ears that make her look like a stereotypical Yorkie.

If somebody didn't know about dogs, it's easy how the big one could be mistaken for a Silky.


If you ARE 100% sure that you've got a Silky, still don't start a smear campaign against the store until you've given them the opportunity to correct the problem. Be friendly. Simply state that you were sold the wrong breed of dog, and were accordingly overcharged for it.

Making comments about being disappointed in your dog like you did here are unlikely to make you any friends at the pet store (and TBH, they made my skin crawl a bit when reading the post). Make this a discussion simply about economics.
posted by schmod at 7:46 AM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Er. Sorry about the bold tag. Should've been closed after "friendly."

Also, FWIW, our "big" pup came from a reputable and expensive breeder out in the countryside, while the little one came from a puppy mill in Brooklyn. The big one was never supposed to exceed 8lbs (and at 15lbs, she's if anything a bit underweight for her size), while the little one was supposed to be a bit bigger than she actually turned out to be.

The silver lining here is that big Yorkies are generally much healthier than the little ones, and Silkys are far more "robust" than Yorkies of any size, and typically live for an impressive 16-20 years.
posted by schmod at 7:56 AM on January 26, 2011


About last spring I purchased my second yorkie from a reputable pet store. All of the puppies were displayed with their breed labels on show and I selected what was documented and priced ($1600) as a pure bred Yorkshire.

If it's documented, you have the papers, right? That's the only way to be sure of the provenance of a purebred dog. If you don't have papers, I think you're out of luck.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:38 AM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


If it's documented, you have the papers, right? That's the only way to be sure of the provenance of a purebred dog. If you don't have papers, I think you're out of luck.

This. All purebreds come with paperwork, or there's no reason to believe they're pure anything.
posted by coolguymichael at 10:43 AM on January 26, 2011


Last comment (promise).

This: I've even been told by these veterinarians that there is no way that this is a Yorkshire, that that would be the same as saying a beagle is a poodle. is patently untrue and I am not sure why any vet who wasn't a specific breed fancier would say such a thing, especially since there is so much variation in Yorkies in particular. A Yorkie and a Silky are extremely similar in appearance, and as has been noted, you can see a lot of size discrepancy (even in well-bred dogs). A Beagle and a Poodle are different in all kinds of ways, from coats to behavior, they are nothing at all alike, and are bred for completely different purposes, whereas the Silky was created by crossing Yorkies with (IIRC) Australian Terriers, they are directly related to each other, have comparable coloring, comparable coat types, comparable temperaments and comparable overall appearances. I would suspect that most people, even those who know purebred dog breeds well, would have a hard time telling them apart, especially if they were mediocre examples of the breeds. Both are supposed to have prick ears, both have silky-textured coats, both come in blue and tan, both have docked tails, etc.

As to paperwork, anything can be falsified, especially in dogs from unscrupulous breeders. Some registries are more stringent than others (and some will register anything if someone fills in the paperwork and sends in a check), but even AKC has numerous contested litters every year (which are sorted out via DNA testing of parents and offspring, not to determine breed, but to determine who is related to who), merely having papers does not prove a dog is purebred, especially if the pet store mixed up the puppies when they were delivered (which happens all the time, since the people doing the sorting at arrival are normally young, underpaid and inexperienced kids trying to figure out which puppy in the big box'o'puppies is which from a list of what is supposed to be in there - and the puppies are not permanently identified before they leave the "breeder" with a tattoo or microchip either). I would have a hard time telling a randomly-bred Yorkie puppy from a randomly-bred Silky puppy, and I show my dogs, spend all my work time and most of my free time around dogs, and have been involved with and around purebred dogs for most of my life (and I have also had rescues, NOT PUREBRED-SNOBBIST, I just can't stand unethical dog breeders).

I think you are SOL with this, I hope you can forget about it and just enjoy your puppy (and hopefully take it on board as a learning experience).
posted by biscotti at 1:58 PM on January 26, 2011 [2 favorites]


did you consider getting the dog dna-tested? (I think it's like $100?) this, plus your vet's statement and your paperwork would seem like plenty of evidence for litigation. IANAL but I thought i'd mention since everyone's always trying to figure out what breeds are in my pound-rescue mutt, and people often suggest I get a dna test to figure it out.
posted by ChefJoAnna at 8:52 PM on January 26, 2011


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