[Brooklynn]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

I think lots of people have a misconception about the YTCA. I have a link to the club in my signature, and I put it there NOT to push the YTCA, but to enable yorkietalk members find and talk with good breeders. I think if anyone talks to a few members of the YTCA they will learn a great deal about the Yorkshire Terrier breed, and if it's right for them. I also think the major purpose of a good breeder when talking to a perspective owner is educating them about the breed. This does not mean that there are no great breeders who aren't members, but I believe people who are trying to improve the breed will want to belong to breed clubs. Will every member who joins join for the right reason, of course not; we all know that people do good things for the wrong reasons all the time. I want to make it clear that NOT every member of the YTCA is a great breeder or even an ethical breeder. For example, some people are showing for the wrong reasons, the purpose of showing is not to inflate your ego, or to justify the price of you dogs, the purpose of showing is to have your breeding stock evaluated. You can be a great breeder and not be a member of the YTCA, but I think it's important to live up to their standards, and ethics even before you attempt to be a member. I believe their code of conduct and code of ethics are great codes, and every breeder should try to live up to these things. Every dog breed has a mother club that tries to preserve and protect the breed, some are doing a much better job than others, and from my understanding of the club as a whole, they are doing a great job. I think it's a mistake to believe that once you join you give up your right to be a freethinking. The members of the YTCA that I've gotten to know are all very much freethinkers.

I think I'm pretty much a free thinker and speaker