I'd wanted a puppy for the longest time, like the last two years of my life so I finally convinced my daddy to let me have one, we'd been looking since January for a good small breed dog, (we'd had a Big lab before and she was a lot of work so we wanted something smaller) anyway we checked out this pet shelter and I saw a really cute mutt but he was a big breed, the closest thing to a small pup was a litter of like terrier/GSD or something. So we went to a breeder and I'm not ashamed that we did she was a very responsilble breeder who has experience with chihuahuas and yorkies. And I don't think going to a breeder is a bad thing nessicarily because all dogs need homes and if you want a purebred doggie that's fine, and if I would have gotten a dog from the shelter I would have deprived him of a proper enviornment because we are only able to care for a lapdog at this time. So anyway I got Ringo for my 13th Birthday and I would give the world for him but he was $450 and worth every penny (even when he's a little brat )