FINDING THE RIGHT BREEDER The best place to find a healthy, nice looking, happy puppy is to find a breeder who shows their dogs. You might be saying to yourself right now ?I am just looking for a pet not a show dog so why should I pay more for a quality pet from a caring show breeder when I can buy one for less from someone who doesn?t show? " Well, quality also means health not just if a puppy is worthy of being shown or not. A breeder who shows their dogs spends a lot of time and money proving the quality of the dogs by showing them and attaining their championships, and even more time and money go into providing proper food and health care so that the pups they produce have the best chance to be healthy pets and show dogs. Show breeders, usually breed to produce their next show dog therefore they only breed the dogs that best represent the breed according to the AKC standard. If a breeder is only producing puppies to sell as pets, they do not care about the genetic health or quality of their dogs.They do not care if the puppy grows up to be the ?standard? size. All they care about is producing as many puppies as possible and selling them as quickly as possible. Obviously, if a breeder has invested a lot of time and money into their dogs, they cannot sell puppies as inexpensively as someone who hasn?t. You do get what you pay for! Maltese have a life span of 10-15 years, and your most important consideration should be to make sure that the breeder you buy a puppy from is investing in the puppy?s quality and health. Otherwise, you may find that the ?inexpensive? puppy ends up costing you far more in the long run because it was bred for quantity rather than quality. You can spend more to begin with and get a good puppy that will live a long, healthy life or you can find and inexpensive puppy who will end up costing you more in the long run due to a lifetime of health problems and heartache! FINDING THE RIGHT PUPPY Once you have found a breeder that you feel comfortable with make sure that you develop a relationship with him/her, and let your breeder help you find the RIGHT puppy for you. After all, the breeder lives with these puppies, and is able to observe them for many, many hours. The breeder will ask you lots of questions regarding what you are looking for in a puppy and then will try to pick the best puppy for you. The Breeder is in the best position to know if a puppy has the qualities and personality you are looking for in your new companion. When looking for the right puppy you should look at the puppy?s personality and not its gender. Most of the time people say they want a female puppy because they are convinced that females are " sweet, gentle, affectionate, easily trained " and they don?t want a male because they think males are " aggressive, wander, are harder to train", and the number one complaint of all. " they lift their legs on the furniture? The truth is that each puppy has it's own personality regardless of gender. It is the personality that you should be focusing on and not the gender. The truth is that female puppy that pees on your carpet leaves just as big a mess as a male! The right puppy for you will be the right puppy for you regardless of its gender. Keep in mind though, that if you are looking for a puppy of a specific gender and with the right personality you might have to wait for a while until you find one that fits both criteria. ARE YOU THINKING OF BECOMING A BREEDER? The main reason to get a puppy is because you want someone to love, pamper and spoil, not to breed. Breeding dogs takes more than just putting two dogs together and having puppies. It is extremely important to learn the facts and possible consequences in advance if you are contemplating breeding your dog. Today?s world is overcrowded and it is our responsibility as good, ethical breeders and animal lovers to make sure that we make responsible decisions for them and for ourselves. You might not be aware of all the things you need to think about before you decide to breed your dog. Therefore, if you are thinking you want to try this at home you need to find a mentor, do lots of research and be prepared to deal with the ups and downs, the happy and sad moments, and everything else that comes along with being a breeder The main reason to breed is to improve the breed. You must always remember that it was your choice to bring this life into the world, therefore you are responsible for that life until the very end. As a breeder and pet owner your main concern is to make sure the dogs you have chosen to bring into the world are happy, healthy, well taken care of and most importantly LOVED! .

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Josymir Maltese 2000-2010
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