"And yes, after doing alot of research after we decided Maltese, I was disappointed to learn how many brokers for puppy mills are out there as well as byb's. We can afford to buy whatever puppy we would like, but it is much more a matter of agreement between us as parents. One of us understood the cost of well bred puppies but still could not agree on paying that much since they did not grow up with dogs as a loved part of the family. Rather than have several arguments and force the issue, I decided to find the best puppy that I could within the budget.
Sooooo, I set out to find a great quality puppy that was very close to breed standards from someone I trusted. I found a local ad (North Atlanta) for 4 beautiful puppies. I spoke personally with the owner, a nursing school student, who has a 3 yr old female Maltese from a trusted breeder (paid $1500). Her mother has a 2 yr old male Maltese that was also purchased from a known trusted breeder. Well, guess what happened when they weren't looking?
So she had 4 puppies for a very reasonable price in my range. Both parents were on site, human and Maltese, and I had absolutely no reason to suspect anything other than the story as they portrayed it.
I had previously visited another person last weekend and I firmly believe that he,
www.familymaltese.com, is a broker for a puppy mill - only pics of parents that are in SC (??), nice but definitely had his pitch down from experience. Found out more about him from a member of this site. Thanks for the call, you know who you are!
I had also spoken personally with two separate ladies nearby with cute little puppies for sale. After researching I determined that one is already listed in a couple of forums as a puppy mill, and the other had puppies for a discount that were "outside in a building", and others a little higher that are from "her house dogs" that were born and being raised "inside" with the family.
So we kept looking........and found the two that we brought home. I had learned that 12 mos was preferable but felt that these were the best option for us with the understanding that greater care and attention were needed.
Both of us parents are home as we have a home office for work, and our two mature, well behaved boys just turned 12 and 16. We have had discussions about handling the young pups as well as avoiding "small dog behavior symptons". We are a very disciplined family when it comes to this kind of thing, and everyone is already engaged fully to make our two boys, Champ and Cash, welcome and well adjusted.
In the end, I felt that taking these two did not contribute in any way to perpetuating puppy mills or byb's, but gave a very loving home to two wonderful little brothers. We got my wish for the first picks of the litter, and each of my boys love them so much already."
Do these trusted people show their dogs? I truly believe you purchased from a slick BYB. You must have missed this recent post - please read.
MALTESE BREEDERS - How to find and evaulate