# Breeding qualifications



## kayteuk (Nov 22, 2008)

Okay this is a bit strange but here it goes!
My boyfriend and I have decided to let our Maltese breed and give away the puppies to local families who want a dog but need one that is well trained with Special needs adults. My sister is severely autistic and I have trained my Maltese in the USA to work with some of the special needs adults out here and he is better than other special needs dogs his size, she sits and strokes him for hours and he loves it, and its given her a lot more confidence with dogs, because she is petrified of bigger dogs such as Labs. 
My partner and I are thinking about breeding our dog with another well tempered Maltese to give the puppies away once trained by our friends and us, to local special needs adult who can cope with a small dog. I think the Maltese are great for sensory stimulation too, with their beautiful coats.
I cant find any other breeders in the area doing this, my partner is a vet and I am a medical student, we have time on our hands as we both don't want children and like to keep busy in our area. So we are qualified in this area for breeding!

However I keep seeing "I am a qualified breeder" all over the Internet. How do these breeders get qualifications and how much do they cost? I wish to be certified for my own sake and for the families, I want to know as much as possible. Even my partner is a bit confused right now about this and he works in the industry!

I am never ever going to breed for profit, I enjoy doing Charity work and I hope this is the start of Super Maltese Helpers! Our own little Maltese army...Kidding 

Kisses and hugs to you all!


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## kayteuk (Nov 22, 2008)

I have about 30 families interested so far, and I cant wait to share the love and joy with them. We both realise the hardships of puppies so please no lectures on that, I think Medical school and Veterinary school taught us a lot.
We both still have a bit more reading on Maltese to do, (Hence my questions about reverse sneezing which he hadn't heard of! And the gooey poop of my parents dog in the UK) and its been a bit strange because we are from the UK, so we have no idea about the US qualifications!

Kisses and hugs to you all!


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## allheart (Oct 3, 2008)

Hi! I am not a breeder, just a Mommy to the fur babies, and really don't know a thing about breeding. But I just had to tell you what a wonderful thing you are doing, in having the fur-babies trained to give the love that comes so naturally, and have it shared, with those who have special needs. That is just beautiful.

I do think the Maltese, is an excellent breed to play this loving role. I am not sure what "qualifications", breeders need, and some may just give themselves that title...not sure... But there are several "reputable" breeders, that are members here, and hopefully they will see this and help you out.

Is it at all possible, instead of breeding, to resuce younger pups and train them for this incredible role?

Bless you for the work that you do!!!


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## kayteuk (Nov 22, 2008)

Awww thanks!
I'm actually a Author of a few articles about Dogs helping special needs children and adults. Everyone seems to think its just Golden retrievers and Labs that do this. I personally think Maltese can learn better and quicker, and even though the other mentioned dogs have better abilities outside the house, inside the house and love and affection I believe can be given better by a Maltese. 

I now have to go and buy a Maltese female around Christmas to get it all started! But I am so looking forward to the joy and happiness its going to bring the adults I am working with!

And if anyone has a Maltese princess for sale let me know! Been trying to find a pure bread one for a while and cant seem to find one for a reasonable price as I didn't pay very much for my pure bread boy! Credit crunch sensibility!

We were going to try rescuing, but most the dogs in the rescue are slightly bigger dogs that the adults I am working with are a bit scared of, in the local 3 shelters its mainly Akita's and German shepherds. I have had my name on the list to actually try with a younger puppy and a smaller dog from the rescue, but there is a huge line ahead of me wanting smaller and younger dogs.  But I guess its good they are being given loving homes!


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

I'd say the first thing you need to know before breeding is if your dogs are free of
genetic illnesses. The only way to know this is to know their pedigrees. This means
your dogs will need to be from reputable exhibitor/breeders who have studied 
pedigrees and breed for the betterment of the breed. This is so important to
breeding happy, healthy pups in the future.
I commend you on your wanting to help others, but it's also important to be 
responsible for the pups first, since you want them to live long lives to help
those who need them. Chances are you won't find well bred maltese without
a somewhat high price tag. Chances are even less that you will find a breeder
willing to let you breed their dogs without being involved in exhibiting. Most demand
their dogs be spayed/neutered as soon as possible.


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## allheart (Oct 3, 2008)

QUOTE (Cosy @ Dec 6 2008, 11:38 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=684099


> I'd say the first thing you need to know before breeding is if your dogs are free of
> genetic illnesses. The only way to know this is to know their pedigrees. This means
> your dogs will need to be from reputable exhibitor/breeders who have studied
> pedigrees and breed for the betterment of the breed. This is so important to
> ...



:goodpost: 

All that is so very true Cosy.

Perhaps what you could do, is speak to the reputable breeders, as several are also involved in resuces,
and perhaps can give you points of contact, or provide a connection to adopting the rescues, and training for this wonderful service of love.

Bless you and your sister. My favorite things in life, our people with special needs, the elderly, and fur-babies, and you are bringing all that love together.

I know you didn't ask this, so please forgive me, but I don't think you have to breed in order to provide this incredible act of love. 

Please keep us posted on how you are coming with this!!


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

I think the best way to go about this would be to find reputable, responsible breeders to donate puppies or stud service. If you opt for stud service, you need to have purchased a bitch from a reputable, responsible breeder. 

I have a Maltese that is a service dog...and the issue you need to be aware of is having a healthy, physically sound dog. To consistently produce that, you are going to have to learn about the breed standard, conformation, structure, health, etc. If the dog is not completely physically sound, it will not be a good service dog. Even if all the dog is required to do is offer companionship, if it requires orthopedic surgery or requires daily medication, stress is introduced for both dog and handler. Thus, the dogs you breed need to be from pedigrees where you can research back many generations. Since you are new to the breed as far as breeding is concerned, the best way to do this is to go with a breeder who knows their lines and can mentor you. 

Take a look at service dog training organization in the U.S. Leader Dog based out of Michigan has bitches from reputable breeders and uses stud services donated by reputable breeders. All dogs have passed all health clearances and have been evaluated for temperament. 

Also keep in mind that this is a breed with small litters. 3 pups is a very nice sized litter. If you are properly evaluating temperament and working potential, not all pups will be suitable candidates for working. You are going to have a very small working pool. If you are serious about it, getting a number of reputable breeders to donate pups when available would provide you with a larger pool of puppies.


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## vjw (Dec 20, 2006)

Please, PLEASE leave maltese breeding to those who are breeding to maltese standard and are trying to better the breed. 

The pet overpopulation in the United States is HORRIBLE. 3 - 4 MILLION cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters EVERY YEAR in part because there are no homes for them. Here's a link to the Humane Society euthanasia statistics:


HSUS Pet Overpopulation/Euthanasia Statistics







Joy


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## CloudClan (Jan 31, 2007)

Welcome to SM, :Welcome 2: 

My sister is also a severly autistic. She also enjoys the dogs. Although she doesn't like to let them sit close to her for very long. She prefers to watch them run around and play. It often brings a smile to her face. She does like to pet them some, but again not for long. Actually, years ago it was one of our foster boys that she bonded with the most because she liked his favorite toy and they would compete over it. 

My Cameo is a certified animal assited therapy dog. She has visited various facilities (nursing homes, psych hosptitals and community residences with adults with special needs), and brought a lot of joy. Cameo was a rescue girl by the way. Instead of starting out with the idea of breeding (which should only be done with the utmost of caution and research into pedigrees and genetic disorders) I would encourage you to consider getting into a certified therapy program like the Delta Society with your girl. From one of these groups I imagine you will see how a variety of dogs from a variety of backgrounds can actually make a wonderful contribution to animal assitive therapy. These therapy groups are a great way to get involved with Charity work and to show how wonderful Maltese (and other small breeds) can be super helpers. 

Personally, I don't think Maltese would be universally the best for working with special needs adults. My Cameo, for instance, is really fragile and I would not let her ever be unsupervised with my sister or the other clients in her living program. Many special needs adults are not always perfectly gentle with these delicate creatures. Personally, if I were to get my sister a dog I would get a slightly larger one than a Maltese. She does well with mine when she sees them, but I am ALWAYS there to monitor. While we were growing up we had a 20# dog. This would be my preference for her now as well. 

Please let me know if you have any questions about the therapy dog groups. I think you would love it if you got involved with this kind of volunteer group. :thumbsup:


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## kayteuk (Nov 22, 2008)

Okay another question...

I keep seing "I am a AKC registered breeder" everywhere and one woman just sent me a email stating:

"Ok, There is a big differentce in price of a dog with and without breeding rights.
A female with AKC and full AKC breeding rights is 3000. A Pet female with Limited AKC registration is 2500.
"

I just registered my little man with the AKC for pedigree just fine, and I am really confused by what she is saying...Is she trying to get more money out of me?! Or not... I am so very confused being a Brit, I am not really good with the American terms and registrations for dogs.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

Is she an exhibitor breeder? If not, which I suspect she isn't, yes, she is trying to make more
money on the dog because it is AKC. Many mills and backyard breeders have AKC dogs but
they are not well bred. It's better to go with show breeders and ask here and other forums 
if anyone has heard of them, etc. The more you know, the better off you are. Usually dogs from
show breeders that are sold for breeding and showing have contracts and stipulations as well
as a price tag of substance. Normally, they will not sell to someone just because they want
to breed. They want their lines shown and finished to their championships.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

QUOTE (Kayteuk @ Jan 10 2009, 06:13 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=703001


> Okay another question...
> 
> I keep seing "I am a AKC registered breeder" everywhere and one woman just sent me a email stating:
> 
> ...


A show quality female (ie the only type of female that should be sold with breeding rights) typically starts at $5,000.


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## wolfieinthehouse (Dec 14, 2007)

Both my poodle and maltese have limited AKC registration.

It means that, if they were ever to reproduce (they will never), their pups could not be registered with the AKC.


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## kayteuk (Nov 22, 2008)

So after reading the AKC website a lot, I now understand that I need a girlie who is registered with AKC, and when they both breed their puppies can be registered with them. 
Which seems to be okay, but I still don't get why this woman is trying to charge me a fortune. I got my askim for $300 and hes from a line of champions, fully AKC registered and the bomb!
I have found a few other breeders who have puppies who are eligible for akc and are not charging half as much. Should I go with them??

I just want to be a good breeder and get everything right, hence the year long preparation.


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## MistysMom (Aug 19, 2008)

I know you're trying to do a good thing, but there's so much more to it than putting two dogs together, you'll find all this out as you proceed. Talk to your vet and let him or her help you understand what all is involved. Good luck.


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## allheart (Oct 3, 2008)

I completey agree. Having an AKC dog, and thinking all is well to breed, is not even close to all that is needed.

If you truly are interested in breeding, to better the Maltese breed, I would strongly recommend, contacting any of the very reputable breeders, and I am sure they would be more then willing to answer your questions.

So many things are necessary and go into breeding, so much can go wrong, so many necessary steps are needed, before even thinking about breeding.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Again, the going price for a show quality female with full registration is around $5,000. No reputable, responsible show breeder is selling them for $1000...


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

QUOTE (JMM @ Jan 11 2009, 02:28 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=703620


> Again, the going price for a show quality female with full registration is around $5,000. No reputable, responsible show breeder is selling them for $1000...[/B]


I agree with this. If you find someone who is selling girls with full registration for $1000, you will not be getting a female who should be bred. I would also suggest looking at the AMA site rather than AKC. Breeding show quality dogs isn't a cheap endeavor, believe me, I know this firsthand!


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