# Mella Malta + Marji Valentine of PA



## bix (Jun 6, 2012)

Does anyone have experience with Mella Malta or Marji Valentine from Pennsylvania? (Marji doesn't have a site.) 

I'm considering a 6 month old male from Mella Malta and a 4 month old male from Marji. I've already PMed Kaiser/Naz and Brendaman about them, but I would really appreciate input from any other SM members who have dealt with them in the past. 

Some have expressed concerns that Marji may be a BYB. I was planning to visit both breeders tomorrow, but I may have to postpone it if I can't sort this out. Please help if you can! TIA!


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## maggieh (Dec 16, 2007)

I don't have experience with either but want to say good luck with your search. I agree that 8 weeks is way too young for a Maltese to go to a new home. If I were looking for a puppy, I would be inclined to avoid someone posting on ebay and oodle simply because most of the quality breeders I've come across don't place their pups using those methods.


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## elly (Sep 11, 2006)

maggieh said:


> I don't have experience with either but want to say good luck with your search. I agree that 8 weeks is way too young for a Maltese to go to a new home. If I were looking for a puppy, I would be inclined to avoid someone posting on ebay and oodle simply because most of the quality breeders I've come across don't place their pups using those methods.


I would NOT buy from anyone who sells dogs on ebay. 8 weeks is also a major red flag. I have bought 2 Maltese at 8 weeks before I knew better. Edgar was 8 weeks when he came to live with us. He is a happy 12 pound Maltese?? He is sweet but will bite if you pet him and he does not know you. He was socialized as a pup, I took him e everywhere. He has seizures from stress but for the most part healthy. Ellie was bought from a nice older lady in Texas, she had just turned 8 weeks. Sweetest girl ever. She died at 5 from liver disease. She was sick from the day she was born. I spent 15,000 plus dollars in her short 5 years and still had my heart broken. I now have 2 girls from a wonderful breeder that I got at 5 months. Both came to me easy to groom, leash trained, social. Both had been seen by the breeders vet. I also have a great relationship with my girls breeder. I can email or call her anytime with a question and she gets right back to me even if she is in the middle of showing at nationals.

Good luck with your search. Many good breeders, unfortunately more bad breeders. The most important advice I can offer is to be patient and you will find the right breeder with the right puppy:wub:


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## harrysmom (Sep 28, 2007)

I can agree 100% with the above post by Cathy. I have a little guy that was a puppy mill product and he's been sick since he was 6 months old. I don't even want to think about all of the money I've spent on him... all worth it for sure, but the heartache that went along with all of the treatments he's had to endure was just unbearable. 

I also have a 10 pounder who came from a local BYB. He's healthy, thank God. He loves our family, but he will bite people he doesn't know and he was socialized too. He's now 4 1/2 years old and he just decided that maybe he likes people after all, so we may be making some progress, but the going has been rough. 

And then I was lucky enough to get Sprite :aktion033::aktion033:. Sprite is from a great breeder. She is a diva, for sure, lol, but she likes people, her coat is easy to groom, and she's healthy. She's also the happiest little girl ever. My daughter also got her dog from a great breeder and she is wonderful!!! (Both of our girls were "retirees".) We can also talk to these breeders whenever we have a question or problem. 

So, I would encourage you to stick with a good breeder, because the "extra" money you spend in the beginning might save you a lot of money and heartache later on. I absolutely learned that the hard way. :angry:

Good luck on finding the perfect pup.
Debbie


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

Archie was born in a puppy mill. He's the love of my life and as cute as a button, but he is 10 lbs and has arthritis in his legs and chronic ear aches. We go to the vet every single month and will for the rest of his life. It's cheaper to try for a well bred pup (still no guarantees) but your chances of getting a pup bred to the breed standard is way higher.


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## brendaman (Mar 7, 2006)

More than six years ago, I was the one who wrote about Marji Valentine on SM. Back then I didn't know much about bybs. There is so much more info now, not to mention shared experience from others.


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## SammieMom (Nov 13, 2010)

elly said:


> I would NOT buy from anyone who sells dogs on ebay. 8 weeks is also a major red flag. I have bought 2 Maltese at 8 weeks before I knew better. Edgar was 8 weeks when he came to live with us. He is a happy 12 pound Maltese?? He is sweet but will bite if you pet him and he does not know you. He was socialized as a pup, I took him e everywhere. He has seizures from stress but for the most part healthy. Ellie was bought from a nice older lady in Texas, she had just turned 8 weeks. Sweetest girl ever. She died at 5 from liver disease. She was sick from the day she was born. I spent 15,000 plus dollars in her short 5 years and still had my heart broken. I now have 2 girls from a wonderful breeder that I got at 5 months. Both came to me easy to groom, leash trained, social. Both had been seen by the breeders vet. I also have a great relationship with my girls breeder. I can email or call her anytime with a question and she gets right back to me even if she is in the middle of showing at nationals.
> 
> Good luck with your search. Many good breeders, unfortunately more bad breeders. The most important advice I can offer is to be patient and you will find the right breeder with the right puppy:wub:


:goodpost: Before I found SM, I pretty much had same experience as Cathy with my first 8 week old BYB puppys from a non show breeder. She runs ads in paper a lot. So that means there is a lot of breedering going on. I lost one to liver failure and his sweet dear brother who I love so much has cost over 3,000 so far for leg surgery. and he has itching from some form of allergys. 
I have learned that being patient and paying more now for an activlely showing breeder is the only way to go. Otherwise it's going to cost you more if the dog requires medical procedures. I have my second puppy from same breeder as Cathy and WHAT A DIFFERENCE in temperament, social, health, the list goes on. God bless these wonderful show breeders for all they do to protect our beautiful breed and the public. 
Good luck with your search.


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## SammieMom (Nov 13, 2010)

Because of my first bad experience with a BYB, I decided I would always request a BAT (bile acid test) for liver and full physical on legs before buying a puppy.


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## brendaman (Mar 7, 2006)

I hope Bix comes back here to share her experience. She went to visit Mella Malta, and I hope she comes back to tell us her addition(s) to her family.


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## happymoney (Aug 12, 2012)

Minnie when I first got her.







Minnie today! 

So I have dealt with both breeders and I ended up buying from Marji. Her price was much less than Millie's. I originally was planning on buying from Millie but she kept me waiting for over 6 months for a dog!!! She would avoid my calls every time I tried to visit and would always tell me she was "sick." She basically sold my puppy to someone else who was willing to pay more. Millie was nothing but a HUGE headache and heart ache as this was my first puppy. She dragged me along for over 6 months and in the end I got my pup from Marji. There are tons of negative things I could say about Millie but I'm not. She was a sweet woman on the phone at first but in the end she was very different. Marji was a sweet lady who was 2 hours away. Minnie is such a healthy happy dog! 9/10 puppies have worms but when we took Minnie to the vet they said she was perfectly healthy and no worms! She is the SWEETEST dog you will ever meet. She loves people! Every time somebody comes home she runs to the door and brings them a shoe (LOL). She sleeps and stays in anybody's arms...we like to hold her "baby style" lol. The only thing about her is that the fur on her head has some kinks in it and she's a bit bigger than the standard maltese-6.5-7lbs. But shes very white. Originally I was planning on getting her sister (who was much smaller than her) but Minnie would follow me around and already got attached to me. Everybody who knows Minnie comments on how smart she is. I like to call her an evil genius because shes so clever and likes to outsmart us! ha! I couldn't ask for a better dog & Marji was always honest with me. Great breeder in my opinion. Millie's lines of dog may be more standard but Marji's are smart, HEALTHY, and sweet!! Well at least Minnie is. I'd stay away from Millie as she is extremely unreliable & really broke my heart & trust.


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