Maltese Pet Puppies

What a pet puppy from us is

There is no separate "pet line" here. A pet puppy is a puppy from the same litter as a show prospect, born of the same health tested parents and raised in the same kitchen, that happens to have a bite a fraction off, a tail set a judge would mark, or simply a brother who was the better show dog. The things that matter in a companion, the temperament, the silk coat, the sound knees and the clear eyes, come from the breeding, and the breeding is the same for every puppy in the box.

We breed a litter when we want to keep something from it. That means we do not breed often, and it means the pet puppies that come out of those litters were planned by people who intended to live with their siblings for the next fifteen years.

How they are raised

Puppies are whelped and raised in the house. From the day their eyes open they are handled daily, first by us, then by the children and grandchildren who treat the whelping box as the best room in the house. By the time a puppy leaves it has heard the vacuum, the doorbell and a football game, has been carried, turned over, had its feet and mouth handled, and has learned that a hand reaching for it means something good. A Maltese is a people dog by design, and a people dog has to meet people early.

Pet puppies go home at twelve weeks, not eight. Those four extra weeks with their mother and litter are where a puppy learns bite control, how to read another dog, and how to be alone for an hour without panic. A twelve week Maltese is also a sturdier animal to travel, eats reliably, and is far less likely to crash from low blood sugar in a new house. We would rather keep a puppy a month longer than send a fragile one.

The terms, plainly

Every pet puppy leaves with a written health guarantee, up to date vaccinations for its age, worming, a veterinary examination, its shot record, a week of its current food and its AKC papers. Pet puppies are registered on AKC Limited Registration, which means they are purebred and registered but cannot have litters registered from them, and they are sold on a spay or neuter agreement. We are not selling breeding stock as pets, and a buyer who wants to breed should say so and talk to us about a show puppy instead.

Nothing bred here may be resold or passed on. If circumstances change at any point in the dog's life, it comes back to us, and we will find it the next home ourselves.

A pet puppy is $600. Travel is quoted separately and depends on where you are; the options are explained on the available puppies page. If a puppy is not quite the right fit, we sometimes have retired adults who are already house trained and past the chewing months, which for some households is the better dog.