American Maltese Association Rescue

Website developed and maintained by Website to the Rescue

Do NOT buy a puppy from a pet store!

"But why?", you ask. "Wouldn't I be 'saving' that puppy?" The answer is NO, and here's why.

Buying that puppy is keeping the parents suffering. Whenever a puppy is purchased from a pet store, the store marks down as to what breed sold...they then go to the puppy mills and place orders for more of that breed. IF people stop buying, then they will stop placing orders.

As to that puppy....the store will simply lower the price on and on until the pup sells. However, they wont be placing orders for more if people stop buying them. Often times rescue groups will get the puppies that don't sell and they are adopted. When this happens the Pet Store loses money, which will cause them to STOP ordering from Puppy Mills.

Buying a puppy at a Pet Store is NOT saving the dog and its NOT rescuing the dog. It makes the Pet Store owner order MORE of what people think they just 'saved', which in turn just keeps the parents suffering.

The only way to stop the cycle is to stop buying. The pet stores will stop ordering. Then the Puppy Mills will stop breeding. The pups will either be sold at a loss for the store, or a rescue group will take them.

Please tell your friends who think they are 'saving' puppies by buying them at a pet store.

(FYI - The puppy in this photo is NOT from a pet store. It is one of our current AMAR foster puppies, Twinkle.)

Who’s Training Who?

Maltese owners BEWARE - Those precocious, flirtatious, tiny little white fluffs with the alluring innocent eyes and

built in smiles are out to train you. It will be subtle. You won’t even know it is happening. But every time you

interact with your Maltese he’s learning how to train YOU.

Oh, they aren’t malicious, or even trying to be manipulative. They are just trying to get what they want. (It is rather

like today’s children, Maltese come with a sense of entitlement.) If you think they should have 2 treats, they will try

to talk you into 4. If you give 4 treats they will try to talk you into 6. And so it goes. Every time you give in to their

“requests” they are training you.

This can be good, and this can be bad. Too many treats are bad. Too many walks are good for you. Being a yo-

yo, going in and out the back door is bad. Barking to alert you to danger is good. Barking just to bark (and

continuing) is bad. Using teeth when playing may be fun, but it leads to bad behavior.

“But they are so cute and innocent.” you say. “She’s my baby.” you say. “It’s just a few drops of urine on the table

leg.” you say. The fact is your “baby” is a dog. Dogs need needs boundaries for your loving relationship to

remain loving.

Is it OK with you that your dog bites the ankles of your house guests? Is it OK with you that he lifts his leg on furniture? Is it OK with you that she screams and howls when you

walk out the door? Would you allow a German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, or Bull Mastiff, to get away with the action? If any type of obnoxious behavior is happening, people

(possibly you?) caused it. People allowed it, and after a while ignored it, until it was overwhelming.

In rescue, we get a LOT of Maltese that have been surrendered, turned in at shelters or found loose on the streets, because their pet parents deemed them untrainable, out of

control. The reality is these dogs trained their parents instead of vice versa.

What happened? The parents did not establish boundaries and/or discipline the behavior issues. The cuteness factor over rode the fact that the new puppy/rescue dog needed

to be corrected/redirected when it did something that would not be acceptable after the dog was more established in the home. The pet parents accepted the bad behavior from

the start … because Maltese puppies are “so cute”, or that rescue dog “has been through so much”.

From the very beginning with your Maltese, do not allow bad behavior. Address it right away. Otherwise, they will figure out how to train YOU!