Q. Can I come to your house and check out where the dogs live? Can I come visit the puppies as they mature?
A. When you pick your puppy up at my house, we sit inside my home. You are welcome to see the puppies that are available at time of purchase and their parents if necessary. I no longer offer visitations prior to pick up.
Q. Will my Maltese have their dew claws removed?
A. No! We do not remove dew claws from a Maltese and I kindly ask that you NOT have them removed at a later date.
Q. Will my Maltese puppy be housebroken when I get him?
A. No. This is a baby. Just like human babies use diapers at first, these Maltese babies will use potty pads. The puppies use potty pads at my house, but like any young life learning about things, they can have accidents. Please be patient. It is up to the owners to house train their puppy. Expect it to take 6+ months.
Q. Can I send a blanket to your home so that my Maltese puppy will be soothed by smells of Mom when he comes home to me?
A. I prefer that you dont. Maltese puppies will just potty and poopy on it, providing me with more laundry to do. The blanket theory is a sweet idea, but is typically reserved for puppies who are taken away from their mother too early. I do not force wean my Maltese puppies and do not take their mother away from them. I allow the Maltese to stay with their mother and littermates for as long as necessary. All of my Maltese puppies go to their forever homes between 12-16 weeks.
Q. Why does it look like there is white in the eye in the photo’s of the Maltese puppies?
A. Puppies can get intimidated when a camera is in their face, if a flash goes off or a “click” is heard, the puppy may look away for a second. Unfortunately, this happens frequently and will be in many pictures, this doesn’t mean they have whites of the eyes showing and is completely normal.
Q. What is the brown stains on the face or near the eyes?
A. It is commonly referred to as ‘tear stains”. The staining occurs when a puppy is teething, when hormones are raging (before spay or neuter), if they stick their faces in bowls of food or water. While we dont like it, its part of having a Maltese or white dog. We do our best to clean the faces every day and give frequent baths but sometimes they just have to grow out of it. Occasionally, we give an antibiotic called Tylan or Clindamycin which helps stop the discoloring.
Puppies who are weaning from mothers milk to puppy food, often stick their whole faces into the food. Often times breeders soak the dry puppy kibble or serve whats known as “gruel” which can be quite messy. This teaches puppy to safely consume softer foods while their teeth have not fully erupted. This process also can cause staining.
Most show dogs have their faces cleaned daily, faces wrapped and may times are lightened (bleached) before dog shows. The faces are often powdered with cornstarch to cover any stains and to help absorb any excess moisture. While I dont recommend doing this on puppies, it does provide a false sense of “Pure white faces” to novices who dont understand the biology of the Maltese.
If you are a person looking for a family pet, please be sure to keep your puppies face clean and dry and get professionally groomed every month. Trimming the hairs around the eyes will remove any stained hairs and keep stray hairs from going into the puppies yes which can cause more tearing.