AgileGSD
Posted : 2/13/2010 4:16:13 PM
joyfullmom2
I wanted to say thank you to everyone for their responses............I appreciate the passion that you all have for dogs and what happens to them. I have a daughter who is going into the animal field and working against breeders so I hear all the stories and I am totally against puppy mills and bad breeders. I don't want to get taken.
I'm curious as to what feild she is getting into where she is "working against breeders".
joyfullmom2
What we are looking for is a small dog that doesn't shed much and is good for people with allergies. I have been checking rescues in our area and what you find are bigger dogs. So that's why we were checking out breeders. What drew me to the maltapoo is a mixture of both those breeds (the maltese for being small, the poodle for easy to train and non shedding).
Maltese are actually non shedding and generally "safe" for people with allergies. Our neighbors got a Maltese puppy for their kids last year and he doesn't bother their allergic daughter at all. And he's a really nice dog :) Toy Poodles can be nice too, as can Bichons. Most non shedding dogs require professional grooming, which is an added lifelong expense (or you can try to learn yourself). Everyone always wants to push adopting from a shelter and for some it is a great option. However, it can be difficult to impossible to find toy breed, non-shedding puppy at the shelter and shelter dogs are generally not from careful breeders who health check their dogs. I'm not sure what your price range for a dog is but getting a puppy from a show breeder who health tests for these breeds will usually be $1000 - 2000. Someone I know just got a pet Bichon from a show breeder, fully health tested parents/pedigree and paid $1800 for him. If you can try to find a pet breeder who health tests (not always easy) puppies will be a bit less.