Our AKC Maltese Rules Our House

by Kelly
(Houston, TX)

My family always had dogs. Our house was a true menagerie! But my husband's family never had pets, never mind dogs!

It wasn't long before I started suggesting that we add one to our family. Before long, Puppet, our AKC Maltese, entered our lives.

My husband didn't welcome him with open arms. In fact, he told me that he didn't want anything to do with him, and that he was MY DOG.

Fast forward two weeks, and it seemed that MY dog was now HIS dog! They were inseparable. This five pound purebreed dog had captured his heart.

After a couple of years, we decided to add another dog to our family. I checked the AKC website and researched several purebred dog breeds before deciding on the Shetland Sheepdog. They seemed to be a perfect fit.

Then I made a huge mistake....I walked into a pet store at a local mall. And there he was, this cute little Shetland Sheepdog puppy, barking and wagging his tail. I was in love! One swipe of my credit card later and I was bringing that little guy home.

He wasn't an AKC dog, but it shouldn't matter, right? Wrong. Within two days he became ill and we were at the animal hospital receiving a diagnosis of canine parvovirus.

I found myself cleaning my whole home so that my Maltese wouldn't become infected. Later that night, our poor puppy lost his battle with the disease. It was a heartbreaking lesson to learn: never buy a dog from a pet store. I could have very easily lost my other dog to the virus.

But this story does finally have a happy ending. After a few months I went back to the AKC website and found a great, responsible breeder who subsequently provided my family with three sound Shetland Sheepdogs over the years.

She did everything that she could to make sure that all her dogs were up to the AKC purebred dog standard for that breed. I only wish the breeder of that little puppy that I lost had thought to do the same for him.





Pedigreedpups.com:

Hi Kelly - thanks for telling us your wonderful story about your cute little Maltese Puppet.

BTW - thanks to all our visitors for reading and please come back often to see what else is going on in our growing purebred dog community. Let us know what you think about the above video by leaving some comments below. It's easy enough to do - just click on the link that says "Click here to post comments" and if you want to read what others have said you can do that too at the same place.