MmeLindt has found a puppy, advise needed again from the lovely MN doggy people

[MmeLindt]

I asked a mum at the DCs school if she knows anyone with puppies, and it turns out that the school dinner lady has puppies to sell at the moment. They are Maltese/King Charles Spaniel cross.

This afternoon the DCs and I went to have a look. The kids were tres excited, DSr just giggled and giggled and giggled. The one puppy is left, the little girl, the others were little boy dogs. The girl puppy was quite timid in comparisson to the the boys, but was soon clambering all over the kids, to their great delight. She is very gentle, showed no signs of aggression and was very cute.

We could have her next week, by Wednesday at the latest. She will need an inoculation at 12 weeks and a chip put in in case she gets lost.

They would like 500chf for her. She is a mixture between a king charles spaniel and a maltese terrier. The mummy dog was very gentle and ruhig. She did not bark or show any signs of aggression. She is the maltese terrier, had short hair that does not shed. The daddy dog is a King Charles.

The family were friendly, the puppies had a big huge box in the kitchen, everything was clean and tidy (even though we were not expected today) The family had a young daughter, maybe about 13 or 14 who played with the puppies. They were boisturous but not aggressive. One of the other pups will go to a family over the road from us.

DH mentioned that we might be getting the runt of the litter, as she is the last one.

What do you think?

Pics on profile.

That should be advice shouldn't it?

Why is this thread not showing up in active conversations?

Is it just me?

Where are you Mme Lint? (500chf ?)

Do you usually speak German?

Ah, I see you are in Germany! Sorry!

The puppy is too, too cute. I know nothing about dogs, except I couldn't resist this one!

No, I am in Switzerland now.

Have I made a mistake in my English? I am Scottish but have been living abroad for 16 years.

Ah, just noticed that I wrote ruhig. I cut and paste from my email to DH. Do you think that I was persuasive enough´?

500chf is about 200quid

You were definately pursuasive enough. Your DH is totally heartless if he says no! Just the photo would do it for me.

Maybe nobody wanted a bitch because of the cost of spaying, it doesn't mean it's the runt of the litter. I think it's good that it's been brought up in a family house rather than a breeder's kennels. Cavaliers are usually great with kids, don't know much about Maltese terriers, but the mother's temperament sounds ideal.

Just talked to DH and he said YES!!!

If I'd had the choice I would have gone for a bitch...! Yes, you need to get spayed, but quite often easier to cope with temperament wise and less likely to run away etc...

I have no experience of King Charles, but my Nan had a rescue maltese Terrier and she was a brilliant dog.
As you already know, they don't moult and from my experience with my Nan's are great little dogs.
The only downside my Nan found was her coat, she was a full maltese and as a breed they are supposed to hair a long (to the floor) coat, being white it's not really compatible.

My Nan just had her clipped quite short every few weeks, to keep her clean and tidy.

The photo's are beautiful, looks like she's already your

Thanks guys. Just the look on my DCs faces was enough to convince me that we are doing the right thing. DD said that she wanted the little girl puppy for Xmas, but in a "well, that is what I would like but I know we can't have" kind of way. She is going to flip when we tell her.

The move to Switzerland has been hard on her, she has been quite sad recently.

Now, I need a name!

Go for it MmeLindt!

They do say that you should not take the last puppy in the litter. It's normally the last one chosen for a reason.

That said, we did (loooong story) and we have the best dog in the world. I can't believe how bloody lucky we are to have found him and connot imagine a better dog for us!

The cross you are describing seems like a good one - both breeds show massive pluses when I looked them up.

Females can be trickier in some respects - coming in to season, spaying etc but then, male dogs can come with own tricky stuff to deal with too!

Your puppy has been bought up in a family home and so should be socialised pretty well already - especially playing with the young teenager. Providing you now socialize her to within an inch of her life - with little children, older children, men, women, men with beards, busses, police sirens, other dogs etc etc, I think you'll be OK. Socialise as much as possible before 16 weeks of age - really put some hard graft in to it - it pays MASSIVE dividends later on.

Good luck!

That is good advice, Doodle. We live in a small village so it would probably be good to take her into town with me a couple of times then?

Off to have a look at the books my neighbour lent me on bringing up puppies.

I would also try to find out if there are any puppy classes near you - really good opportunity to socialise her with other puppies of a similar age and get some help with some initial gentle training.

If you feel she is the puppy for you go for it! I have 2 bitches, both were last in the litter and they are wonderful faithful dogs. Bitches tend to stray lees than male dogs and are very loyal to the family. Make sure you get her speyed, do lots of socialisation and find some puppy classes if you can. We got our first puppy in December just before Xmas and she is called Holly as she was a christmas dog!