I already know this would be stupid.....

[NewMaltese]

As per title, I know it's not doable, but we have been offered an 11wo pup, which is completely perfect for us. BUT we are going abroad for 2 weeks soon, and altho my 20yo DS will be at home, I know that it wouldn't be fair to the pup to settle it in then bugger off for 2 weeks 😪
We also have a Maltese dog, who'd be at home with my son.

Pls tell me I'm right so I can stop trying to overthink it to come up with ways around it 😭

It’s not about whether they care for their dogs. I love my pair but I don’t know enough to ensure that I can produce healthy pups. Most hobby breeders wouldn’t know if their breed needed hip or eye or elbow screening. And decent breeders tend to endorse their dogs so not anyone can breed unchecked. So parents are unlikely to come from good stock.

All dog breeders make money, however a responsible breeder health tests both the dogs they intend to use for breeding. They vet new owners carefully, often having a waiting list for the pups. They offer a lifetime of support, often offering a contract that the dog has to go back to them if the new owner’s circumstances change.
Responsible breeders do not charge £££ for a dog because it’s a ‘rare’ colour for example. Often they will show their dogs and breed to improve and endorse their dogs so not just anyone can breed with them. There is usually a big difference with a hobby breeder, a lot of who breed from a family pet with little to no health checks.

Im not saying all hobby breeders are bad, but I’d be asking about what heath checks were done on the dogs she used.

Good luck with your new pup should you get it. I think waiting until after your holiday would be more fair on the pup and your current dog.

This.

Some very good dogs are endorsed by the breeder, and some are not. Some breeders will lift the endorsement if health tests are done, or after seeing the adult dog for themselves and having had a long chat with the person proposing to breed.

Current breeding practices aren't doing pedigree dogs many favours. A closed gene pool (as in a pedigreed breed) is a risk factor in itself. If you couple that with having popular sires, or with line-breeding some lines repeatedly, the risk of once-rare illnesses caused by recessive becoming much more widespread increases massively (see, for example, Vizsla Inflammatory Polymyopathy). A high co-efficient of inbreeding alone increases the chances of allergies, increases the risk of cancer, increases the risk of infertility and lowers average litter size. A low COI doesn't guarantee a healthy, long-lived dog, but it does increase the odds.

These are assumptions you are making about hobby breeders. People can be hobby breeders and knowledgeable. They can have a girl or 2 and raise a few litters successfully. Its not compulsory to show or work a dog if you want to breed. The show dog world is a whole other issue and working dogs are often unsuitable a family pets.
As for endorsements I am on the fence, sometimes it's a good thing, especially when used to get potential breeders to do health tests. But it has also contributed to the reduction in the gene pool.

Is the new pup also a Maltese? I would get the pup if so.

I still don’t understand what’s wrong with people breeding their healthy family pets who have pedigree papers. I got my 8 year old dog from a mum at school whose pedigree family pets had a litter. She looked after the pups really carefully and they were all loved pets. They named them and I kept the name for my dog. My dog still sees his mum, dad and sister. I think it’s very nice. All the dogs are happy and loved. Actually they are pretty much worshipped.

No, it's a cross. Both parents are approx same weight as our current dog

@Jibaka in order to breed healthy pups responsibly the breeder needs to look into the pedigrees of the dogs. Co efficient of inbreeding? Know what breed specific health tests need doing and get them done.
Allowing two random dogs to have puppies isn’t how responsible breeders do it.

We had the same problem and we were not going to get the pup, but my sister offered to have her for us. The pup settled well with my sister and settled well back with us. If you think the pup would be well looked after (is your son reliable) it should be fine. Also would the people you are getting pup from have her for the time you are away? My sister kept to our routine and pup was crate trained so felt safe.

So it’s a mutt? Is this “hobby” breeder asking you to pay for a mixed-breed mutt? I personally wouldn’t pay a breeder for a mutt, but if you love the look of the pup, you should just go for it. One of my dogs is a mutt (though I did get him for free off of a farm!)

The puppy will be fine while you go on holiday.

If you’ve met the puppy in person (which you should do, if you haven’t) and this truly feels like your dream pup, just go for it. If your DS isn’t keen to do puppy care while you’re on holiday (as puppies must go to use the bathroom every few hours) you can always look to board the pup at your vet for the duration of the trip. The pup will do just fine. It won’t forget who you are while you’re on holiday or anything.

Not sure no one has called you out on this!!! But we need to see a photo to comment objectively:)
go on just get the pup.

It's not a mutt, though. A mutt is usually a mix of unknown breeds, and often a result of other mutts breeding with each other.
2 pedigree parents, known background won't create a mutt 🙈

I think you are wrong there! Every stage in the first year at the very least brings its particular challenges.

Sensible thing would be to ask breeder to keep until you come back. All depends how trustworthy and ethical they are, may keep your deposit and sell?

No. Not a mutt. A crossbreed. But one I doubt has had the requisite health tests that each breed should have before breeding.

Why don't you go on holiday then go to a rescue centre on your return the shelters will be overfilled by now then you're helping give a home to a needy pup when you have the full commitment.

It’s a mongrel and probably a designer one that’s going to be riddled with health issues from an unethical breeder based off all you’ve said. You’d be absolutely mad to take this dog on.

There are so many red flags it’s making the Chinese Communist Party look pale.

You do not need to test for recessive genetic illnesses that only occur in high levels in one of the parent breeds.

For example, there's not much point testing for Collie Eye Anomaly if you're crossing a border collie with a greyhound.

@Ylvamoon
working dogs are often unsuitable a family pets.
Also this. Both of mine are from strong working lines. One would probably be okay as a pet if she got enough exercise. The other one would be an absolute nutcase pain-in-the-arse. If she doesn't get the fulfilment she needs, after about 3-4 weeks she starts to be antsy, irritating, and horrible to other dogs. Give her a 30-minute session of gundog training, and she resets back to her confident, cheery, social self.

@EdithStourton and what pet owner looking to cash in on puppies knows or cares what the breed specific health issues are or whether they are recessive genetic illnesses.

The problem with rescue centres is that, firstly, not one of them ever seems to offer pups - or maybe they just don't advertise them, I'm not sure.
However, the older dogs they have almost always have some sort of bulldog or similar in them, and my own preference/circumstance is not suitable for them, and I'm also unable to risk my current dog's safety (physical and mental) by taking on any dog that has behavioural issues.

2 people I know have Romanian rescues, and they're completely adorable, but it took a lot for them to get to that stage.

I also appreciate your advice 💕

Er... the friends of mine who bred their spaniel.
And they're not unique.

Though they weren't 'cashing in'. They had an incredibly sweet-natured and social dog, and wanted to keep one of her puppies. They did this well pre-Covid, when you got perhaps £500 for a puppy.

@NewMaltese does it have to be a rescue? Why not get a pedigree puppy from a respectable and ethical breeder? Rescuing is great, but it's not always the best things for all family or indeed for an existing dog...

Agree you're very unlikely to get a puppy in one though. One came up on Spaniel Aid a few days ago and before my mum even got an application in, it was reserved (literally within 24hours).

No, this one isn't a rescue - I was responding to a pp who said to get a rescue puppy instead.

This one - mum's first litter, both parents health checked, both parents pedigrees

But the parents are different breeds, not the same. Which in turn confirms that they are not breeding for the betterment of the breed, they are doing it for the sake of making some money.

When you say health checked, do you mean a quick once over by a vet, or do you mean actual testing for breed specific conditions?

What two breeds are involved here?

@NewMaltese ah apology you confused me because you quoted me when you commented about rescues!

But just because dogs are health tested (not checked - you've said 'checked' with is not health testing and isn't really worth the paper it's written on) and pedigrees doesn't mean they should be bred from.

I have a beautiful dog at the moment - champion pedigree on both sides, he's SGWC, has a JW, fantastic full health tests, but I'd never ever breed him. Why? Because breeding him serves no purpose, except my own (likely very significant) financial gain. He adds nothing on value to the gene pool by being bred from.

And with breeding two different pedigrees, there's just not really any reason for it unless you are trying to resolve an outstanding issue within a breed (i.e., I know of a cavalier breeder who introduced lab into her gene pool several generations ago to try and resolve the snout issue - but that took her years of careful planning).

All breeding should be done for the betterment of the breed not because a dog is nice or healthy, or even because you want your dog to have a puppy and want one for yourself.

Personally, I always follow this (admittedly on Dogshouse mumsnet very unpopular mantra): if I don't have the buyers lined up before my bitch is pregnant, I shouldn't be breeding. Homing puppies should be done properly and certainly not in the circumstances you're describing where the dog has likely missed the start of it's socialisation window and the potential owners are going on holiday within a few weeks of picking it up and during it's the end of its fear phase...