Puppy*luv,
I can feel your desperation and desire to be owned by a furbaby of this lovable, beautiful breed. But. Big but. Please be aware that web sites like puppyfind take advertising from anyone who wants to list their puppies. No ethical breeder who genuinely cares for the breed will list their puppies there. They don't need to, first of all. They breed quality, not quantity and don't need mass advertising. They want to carefully screen potential owners and are careful in their breed lines to not pass on genetic abnormalities, etc. Larry Stanbury of Divine Maltese wrote a thorough explanation of the breeding process for purebreds and it is awesome when you know that your puppy has been carefully bred. Because good breeders don't churn out litter after litter indescriminately and because there are real expenses involved in consistently breeding good healthy puppies, the economies of scale aren't there. Thus, you pay the $2k to $5k for your baby. Puppymills put 50-300 breeding bitches in cages and breed every heat cycle. Many will still charge the going rate because they can. They maximize their profits by cutting out much of the care that ethical breeders give their breeding pairs. Just go to
www.hollybellemaltese.com to get the whole picture.
When you purchase from a puppymill, you don't "save" a puppy, you simply deplete the inventory which will then be filled by another abused maltese mother who gets bred for another litter.
What I have learned in the years I've had Pico is that, if you can't afford $1500 or so upfront for one of these treasures, you can't afford the ongoing expense, either. Grooming, dental care, vaccination, training, toys, beds, clothing......it's less expensive than a human child but not by much.
I do have a really good suggestion for you, though. Check out the rescue groups for a rescue Maltese. Many people get these dogs and find they really didn't want to brush and groom and train and be stalked for their lap and so
give the dogs to the shelter. There, they are rescued by a group dedicated to the breed who find adoptive homes. To me, this sounds like a possible solution for you.
I hope I haven't been too harsh in this posting but I am passionate against puppymill type breeders and it takes real diligence sometimes to investigate where your puppy is coming from to make sure you are getting a healthy pup from an ethical breeder.