Maltipoo Breeding

While groups such as the Maltipoo Club of America are actively pursuing the possibility of having this breed be accepted into the AKC as a new, purebred dog, in order to have this happen one of the 1st steps is to have a solid standard for the dog.

As of now, too many people are breeding in different ways and this causes the puppies to vary quite a bit. Right now, there is too much of a range in regard to weight, height, body structure and so forth.

To promote this "hybrid" breed, those who are fond of the Maltipoo and do want this dog to eventually be accepted as its own breed and not a "designer dog", "hybrid" or mix encourage only 1st generation dogs.

It will still take many generations, however eventually if enough breeders hone in on certain attributes of Maltipoos, they will have a completely distinct appearance.

Right now, some will tend to look more like Poodles and others will lean toward the Maltese appearance. However, with good breeding practices, in the foreseeable future the Maltipoo can emerge as its own recognized breed.

A "true" Maltipoo is a puppy that is the result of a mating between a purebred toy Poodle and a purebred Maltese. 

When breeding toy Poodle to purebred Maltese, you will have a true, 1st generation Maltipoo. 

There is no guidelines to say whether the dam should be a toy Poodle or a Maltese....However, one of the most important factors will be that the female should always be larger than the male. It is done this way, as with just about all dog breeds, so that the dam will have an easier time delivering and will be less prone to have to have a cesarean section.

CERF stands for Canine Eye Registration Foundation. CERF was created by a group of owners and breeders who were concerned about the loss of quality in the lives of their dogs due to heritable eye diseases. Working in union with cooperating Veterinary Opthamologists, CERF was established with the goal of eliminating heritable eye disease in dogs.

BAER stands for: Brain Auditory Evoked Response. This is a test that is safe and painless for the dog to determine if a dog has a hearing loss.

OFA stands for the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals. You'll want to have both dam and sire cleared of any potential hip and knee weaknesses before breeding. 

While a female can become pregnant during her very first heat cycle, which occurs when she is still a puppy, it is highly recommended for the female to be at least 2 years old to carry a litter. This offers her the best chance to be physically mature but still have enough youthful flexibility. Breeding must also stop at the correct age. In general a female is “retired” from breeding at 7. However, this will vary greatly depending on her health, how quickly she recovers, if a cesarean section was needed, the size of her litter and so much more. 

A male’s sperm will not be viable until at least the age of 4 months. It is suggested to wait until a male is at least 9 months old to before using him as a stud dog. Purebred males (per the AKC) are required to be at least 7 months old to sire a litter, however waiting a couple of more months increases your chances of a successful tie. 

If you decide to breed Maltipoo to Maltipoo, you will produce a 2nd generation puppy. This is important to keep in mind. There are pros and cons to this.

If two first generation Maltipoos are much closer in appearance to one of the purebred breeds (either both lean toward the Poodle or both lean toward the Maltese) and are paired together, this produces a 2nd generation Maltipoo that is now far off from a 50/50 1st generation breed dog.  As we slowly work toward recognition, this could throw off us off course in trying to establish what exactly a Maltipoo looks like. 

Now, this this said, if two dogs were both a 'perfect' 50/50 mixture of Poodle and Maltese without either one leaning toward the appearance of either... this technically would be working toward producing puppies that brought us a bit closer to a standard.  However, we are too early in this journey to be doing this., This is a tricky time right now, as many are trying hard to have this breed accepted into the AKC. If people keep producing 2nd, 3rd, 4th and even 5th generation puppies, it will be extremely difficult to establish a standard. Doing this type of mating will work against the goal of making the bloodline strong. Therefore, a lot of thought should go into this before it happens.