Maltese Only News
October 2001

Villa Malta Bloodlines
Under Scrutiny by AKC , Breeders and Pet Owners

The integrity of the AKC Maltese studbooks has come under fire again. This time, the Villa Malta bloodline is being scrutinized. In the past month, the AKC's Investigation and Inspection team has been busy sending out several hundred letters to some of those affected. The dreaded letter officially places the dog and any progency on referal indefinetly stemming from complaints that certain Maltese were not whom they were supposed to be. The investigation revealed "shoddy" paperwork by a Maltese breeder who is now deceased. It is unclear whether the lackadaisical record keeping was intentional or not. An enormous number of pet dogs as well as a few Champion showdogs were produced by the Pennsylvania kennel and it's unsure at this time if all progency will have their papers pulled by American Kennel Club, the mega-giant registry of purebreed dogs. According to an AKC spokeswoman, the integrity of the studbook is their number one concern.

If there are any dogs in the past generations on your pedigree that have the prefix -- 'Villa Malta', your ancestory record may be incorrect and contain false lineage information. The Villa Malta line goes back many, many years and has produced thousands of puppies with the majority being sold to pet owners throughout the United States and Canada. Some of the other kennel names with strong ties to the Villa Malta line are Hollybelle, Candlewick, Petacoat and Legacy. If you find any of these prefixes on your Maltese pedigree or registration papers, you are urged to contact the American Kennel Club immediately and question them as to the validity of your Maltese registration papers given to you at the time of purchase. Whether your Maltese is spayed or neutered and not for breeding, it makes no difference.

If your registration papers or pedigree are proven to be incorrect, you may be entitled to monetary compensation by the seller regardless of whom in the chain of breeders was deceptive. In many cases, some consumers have paid upwards to two-thousand dollars for a Maltese only to find out that the purebred lineage was falsified. DNA testing is being conducted on some of the dogs in question that are still alive. Contact an attorney without hesitation to protect your rights as a consumer. Although AKC papers are not an indication of quality, it has been proven that the monetary value of a "AKC Registered" dog vs a non-registered one can easily be triple the difference. If your dog is placed on "referal", his or her "AKC credentials" are lost.

The integrity of the AKC studbooks is very important to the Maltese breed and the main function of the American Kennel Club is to keep track of a dogs ancestory in a reliable and accurate manner.

The American Kennel Club's Investigations and Inspections team can be reached at (919) 816-3524.