Some dog owners may get their best friends from a local animal shelter, but others, in the world of luxury breeds and status symbols, prefer to shop at the high end of the market – the very high end.

In 2011, a Tibetan mastiff named Big Splash sold for around €1.3 million in China, earning the breed the title of the most expensive in the world.

And last week, an unplanned pregnancy resulted in one dog breeder in Mellieħa becoming the proud owner of his own locally-bred litter of Tibetan mastiff puppies, the first ever successful breeding of its kind in Malta.

“We brought the parents from Italy and Greece as family pets,” Alex Polidano told The Sunday Times of Malta. “We were thinking of breeding them next year, but they chose their own moment.”

An ancient breed native to the Himalayan region, Tibetan mastiffs were originally used as guard dogs due to their huge size. The dogs are genetic ancestors of the Rottweiler and the Saint Bernard, and fully grown males can weigh up to 75 kilogrammes.

Kristina and Alex Polidano with their Tibetan mastiffs.

We were thinking of breeding them next year, but they chose their own moment

But Mr Polidano described the dogs, also known for their intelligence, as “gentle giants” getting along well with his young children, and relatively calm and easy to take care of despite their imposing stature, sleeping for large parts of the day and alert at night when their guarding instincts kick in.

Although the breed has been around for thousands of years, Tibetan mastiffs exploded in popularity relatively recently, particularly in China, where they quickly became a favourite among rich businessmen.

Following the million-dollar sale five years ago, prices slightly fell due to over-production by breeders, but purebreds still go for several thousands.

Mr Polidano’s puppies will be slightly cheaper: as an ‘unknown’ breed locally, he is expecting to sell them for around €1,000 each while the breed establishes itself on the island.

This is the first time he has tried his hand at specialised breeding, and he is pleasantly surprised at the success: despite the puppies coming a year ahead of schedule, their mother outdid herself with a litter of 12, the maximum this breed can produce.

“They scored with the first shot,” Mr Polidano joked. “The only problem we had was that the mother chose her own spot: she gave birth on our sofa and kept trying to take the puppies back there whenever we moved them.”