Maltese

The Maltese breed of dogs was developed mainly in Italy. They are said to have poodle and miniature spaniel blood. These dogs were recognized first as a breed in a place called Malta, and hence their name. It was said that royalty all over the world owned these dogs. The crusaders, who were on their way back home from the Mediterranean, bought these dogs to England.

The Maltese is a hardy, small dog, known for its white silky hair. They have fine-boned, sturdy and a compact body. Their length is slightly longer when compared to their height. They have a deep chest. They have a skull which is rounded at the top, which comes to a moderate stop. Their muzzle is of moderate length, which tapers in the end, but not to a point. Their low set ears are quite close to their head, they are pendant shaped and heavily feathered. They have round, large black eyes that have dark rims and are set apart and they have a black nose.

These dogs have just a single coat, which is silky and is either white or light ivory in colour. Their coat is usually trimmed short, for grooming purposes, but if allowed to grow long and groomed properly, it usually hangs flat, their body almost completely covered in the sides. Their coat is extremely straight, not even a slight wave and never a curl. Their coat hangs on each side of a central parting line. If not exposed to any sun light at all, their noses become faded, that is, they turn pink or light brown colour. This nose is commonly called as the “winter nose”. They may sometimes have lemon coloured ears.

A full grown Maltese weighs approximately about 3-7 pounds and grow up to be approximately 8 to 10 inches tall. These dogs are highly spirited, very playful and lively. They are very gentle, trusting, loving and very devoted to their owners. As their intelligence level is quite high, they are extremely good at learning any trick taught to them. Thus they are often used as show dogs. It is an excellent companion, as they are very graceful and also very lovable. They are known to do very well with other animals that are non-canine and even other dogs. These dogs enjoy playing in the outdoors. Some of them even like to jump on puddles.

They turn out to be extremely picky when it comes to their food, if they are fed table scraps. These dogs should not be made to believe that they are the pack leaders, because, if they are, they tend to get very snappy with little children and even with adults sometimes. If they are over-pampered or over-protected, they tend to become highly unstable and even jealous of a lot of visitors. Maltese that are allowed to be the boss to humans tend to develop guarding, separation anxiety and start to bark obsessively. These are only because of the way they are raised as they are not the Maltese traits.