Maltese

The Maltese is an adorable dog that is very attached to his social group, with whom he wants to spend all of his time. In no way solitary or independent, he requires a lot of attention and affection.

Very jovial, the Maltese dog’s main priority is spending time with his masters; and if that doesn’t include playing, so be it! He will make a great pet for children, but they still need to respect him to make sure the interactions go smoothly.

Despite his ability to be very energetic with his master, this dog appreciates calm moments more than anything, especially to be stroked and cuddled; and if on the sofa, even better!

While he’s only used as a pet, the Maltese Dog is very intelligent and can greatly excel in a diverse range of activities, including dog dancing, for example.

This dog has no predatory instinct at all, despite the fact that he used to serve to hunt mice. Today, he is able to live in the company of small animals, especially if he’s grown up with them.

This little dog can be quite aggressive in the face of intruders, but will only display his discontent by barking. Once he has figured out a stranger, he will then know if he can approach them for strokes, or if he should continue barking to scare them off.

The Maltese Dog is truly dependent of his master. He hates being isolated and doesn’t deal well with being left alone. His only aim is to please his master and has even been known to stare adoringly at his owner for long periods of time as a sign of affection.

This little snowball is very dependent and attached to his master as well as his social group. If he isn’t surrounded by people all day (such as retired people, for example), it will be necessary to teach him from a young age how to cope with being alone.

To do this, it will be necessary to make the absences as positive as possible, by providing him with dog toys, for example, and making the absences progressive (5 minutes, then 10, then 15, then 30, etc.). This will be necessary to avoid separation anxiety, which can make for a stressful cohabitation.

In any case, the Maltese won’t tolerate prolonged absences, so it’s not possible to leave him alone from morning to evening. For busy owners, it will be a question of finding the time to go home during lunch, to elicit the help of a dog sitter or to take him to work if possible.

Intelligent, lively and docile, the Maltese is very friendly and easy to train if you take the time to teach him the basics from when he’s a puppy.

His small size does not justify an omission of training. Even small dogs must have limits, rules, and a basic education to properly integrate into the household, but also into society more generally. 

Therefore, you should train your Maltese as early as possible, to prevent him from learning bad habits. It’s much easier to learn habits than to ‘unlearn’ them, to then have to relearn new behaviours.

You should pay special attention to teaching him how to be alone, since this dog typically experiences separation very negatively.

Barking is this little dog’s principle means of communication. He barks to express a variety of emotions: excitement, frustration, distrust, etc.

The Maltese dog is far too dependent to run away. It would never occur to him to try to escape if his home is comfortable and cosy.