Maltese Information Please

Hi All,
I'm looking for Maltese Breeders in BC. Also if anyone can tell me if there is a Maltese rescue around too.
Anyone who has had experiance with Matese any info you can pass along would be apprechiated as well.
Have a great evening!

Jen

Try www.petfinder.com
Look for all breed or small dog rescues

So now you want a Maltese, and not a Bichon Frise or a Papillon? :confused:

haha I had a feeling someone would notice. I have narrowed my search down to these 3. I think its pretty good since I had a lot more to begin with like 8 or something. Anyway, we will see where this goes, I have been looking into rescues and have just filled out an application for any bichon Frise rescue!! Hopefully I will hears something.

Oh so you dont really mind the breed difference, thats good. All sorts of small breeds in rescues that need homes.

Too bad you weren't here, there are some lovelies I know of that need homes.

Go to dogs in canada site. Also if your area has a kennel club, you can check them out. The others have given you options for rescue dogs.

A good friend of ours had a maltese named Roxy. Cute little dog, very loving towards people - hated other dogs. Her extreme aggressiveness towards other dogs ended up killing her. :sad: If any dog - even ones she had been around for years - came up to her, she would growl and bark and carry on. My dogs always left her alone, as did most of the dogs in their extended family. One day a GSD came into her yard and she came uncorked. The GSD tore her up pretty good. She survived the attack and the resulting surgeries, but had to have a good chunk of her intestine as well as abdominal muscles removed. It kept causing problems for her (she had a permanent hernia type thing on her side) and she finally had to be pts.

Bottom line, if you get one - make absolutely sure that you socialize it well with other dogs so that it doesn't develop an attitude like that.

a good friend of mine has a maltese, adorable little bugger! weighs in at about 5lbs (on the small side), smart as a whip, extremely friendly (to people and other dogs since he has been socialized ALOT). He's very quiet, in fact, I don't think I've ever heard him bark. I've only met this one maltese, but from what I've seen, he's very snuggly and loving, but tough too - he can definately hold his own when my dog plays too rough with him.

I have a Maltese and, although she's purebred, isn't a very good example of the breed and is in between 10-11 lbs. That's bigger than the AKC standards (under 7 lbs. with from 4 - 6 lbs. preferred), but she's sturdy. She was abused in the past, but despite that, is still incredibly friendly towards people. She's a bit unsure of herself around other dogs, especially big ones, which is understandable considering she lived with some big dogs for a while, in the owner's words, "tried to eat her", but she listens very well and if I tell her to sit and stop barking, she will (except she gets up and hides behind my legs if the dog comes up to her). After she feels more comfortable around the dog, usually around 10-20 minutes with a break or two in between, she LOVES to play and is constantly trying to play with the other dog. She's extremely loyal (I just had surgery and she will NOT leave me alone, she always wants to be by my side) and VERY food motivated (carrots are her favourite, she even prefers carrots over meat). Her teeth do take a lot work to keep clean, which is apparently typical with Maltese. A lot of people say that the breed is very intelligent, but my girl doesn't pick up on things that quickly (she's not slower than average, but not faster than average either). However, she's very eager to please and is always trying her best. She does is yappy when she's bored, but stops I tell her to. Maltese's coat also needs frequent grooming, especially if it's long, but I choose to keep my girl's short. I highly recommend this breed. I also saw you were considering a Bichon Frise and I have a Bichon Frise crossed with a Shih tzu, and love that breed also.

Are you looking for a purebred, or would a mix be fine? Are you looking for a puppy, or is an older dog okay (keep in mind that toy breeds can live a long time, so even if you get a 7-year-old, they could easily have more than another 7 years left)? Are you willing to drive at all? If you don't mind saying, where abouts in B.C. do you live?

I found a dog listed as a Terrier X at the Comox Valley SPCA (http://www.cvspca.shawbiz.ca), but she looks like she could have some Maltese in her. She's a 7-year-old spayed female.

Have you heard Little Paws Rescue (http://www.littlepaws.ca)? They currently have a Maltese/Yorkie X and a Bichon/Shih tzu.

I saw you were also considering a Papillon, have you heard of Papillon Canada Rescue (http://www.papilloncanada.org/rescue.htm)? You might want to contact them and see if they have anything available.

If none of these dogs suit you and you're willing to drive a bit, I'm sure there's a perfect little dog waiting for you elsewhere :). There are a number of dogs in the States, so if you're not too far from the border, maybe there's something in northern Washington or Montana.

Good luck!

Hi Chocolate Coffee,

Thank you so much for your informative reply! I live in Vancouver, I don't mind driving a bit but not too far. I would prefer to get a dog thats a puppy (or young at least) just because I will be my first dog that will be mine and my boyfriends so we want to raise it totally. Initially I was looking for a PB but a mix is fine too... Bichon/Shih tzu's are gorgous as well as any maltese, shih tzu, Maltise combo. You mentioned that your Maltese was a rescue, where did you get yours? I'm constantly looking around at both little paw's websites and saw the dogs you mentioned and have thought about them but desided that some of them would be better off with someone who is used to rescues as some of them did have a lot of problems.

Anyway, thanks again for that great reply!

Jen :thumbs up

I got my Maltese from Las Vegas (I live in Calgary). When I decided to get a second dog, it was either a rescue dog or no dog and there weren't any small dogs in the shelters around me (now there's quite a few). She was an owner surrender (owner died, left her to his niece who had the big dogs, she gave her away to somebody who decided he didn't have time for her a few weeks later), and surprisingly enough (considering she's a young Maltese), nobody wanted her. My dad's coworker knew somebody who was in Las Vegas for a weekend, so he brought her up for us! We had been looking for months, and something always went wrong, normally with the transportation.

A lot of times if you do a long-distance adoption, the rescue will help out a little with the transportation. Like I said, it took a long time to find a dog that we could actually arrange transportation for, but a lot of the time the rescue was willing to do a leg in the transport.

Furbaby Rescue (www.furbabyrescue.com) in Blaine, WA (41 minutes SE of Vancouver) specializes in small breed dogs, mostly Lhasa Apsos and Shih tzus, but they do have some other breeds. They have an ADORABLE 1 year, 7 months Shih tzu/Maltese, his picture is on their website.

Although they're a bit older (6-years-old), the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County (3 hours south of Vancouver) has a male Maltese X and a female Maltese X. Both dogs have pictures on their website: www.thehumanesociety.org.

This is a bit far (5 hours south of Vancouver), but Family Dogs New Life Shelter (www.familydogsnewlife.org) has an 8-month-old Bichon Frise X.
Northcentral Maltese Rescue (http://malteserescue.homestead.com) has a 7-month-old Maltese available in Ellensburg, WA (4 hours SE of Vancouver). I couldn't find her when I searched the website, but I found her when I searched www.pet-ark.com, it said to ask for #27465. I assume they haven't taken her off PetArk, but it might be worth calling and seeing if they can put you on a waiting list.

Here's the Papillon Club of America Rescue's website: www.papillonclub.org/rescue. They don't seem to have anything near you right now, but maybe they can contact you if something does come up.

There is an ADORABLE Shih tzu (originally thought to be a Bichon Frise, but a Bichon Frise groomer said she was a Shih tzu) at Animal Rescue Families (www.animalrescuefamilies.org) in Bremerton, WA (3 1/2 hours south of Vancouver). They require a home visit, but a lot of times rescues will get another shelter in the area of a potential home to do a home check. She's 2/3-years-old, so a bit older than what you're looking for, but here's her Petfinder page: http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?action=2&pet=4882280&adTarget=&SessionID=42f27a836b8d6833-app3&display=&preview=1&row=75&tmpl=&stat=.

This might also be a bit far, but there's a 1 1/2-year-old purebred Papillon in Ocean Shores, WA (5 hours SW of Vancouver). She's at North Beach Paws and shares a birthday with my Maltese (October 28, maybe it's a sign :p). Here's the rescue's Petfinder page: http://www.petfinder.org/shelters/WA219.html.

Have you considered a Chihuahua? Animals in Need in Kingston, WA (3 hours south of Vancouver) has a 6-month-old, 8 lbs. Chihuahua X rescued from Puerto Rico (the rescue rescues dogs both locally and from Puerto Rico). Their website, although this dog isn't listed on there is www.animalsinneed.net and their Petfinder site, where this dog is listed, is http://www.petfinder.org/shelters/WA169.html.

Anyways, that's all I could find right now but I'll keep my eyes open and let you know if I find anything else. Good luck, and let me know if you need help with anything!