Maltese

The Maltese is a toy dog with a silky, pure white coat, drop ears and a tail that curls over its back. It is kept as a companion and a show dog. The name is shared with a dwarf white dog of the ancient world that was linked with Italy and the island of Malta, but whether the modern breed has any real connection to that ancient one is not known. Its closest relatives are the Bichon, Bolognese and Havanese.

History

Small “Melitaean” dogs seem to have been the favorite household pets of antiquity. An Attic vase of about 500 BC showed one with its name written beside it, and Aristotle, Theophrastus, Strabo and many other Greek and Roman writers mention them. One of Aesop’s fables contrasts a pampered Maltese with its master’s hard-worked donkey. The ancients disagreed about whether the dogs came from Malta or from the Adriatic island of Mljet, both called Melita in Latin; recent scholarship generally favors Malta. By 1536, though, a historian of Malta wrote that the islanders no longer knew such a dog.

Geneticists say the modern Maltese cannot be traced by pedigree to those dogs. Like many breeds it took shape in the Victorian era, through controlled crossing of existing small dogs. In 1837 Edwin Landseer painted a small white dog named Quiz as The Lion Dog from Malta: The Last of his Tribe. Dogs sold as “Maltese” appeared on the London market some time later, with no known link to the island; one breeder said his strain had come from Manila in 1841. They were given their own class at a show in Islington in 1862, where the breeder R. Mandeville took first prize. His dogs dominated shows through the 1870s and became the foundation of later breeding. The all-white coat became a requirement during the nineteenth century.

In the United States a white dog was shown as a “Maltese Lion Dog” at the first Westminster show in 1877, and the American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1888. The Fédération Cynologique Internationale accepted it definitively in 1955, under the patronage of Italy.

Appearance

Adults usually weigh 3 to 4 kg. Females stand about 20 to 23 cm tall and males slightly more. The coat is dense, glossy and silky and falls heavily along the body, without curls and without an undercoat. It is pure white, though a pale ivory tinge or light brown spotting is allowed.

Temperament

The Maltese is described as lively, calm and affectionate.

Care and health

The breed does not shed and is considered hypoallergenic, so some people with dog allergies may be able to live with one. Like other white dogs it can show tear stains.

A British study in 2024 put life expectancy at 13.1 years, a little above the average for purebred dogs; an Italian study the same year found 11 years. The breed may be prone to liver and heart problems, including patent ductus arteriosus, and to luxating patella.

Facts on this page were checked against Wikipedia and may have changed since.