DESCRIPTION

The Maltese has a compact and petite body with a white silky coat. Gentle and affectionate, the Maltese makes an excellent companion. Well-built, with a jaunty, flowing gait that makes it appear almost to float as it moves. Alert and intelligent, this dog breed is easy to train.

TEMPERAMENT

Although the Maltese dog tend to be sweet, affectionate, and gentle in most cases, he can also display a jealous streak as he tends to be very competitive when it comes to getting attention. These dogs do not like to be treated roughly, and it is therefore best not to have them around younger or boisterous children. The breed can get on well with other animals providing they don’t feel threatened by them. The Maltese dog is a very intelligent, alert, and eager dog, but can be quite shy when it comes to meeting strangers.

HISTORY

The Maltese is one of the most beautiful of all the toy dogs.  The Maltese is acknowledged as one of the oldest breeds of  dogs, over hundreds of years old.  Charles Darwin placed the origin of the breed at 6000 B.C.  A Greek vase was found with an excellent likeness 500 years before Christ.  The first known representation of a Maltese-type dog is dated 600-300 B.C.  It was unearthed in Egypt.  The Maltese was among dogs worshiped by ancient Egyptians.  Ancient Greeks held their Maltese in great esteem.  The Maltese descended from a Spitz-like dog which was then bred for hunting in the marsh and wooded areas of Southern Europe.  The dog was later carried southward into the Mediterranean Sea area and into the Far East.  The origin of the Maltese has also been attributed by other historians to the Italian town of "Melitae", which could have given rise to "Maltese" for a breed name

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