Introduction:- Maltese Terriers are pure white. If they have colour in them they are probably cross bred with something else which seems to be a very popular trend today. They are classed as a small dog 2.5-5 kg in weight. They were breed to hunt and love to dig. They are very good with children and love attention. FEEDING:- Dog are carnivores - meat eaters. It is possible to bring up a dog vegetarian but you must start from when it is a puppy and make sure it has a balanced diet. We used to spend alot of money of can dog food, but it can be high in salt and bad for their teeth. Now we feed them a large bowl of dried dog food, with smacko's cut up and mixed in. We also have a large bowl of water. This way the dogs can have access to the food whenever they want. We find they don't overeat. They love treats from our table. Whenever we have chicken, steak, or roasts they love the scraps. If you trim your meat in food preparation don't throw it in the bin, give it to the dogs. We even give them spaghetti and vegetables, so long as it has meat mixed in they will eat it. Make sure to provide bones for their teeth and worm them regularly as per manufactors instructions. Maltese bitches tend to come into season twice a year. It is recommended by breeders that you give the bitch a rest and not breed her all the time or she will lose condition. PUPPIES:- There are few things in life as much fun and as playful as puppies. Cute, adorable and sometimes troublemakers. Puppies are born quite small, but they are feeding machines. After a week they begin to open their eyes first with a small hole then slowly opening more and more. After two weeks they begin to change shape from 'fat rats' to a more dog like appearance. By five weeks they can be fully weaned and will do fine in a good home, but six to seven weeks is probably the more ideal time to introduce them into a new home. Some people would leave it longer, but for the sake of the new owner, the sooner the better so a young puppy can settle into the routine of a new home, the older the dog is,the harder it becomes to adapt. HEALTH ISSUES:- It isn't too hard to keep the average dog healthy. Keep it regularly wormed, vacinated, provide good food, water and bones. Like most small dogs Malteses due to their coat can be a home for fleas. To control this we recommend using frontline. In Queensland, Australia you have to beware of the paralysis tick and frontline takes care of that as well. Also in Queensland heartworm can be a problem. Another problem most people miss is heat exhaustion. Due to the high temperatures we can experience in Qld. over 30 C degrees plusm, dogs with thick coats can literally overheat and die. In summer I recommend cutting the dogs coats quite short to avoid this. Max once overheated and we had to run a hose on him for 30 minutes and used a child's syringe to make sure he swallowed some cool water. Prevention like most things with dogs is better than cure. Like poodles, maltese often get brown muck in the corner of their eyes, if left there it will stain the surrounding fur. Regular cleaning, combing and brushing will avoid this and also keep their coats looking great. BREEDING:- You can tell your bitch is in season when she starts to have blood in the vagina and it swells up in size. From the first sign of blood the cycle is 3 weeks long with the prime time mating is between the 11th and 15th days. Once pregnant the gestation period is 63 to 64 days. About a week before the bitch is due make sure you have a bitching box where the new mother will feel is a safe place to have puppies. If you have your dogs outside most of the time, this is one of the times you need to bring her inside. If you believe at anytime the bitch is having difficulties during labour ring your local vet for advice. Try to be there when the bitch is having the puppies to assist. Ensure the sack is broken so the newborn puppies can breath, if the mother doesn't do this herself. With Jess we found that once she had one or two puppies already she would be too busy with them to concentrate on another delivery. So we help out. The mother will normally stay close by her puppies for the first week. Malteses tend to have litters between 3-5 puppies on average. Jess seems to have 4 every time. We have had a still born puppy which can be very sad, but it is one of things you must be prepared to accept if you choose to breed. We breed as a hobby because children love to play with puppies. For us it is not a money making venture. One litter a year doesn't really become a money earner. We sell the puppies up to $500. You can sell to your local pet shop who pay between $250-$300. By the time you vacinate, worm, the cost of feeding a dog and bitch for a year, the returns are not financial but for love. |
