The Maltese Dog

November 27, 2009 by Joel  
Filed under Dog Breeds

A small breed of dog, with beautiful silky white hair that often comes down to the floor. Most pet owners keep the dog groomed with a puppy cut, which really makes them look cute.

Father and Son

Father and Son

Its name implies that it originated on the island of Malta, but where it originated from is still unknown. This is an ancient breed, going back to Greece around 500 B.C. Aristotle mentioned this breed in 370 B.C. when he referred to its Melitaei Catelli. It wasn’t officially called Maltese until the Kennel Club settled on the name in the 19th century.

Maltese are small, generally ranging between 4 to 7 pounds. In spite of their small size, they are gentle, fearless, brave and lively. They love to be with their masters/mistresses and want a lot of hugging and handling. They are very playful (watch out for your slippers. They love slippers, sneakers, shoes etc.), and want a lot of attention. Be prepared to be licked a lot.

They may bark as they are very protective of their home and family. They hear a noise and they are up and ready to defend their home.

Appearance
They have a slightly rounded head, with a black nose. They have a compact body with the length equaling the height. Their eyes are round and black. They have drop ears with long hair. They have an alert and intelligent expression.

Coat and Color
Maltese only come in white. There are some slight variations in the color, with some creme or lemon color appearing, but the basic color is white. They have a single coat of long silky hair, with no undercoat, so they do not shed. They should be brushed daily and groomed often to keep their hair from matting.

Size
They range in size from 3 to 7 pounds (1.4 to 3.2 kg). The American Kennel club prefers the weight to be between 4 to 6 pounds.

Dog Training Secrets You Should Know About

October 3, 2009 by Joel  
Filed under Dog Training Tips

If you are a new pet owner and you want to teach your new dog tricks, it would not be hard for you to learn about dog training secrets because there are about tons of these in both offline and online resources. Most of these are free so you do not have to worry about paying for anything.

However, if you really want an in depth tutorial, you could learn through the expertise of professional dog trainers. They could either teach you how to do the dog training yourself or they, themselves, would train the dog for you. However, this may be costly for you. Maintaining a dog in the house could already be costly for you so hiring professional help for its training could be such a burden. Books and tips on the Internet would do a lot to help you anyway, so just do research earnestly and train your dog well.

One of the most important dog training secrets professional dog trainers know is that dogs, especially the young ones, act like human babies. Their way of telling their master their feelings would be through barking. Just like babies whose only way of communicating is crying, dogs could only bark. As a dog trainer, you should be able to understand the meaning of your dog’s barking in order to properly train it. A dog’s bark could mean that there is an impending danger on the house or it is simply hungry. To effectively train your dog, you first need to establish trust between pet and master.

Once you have successfully done this, the training process would be a lot easier because the dog would be compelled to follow your orders. Dog are naturally made to follow the leader of its pack so if you build this connection right from the beginning, you would have little difficulty in training it and could even appear as a professional.

Just continue learning about your dog and researching on dog training secrets to effectively turn your dog into a well-behaved one. By training your dog, you would be able to save yourself from a lot of trouble because your dog would learn how to behave properly especially when in a public place.