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I took my 5 month old Maltese to doggie daycare for the first time. This company has been in business for 13 years. When I told them she was a “toy” the owner said she had never heard of that! I thought I did all my research before I purchased my pup. She’s been to the vet, I am training her with commands and she is pee pad trained. I specifically purchased my toy Maltese because of my busy life style and because of everything I read before purchase. I left the daycare feeling like a “stupid” owner who does not take their dog outside in cold weather, doesn’t know the breed, etc.
My vet tells my one thing and the daycare owner tells me something else. She even rolled her eyes when I told her what brand of food I feed her! (Blue Buffalo Freedom for puppies-small breeds). What the heck am I doing wrong?
She is a happy, loyal, well taken care of pup!
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You are not doing anything wrong with the type of food you choose to use. A Maltese is one of the breeds of dogs that is in the AKC Group called Toys. They include the smaller dogs like Papillons, the smallest of the 3 Poodles(Toy Poodle, it is called this to distinguish it from the Miniature and the Standard), Miniature Pinschers, Pekingese, Chihuahua, Yorkies etc. A Maltese is just a Maltese, not a Toy Maltese.
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Thank you!
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Maltese should all be in one narrow size range in both weight and height, versus the poodle example used previously where there are designated, recognized varieties. Unfortunately some unethical breeders are trying to convince people that already tiny dogs can come in even smaller varieties. The biggest example of this is the “teacup”–this is not a designated size class in any breed standard, i.e. a “teacup” Chihuahua is just a Chihuahua. Period. It happens to be smaller than they are supposed to be, but is not a different variety of the breed. Additionally, I know several people who have bred their “teacups” and have gotten full sized dogs out of them–this is because some breeders just pick the runts out of the litters and breed them to get “teacups”. Also miniaturization does comes with health costs and should be pursued with caution. My point being if a breeder is selling “toy” Maltese, meaning that are supposed to be a variety that is smaller than the breed standard, you got duped. If you simply meant they are in the Toy Group, then you are correct but it should just be called a Maltese.
People, particularly in the pet care fields, tend to be very opinionated about certain things, especially diets and vaccines. While I personally would not have a pee-pad trained dog, there is nothing WRONG with that. It is just my preference. There is nothing wrong with the food you are feeding…it is highly rated and is a good quality food. As long your pup is doing well on it and YOU feel comfortable with the food, that is all that matters. I would also listen to a trained health care professional before I listened to outside opinions when it comes to health issues including diet. Just my two cents.
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Toledo, United States.
