Let’s start with the great peanut butter disaster of 2021, shall we? I’d been pulling 12 hour days prepping for a national grooming competition that week, running on 3 hours of sleep and way too much iced coffee. I’d been skipping the 3-times-a-day face wipes I usually do for the boys, just doing a quick rub with a wet wipe before bed. That Saturday, I left Mochi and Taro loose in the living room while I ran to the store to grab more grooming supplies, thinking I’d hidden all the food out of their reach. Turns out, I left the jar of extra crunchy peanut butter I use for training treats on the edge of the coffee table, just far enough that Mochi could jump up and snag it.
When I walked in the door 20 minutes later, the jar was tipped over on the rug, half the peanut butter was gone, and there was a weird little brown dog running around my house barking at me. I froze for a full 10 seconds before I realized it was Mochi. He’d rubbed the peanut butter all over his face, his chest, even his little paws, then ran out the dog door and rolled in the muddy patch of dirt by the rose bush I’d been trying to grow. I thought I’d never get that mess out. I tried regular dog shampoo first, that didn’t work, I even grabbed a little bit of my own whitening shampoo before I remembered that the AKC’s official Maltese care guide explicitly says not to use human hair products on them, because their skin pH is way different and it can cause eye irritation or rashes. I ended up having to drive to the pet supply store 15 minutes away to grab a specialized white dog face wash, and spent an hour gently scrubbing his fur with a tiny fine-tooth comb to get all the peanut butter and dirt out. After that disaster, I never skip the face wipes, and I keep all human food on the highest shelf in the kitchen. Lesson learned the hard way, for sure.
Next up is Taro’s great escape last summer, that had me panicking for a solid 10 minutes. I was redoing the flower beds in my front yard, so I left the side gate propped open just a little to carry bags of mulch in and out. I swear I checked the bottom of the fence a hundred times that day, but I totally missed that tiny 2-inch gap right by the porch where the fence had shifted a little during the last rainstorm. I turned around for 2 seconds to grab a new bag of mulch from my car, and when I turned back, Taro was gone.
I lost my mind immediately. I ran up and down the street yelling his name, checked under every car, asked every neighbor I saw if they’d spotted a tiny white fluffy dog. I was this close to posting missing dog flyers when my neighbor Mrs. Henderson, who lives 3 houses down, walked up holding Taro like a little baby, laughing so hard she could barely talk. Turns out Taro squeezed right through that 2-inch gap, ran straight to her house, and sat on her front porch scratching the door for 5 minutes straight. She always keeps cheese sticks in her fridge for him when we come over for dinner, and he totally remembered. The American Maltese Association actually warns new owners about this exact thing! Maltese are tiny, super curious, and extremely food-motivated, so they’ll squeeze through even the smallest gap if they think there’s a snack waiting for them on the other side. I ended up fixing that gap the same day, and now I always do a full fence check before I let them out in the yard unsupervised. Little stinker.
If you’ve ever owned a Maltese, you know they’re the biggest drama queens on the planet, and Mochi is no exception. Last winter, Mochi jumped off the couch while I was making dinner, and immediately started limping really bad, holding his left paw up like it was broken. He even let out these tiny little sad whimpers when I touched it. I panicked so bad, I grabbed his carrier, threw my jacket on, and drove 20 minutes to the emergency vet, crying the whole way because I thought I’d have to get him surgery or something.
The vet did a full physical exam, took x-rays of his paw and leg, checked everything twice, and told me there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. I was confused as hell, until she pulled a chicken flavored treat out of her lab coat pocket. As soon as Mochi saw that treat, he jumped up off the exam table, ran across it at full speed, grabbed the treat out of her hand, and started walking totally normal, no limp at all. The vet laughed and said she sees this all the time with Maltese and other toy breeds. I later looked it up in the Veterinary Behavior Association’s 2023 small dog behavior report, and toy breeds are 3x more likely to exhibit attention-seeking behaviors like faking injuries, because they learn super fast that acting hurt gets them extra snuggles, extra treats, and all the attention they could want. I was so embarrassed I wanted to hide, but also super relieved that he wasn’t actually hurt. Now whenever he starts limping out of nowhere, I hold up a treat first to see if he’s faking it. 9 times out of 10, he is. Cheeky little guy.
For all their silly, chaotic antics, Maltese are also the most loving, loyal little companions you could ever ask for. Two years ago, I got COVID really bad, and was stuck in bed for 10 days straight, with a fever over 102 for most of that time. My roommate would bring me food and medicine, but Mochi and Taro never left my side the entire time I was sick. They slept on my chest every night, even when I was coughing nonstop and sweating through my sheets, they didn’t care. One night I had a really bad fever dream, woke up crying and panicking, and Mochi was right there licking the tears off my face, nudging my hand with his little nose like he was trying to tell me it was okay.
I always thought people were exaggerating when they said their dogs could sense when you’re upset, but with these two, it’s 100% true. The AKC notes that Maltese were originally bred as companion dogs for ancient Greek and Roman royalty, so they’ve spent thousands of years learning how to read human emotions, which is why they make such great emotional support animals for people with anxiety or depression. They don’t care if you’re having a bad day, if you’re in sweatpants, if you forgot to buy their favorite treats that week, they just want to be near you, all the time.
I get asked all the time if I’d recommend getting a Maltese to first time dog owners, and my answer is always yes, but only if you’re prepared for the work. They need to be brushed every single day to prevent mats in their long fur, they need to go to the groomer every 6 weeks for a trim, you have to wipe their face multiple times a day to prevent tear and beard stains, they’re prone to dental issues so you have to brush their teeth regularly, and they will definitely get into all kinds of silly messes if you don’t keep an eye on them. But all that work is so worth it. There’s nothing better than coming home after a long day at work, and having two tiny little fluffy balls bouncing off the walls excited to see you, even if you only left for 10 minutes to run to the mailbox. Every peanut butter disaster, every escape attempt, every fake injury, every silly little thing they do just makes me love them more. If you’re a Maltese parent, I know you can relate to all these stories, and if you’re thinking about bringing a Maltese home, get ready for the most chaotic, most loving adventure of your life. You won’t regret it.