ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

Glenna Mullins
How do you get the Maltese's hair to grow longer for show. We''ve never cut ours but I was wondering if you cut the hair when it was just a puppy if it would be longer when they were old enough to show.

DISCUSSION:

Larry Stanberry-Divine Maltese
Glenna, I was at the show in Shreveport this past weekend and I believe that was you there with the two dogs that came in for Sunday only. It appears as though you are allowing the dogs to run together. Naturally this just gives them the opportunity to chew on each other and allows for a lot of breakage that MUST be avoided at all costs. If I'm correct your dogs are out of CH Myi Swan's Song and generally that Myi line produces outstanding coats - true-silk and relatively fast-growing. Your coats looked to have that opalescent look of "silk" but the fact that all of the hair is not even in length gives the perception you are suffering a lot of breakage. Will be happy to offer any advice I can - but I don't think genetics is your problem, here.

Glenna Mullins
When we take our Maltese to shows the other Maltese's hair always is fuller, thicker, and longer than ours. What are they doing different? We keep our dogs in cratese most of the time and our house has no carpet in it.What are some tips on how to care for their coat better? Would you have any tips on tearstaining?

Carole Baldwin - Fantasyland Maltese
If you want to show your puppy, do not cut its hair. You will find that different lines of dogs have different coats, some that will grow slower than others. One mistake that I find people do frequently that want to show a Maltese, is letting their puppy run on grass or carpeting. Both of these surfaces break the coat, so it may appear to you that the coat is not growing, when really what is happening is the grass is cutting it, or the carpet is breaking it.

Judy
Just wondering. While you are preparing your dogs for the show that mean you never allow them to run around at all just stay in the crate for most of their time to keep their coat in top condition to show them.

Larry Stanberry Divine Maltese
No Judy, you don't have to keep them in a cage or crate in order to grow their coat for "show". You must simply exercise them in individual "runs" - mine are covered with the rubber dry-deck material which doesn't chafe the ends of the hair like cement or grass or sand or gravel. Plus, you must learn to "wrap" the hair once it reaches the ground to keep it from wearing. And yes, you simply cannot allow them to "run in a pack" as this will give them every opportunity to "chew out" each others' wraps and break off each other's coat. You spend the individual time with each of them every day and they learn to look to you as the "alpha dog" and they will work hard to please you. By "finishing" my dogs at or under one year of age they can then be "cut down" and allowed to play with the other "cut down" dogs - and their show career often only lasted from the time they were three months until they were twelve or thirteen months of age. or whatever. Here they can get the phy get the sunshine and