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Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by Anthea

I live in Australia and have four maltese dogs. I have just started reading the Maltese only site, and am amazed at the size of most of the dogs mentioned. My smallest is 3.5 kg and my big boy about 5.0 kg. I contacted canine council here, and was told that there is no such thing as a miniature Maltese. Are the minis and teacup dogs a recognised catagory elsewhere ( for breeding and showing/) If I may ask what would be the apporximate price inU.S. $ for a tea cup or mini malt?

DISCUSSION:

There are no size differentiations in the US, or elsewhere that I know of. There is just a tendency for some breeders not to follow the standards. This is unfortunate, in keeping to the breed standard and when new buyers are duped into thinking the breed is larger than it is. I bought my dog over the phone, and the breeder was vague but said some people consider her dogs too small. I thought, how bad could it be? Louie, whom I love dearly, is 12.5 lbs -- twice standard size! He gets a lot of attention and complements, though. I'm sure some breeders go for the larger sizes intentionally.
-Diane Kaylor

There is no such thing as a "Miniature" or "Toy" Maltese, there are just some Maltese that are tinier than others. In fact, I have one that is 5.1 lbs. and am adopting another this weekend that's 2.50 lbs. On the matter of costs, while looking for a "tiny" in the US, I found prices went from $1000.00US to $2500.00US.
-Nancy

There is really no such thing as a mini or T-cup Maltese. Our breed standard of perfection says 4-6 pounds is ideal size. People that try to sell a very small Maltese as a mini or T-cup, are just trying to make people think they are getting something "special" so you have to pay more. In the U.S. we do tend to like our Maltese smaller. I have one Champion bitch, Chaty, she is a doll, weight 3 1/2 pounds soaking wet! She finished very quickly, first time shown went RWB to a 4 point major, (was a puppy, in open class). With the tiny ones, yes they finish quickly, yes they are darling, but, remember, if it is a bitch - it will probably have to have puppies by c-section. Chaty had three litters by c-section, then was spayed. She is now my husbands spoiled house mouse. When she was in the ring, we always had at least one buyer at each show for her, of course, they had no idea of what a dog like this would cost them & quickly walked away when they heard the price!
-Carole - Fantasyland

In Australia we follow the English Standard not over 10ins from ground to top of shoulder. We do not have a weight standard in Australia... If you go to a dog show in your capital city you will see dogs of different sizes being shown. For people in Europe the size standard is as follows The F.C.I. Standard,Weight 6 1/2 to 9 lbs Height Males 8 1/4 to 10 ins Females 7 3/4 to 9 ins. the upper limit may be increased by 2/5 inch in dogs of exceptional beauty. As a large number of people are in Maltese to show at dog shows we must remain in our standards or we would not win in the dog rings.
-Hilary