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Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by Jill Urban

Deciding between a Maltese and a Yorkshire Terrier is whats going on in our house. Prior to checking out this fantastic website, we took a trip to our local bookstore to purchase a book on both breeds and try to make a decision. We chose "Maltese" by Kathy DiGiacomo & Barbara Bergquist and our other choice was "Yorkshire Terriers" by Kerry Donnelly. We rushed home and to our dismay we were extremely disappointed in both. The Maltese book says on the cover 192 pages. The Yorkshire book likewise. To make a long story short, the Maltese book in reality was only 24 pages long of Maltese material!! The other 168 pages was the same in both books!!! My husband and I were furious. We got in the car and back to the bookstore to get our money back. Out of curiosity we went to the area where we found the dog books and weren't surprised to find that the same publisher T.F.H. , had books on the other breeds as well with the same number of pages and the exact same material on 168 of the 192 pages. Don't waste your hard earned money on "Maltese", its a dud. You can read all the breed specific information it carries in about 15 minutes.

DISCUSSION:

Jill,My wife and I share your disgust. We bought the same book and were really disappointed. In fact, I was reading out of it again a couple of days ago. Did anyone edit this book? I found that the further you read in the book, the worse the mistakes were. Besides misspelled words, there were words missing out of sentences. Does anyone go to school anymore? So, I took Jay's advice and found the dogbookstore on the internet. I called them up and ordered "The Complete Maltese, " by N. Cutillo. I found this book to be much more straightforward about the breed and very helpful. However, being a new maltese owner, I felt the amount of time the author spent on shows in general, much less shows from 30 - 40+ years ago was irrelevant to me. Although, I do appreciate the historical relevance Cutillo was sharing for the compliment of the breed in the detailed background.In any case, if anyone has a better reading suggestion for new maltese owners, please let us know. John
-John

I agree. "Maltese" book is a piece of crap. The authors didn't put much effort into it. I too found Cutillo's book much more interesting, but John is right, its geared towards showing and Nick touches lightly on tearstaing and a few other things. Its been awhile since I've read it.
-Connie

It's like old John Arbuckle said, "You get what you pay for." You might enjoy the recent book written by Vicki Herrieff called, "The Maltese Today." It is well-written and well-rounded and based on a excellent knowledge about our breed. Another one for the "dud" list is the Maltese book published by Baron Books. Although it was written by a dear friend of mine who is an excellent writer, by the time the publisher finished and changing it has become an embarrassment for all connected with it. The height of their ignorance was their use of Yorkie-type drawings (with the tails docked) as Maltese, and the basketfull of what they claim are Maltese puppies (look more like Shih Tzu's) especially the BLACK one. It is a sorry state when these books are dropped on unsuspecting beginners who are sincerely seeking truths about individual breeds. Pay the $30.00, get a decent book, use the cheapies in the bottom of the bird cage...
-Beverly B. Passe

I thought I would learn something about maltese when I purchased the book because I thought the authors could be trusted to give me some information I already didn't research. Coming from people who are head of the maltese club, I expected more than......a DUD! What an embarassment to the lovely breed. Some of the advice is just awful and common sense tells me not to follow it. I just wonder if they re read what they wrote before letting us pay a price for such a lousy book?Some people just know how to make a profit from naive people like me. I just retrieved it yesterday out of the basement after reading about it here and took a closer look at it. What I found distasteful about it was on page 92 showing a picture of the choke chain I should use on my Maltese and then on page 101 a shock collar for my baby!! and then on page 76 a picture of a stake I should put in the ground with a metal chain to tie up my Maltese outside with. The book is now in the trash can.
-Constance

I have the book by Berquist and DiGiacomo also. I agree with all the comments made about it. I would be embarassed to sign my name to anything so poorly written. It is not worth the paper it is written on! Maybe we should send the books to them, but they would likely re sell them and fool some other honest hard working people.
-Darlene Kinney

With great anticipation, almost like a junky waiting for a fix, I await the completion of Tony Antonelli's book which I believe will be called, "The Maltese Scrap Book," Vol. one. I understand that the text is complete and unchanged from the original which was written prior to his death. What is yet unknown is which photos and pictures will be included. I promise, if Jay allows me, to post where it can be ordered as soon as I learn of this information. Having known Tony, I feel this is going to be one of the best, if not the best, books on Maltese written.Beverly Passe
-Beverly Passe-MyiMaltese@aol