A Maltese?!?

When we got our dog, Maddie, from the shelter - they told us she was a miniature poodle. The shelter doesn't really have time to look dogs over completely and make detailed breed diagnoses - when a dog comes in they give it a quick lookover and guess. When I first saw her, she had all that long, matted hair and I didn't question it. I've noticed that her hair wasn't growing back quite right - it wasn't quite thick or curly enough to be poodle hair, but she was very unhealthy when we got her, so I just thought it needed time.

The other day, I was watching an episode of "The Dog Whisperer," and there was a little dog named Josh on the show that looked EXACTLY like Maddie. Same hair, same face, same everything. He could be a clone of her, right down to the placement of her little brown flecks of hair. Cesar said that he was a maltese. A MALTESE?!?

Now it makes perfect sense. I looked up more information on Maltese dogs online, and it all seems to fit. She is a bit more stocky than a poodle, and poodles have longish pointy muzzles. Maddie's is short and stubby, and it explains her hair. I also compared pictures of Maltese's to poodles, and she looks closer to the Maltese's than poodles.

Of course, I'm not a vet so I could be wrong, but it seems that we have a Maltese instead of a mini poodle. Interesting.


-Lisa