What Is a Maltese? The Complete Breed Guide

The defining feature is the coat. A Maltese has a pure white, long, straight, silky single coat, meaning a topcoat with no woolly undercoat beneath it. It is never curly. Left uncut, that long coat grows to floor length and parts down the spine, which is the look you see in the show ring and almost nowhere else in real life.

Because there is no undercoat, a Maltese sheds very little. Loose hair tends to stay in the coat rather than land on your sofa, and that low shedding is why the breed is routinely called hypoallergenic. Treat that word carefully: allergic reactions are usually to dander and saliva proteins, not hair, and no dog is genuinely hypoallergenic. Low-shedding is accurate; allergy-proof is not.

The trade-off is that hair which does not fall out has to be removed by you. Skip brushing for a few days and the coat starts matting, first behind the ears and under the legs, then down to the skin where it becomes painful and has to be shaved out. Colour is effectively a non-question in this breed: it is white, with lemon or tan shading permitted on the ears in some standards. Our Maltese colours guide covers what the off-shades actually are and why nobody should charge a premium for one.

Ask a kennel club and you get four words: playful, affectionate, intelligent, docile. All four are fair. In practice the Maltese is the softest and most people-oriented of the small white breeds: a gentle lapdog that settles wherever you settle, greets visitors warmly, and asks for very little beyond your company.

You will see this breed described locally as an active dog. That is a copy-paste error worth correcting. The Maltese is a low-energy companion breed. It has bursts of play, it will chase a toy down a corridor with real enthusiasm, and then it will sleep on you for two hours. Exercise needs are genuinely modest: two short walks a day and indoor play suits most adults.

The trait that decides whether this breed fits your household is the velcro streak. A Maltese bonds hard and follows you room to room. Owners joke about being watched through the bathroom door, and they are not exaggerating. Handled well, with gradual alone-time practice from puppyhood, that closeness is the whole appeal. Handled badly, it becomes separation distress and problem barking. Read the full Maltese temperament guide before you decide, not after.

If you take one practical thing from this guide, take this. The white coat is the reason people fall for the breed, and it is also the reason some owners struggle. Tear stains are reddish-brown marks below the eyes, caused by porphyrins in tear fluid oxidising on the hair. Every dog produces them. On a white face they are simply impossible to hide.

They are managed, not cured. No single product fixes them. What works is unglamorous and daily: wipe the eye area, keep it dry, trim the hair that wicks moisture onto the face, and check for the underlying causes (blocked tear ducts, irritation from hair, food sensitivity) rather than painting over the symptom. Our Maltese tear stains guide is the most detailed thing we have written, because it is the question we are asked most.

Grooming is the other daily job. Budget roughly five to ten minutes of brushing every day, a bath every one to two weeks with a thorough dry afterwards, and a salon visit every four to six weeks. Most Singapore owners eventually keep their dog in a puppy cut, a short practical trim that keeps the silky look without the floor-length maintenance. There is no shame in it; it is the sensible choice in this climate. See Maltese grooming for the full routine and what it costs here.

Price in this market spreads wider than most buyers expect, and the spread is mostly about sourcing rather than quality. Local shops and breeders generally run around SGD 2,000 to 4,000. Korean and European imports are commonly listed between SGD 6,500 and 7,800. Adoption, where a Maltese appears at all, is a few hundred dollars but rare, because this breed seldom reaches shelters here.

Our own Maltese are placed at $3,488–$5,988 all-in. All-in is the part worth comparing: that figure includes the vaccination schedule, microchip, vet health check, starter kit, home delivery, a first training lesson and the licensing paperwork, so there is no second invoice at handover. A cheaper headline number with those items unbundled often lands in the same place. The Maltese price in Singapore guide breaks down every line, including the ongoing cost of grooming, food and vet care across a year.

The Maltese is a purebred, and it is the parent of the Maltipoo (a Maltese crossed with a Toy Poodle), which is why the two come up together constantly. The clearest way to hold them apart: the Maltese is always white with a straight silky coat and the calmest temperament of the group; the Maltipoo brings curl, colour variety and a little more energy from the Poodle side, with less predictability because a cross can land anywhere between its parents.

Against the rest of the field: the Shih Tzu is sturdier and flatter-faced, so it handles heat less well; the Bichon Frise is bigger, bouncier and curly-coated; the Yorkshire Terrier is a similar size with a similar silky coat but a bold terrier personality rather than a gentle one; and the Toy Poodle is the athlete and scholar of the group. Full side-by-side detail lives on compare the Maltese, with dedicated pages for Maltese vs Maltipoo, Maltese vs Poodle, Maltese vs Shih Tzu, Maltese vs Bichon Frise and Maltese vs Yorkshire Terrier.

And if you are asking whether a Maltese suits a first-time owner: yes, when the household fits. The breed is forgiving, soft-mouthed and eager to please. The two things that catch beginners out are never the dog's difficulty. They are underestimated hours alone and an overestimated appetite for grooming.