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Maltese Behavior 

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Dog Maltese
Dog Behavior 

Many dog owners seem to have a single question regarding Maltese behavior at least once in their dog’s lifetime- how can one control biting?  Deciding what it takes to control this action can be stressful if taken from the wrong angle.  As a dog first starts biting, they may only be obnoxious.  Should the action continue into higher ages though, it may quickly become more and more dangerous to both family and strangers.  So how should one go about tackling this Maltese behavior problem?


Firstly, you should pinpoint the problem behavior at its source and stop it right at the beginning- when the dog is still a puppy.  Any dog that is still within its first six months can be very easily retrained, as it is still within the reformative period of its life.  This is when dogs usually learn to bite in the wild, so it is the prime time period to teach them not to bite when in a domestic habitat. Once you notice your Maltese behavior turning nippy, you should nip the problem in the bud- try giving them a light nip on the neck, making a whining noise as if you were a litter mate, or try replacement therapy.  If your puppy continues to bite after these stages are thoroughly used, you may want to consider taking them to an obedience trainer.


Should your Maltese behavior problem be allowed to persist (thus showing them that they are in charge of the “pack”), play biting may become an issue once it reaches its teenage years (roughly one year of age).  This is the time to stop playing physical games with your dog such as tug of war, wrestling, or other games related to dominance.  Give your dog more boundaries, stop letting them run the house, and cut them down to a specific range of motion.  Crate training may also be an option to reduce biting problems.  Be sure never to react to the biting with extremely harsh actions or yelling.  Aggression will only cause the dog to react even more aggressively- this type of Maltese behavior is certainly not appreciated.


Maltese behavior doesn’t stop developing there though!  Should they continue even more to get away with biting, be it play or not, they may become a serious threat once they reach their adult years.  They will soon believe that they have established themselves as the leader of the “pack”, and will thus view the owner as the lesser being.  If biting persists after a year, professional assistance should be sought before the risk of an attack raises even more.  These attacks are merely the dog trying to assert their authority that they believed they had growing up.  Not taking into account any possible mental disorders or diseases, dogs who bite as adults always had issues as younger puppies that were never resolved or properly dealt with.


To reinforce the main point, teach your puppy from a very young age that biting is not acceptable.  The younger you start to teach them that lesson, the quicker they will learn and the less likely they will ever adapt that behavior again.


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