# 20 pound Maltese?



## nekkidfish

Can anyone tell me if there are Maltese that get to 20 pounds?

I'm trying to figure something out here ... but I have never heard of 20 pound Maltese.

Thanks bunches! Jules


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## mysugarbears

I have never heard of a maltese getting that big.:blink:


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## Starsmom

No, but if you could supply measurements it would be helpful. An overweight Havanese comes to mind tho.


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## LJSquishy

Yes, I'm sure they exist....poorly bred Maltese, anyway.


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## nekkidfish

I don't want to tell the details, but someone says they have two Maltese that are brothers, and they weigh 20 pounds ... :blush:

Just trying to sort something out, and knowing this information might or not make a difference.

Thanks and HUGz! Jules


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## Miss_Annie

lol Maybe they meant they have two that total 20lbs? hmm.. or they might just not know what a maltese is... Or maybe they feed them McDonalds...


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## bellaratamaltese

i personally haven't heard of a maltese that big but if they are from a puppy mill, most likely there is bichon mixed in somewhere that adds significant size. Or maybe they are just bigger and really fat


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## Cosy

It's probably a mix of bichon and malt. Heaven only knows what some of these breeders mix together.


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## Canada

Coco says: "I would _wike_ to be 20 pounds...
but I can't reach my snacks!"


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## silverhaven

Well even my Bichon was only 15lbs. Sounds way too heavy for a Malt. The Havanese I have seen get really chunky though.


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## Lacie's Mom

Even my Lhasas (who are not in the toy group) didn't go over 16-17 for the boys and 12-14 for the girls. But -- BYB and Puppymills may have something strange behind the dogs that has brought their size up -- or, they're really, really, really fat.


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## 3Maltmom

LOL ~ Even BBH didn't get to 20-pounds :HistericalSmiley: 
I'm thinking definately a mix of sorts. My Henry was a mix (had very little Malt goin' on) but he was the light of my life. 

My Daisy was also huge. She had a lot of Malt goin' on though. When her hair grew out, she looked like the world's largest Maltese. She was big, and beautiful. But was, of course, a mix from a mill. When asked, I would tell people she was a poorly-bred Maltese, from a mill. With Henry, I would say, "Your guess is as good as mine. He's a special Little White Dog". I just couldn't embarrass myself, nor Henry, by claiming he was even a poorly-bred Maltese.


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## poptart

If my hubby doesn't quit feeding our JoJo bad snacks, he's liable to be a 20 lb. malt...I catch him doing it sometimes and he always says "That's the only treat I gave him today." He was 11 lbs. last time we weighed him.


Hugs, Blanche


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## aprilb

I have never heard of a Maltese that big. There is another breed that looks very much like a large Maltese-the Havanese. I saw a dog once that looked like a Maltese but it was really big!(20-25lbs) I had never heard of the Havanese until someone told me about it.:shocked:


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## The A Team

My bichon was a big girl. Lacie was 23 lbs!!! Then when she got really old she ballooned to around 30 (I think). She had really short legs too so her belly just about touched the ground! :w00t: I could not stop her from begging, nor could I stop EVERYONE from feeding her what ever they wanted!!!:smilie_tischkante:

......so they could possibly be mixed with Bichon.....who knows. I think they are most likely mixed with something other than maltese, but if the breeder or pet store says they're maltese - they'll probably never believe otherwise.


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## jpupart

Well, 20 pounds is very large even for a Havanese although I have heard of a few that have gotten that big. My Cocotini is only 8 and 1/2 pounds and average size for a Hav is 10-13 pounds.

On the other hand, Mindy my maltese/yorkie mix, is 16 pounds!!!!!! She is huge !! (but I tell her she is just full figured as I don't want her to get a complex)

So maybe it is a very large, very overweight maltese Or,more likely, a mix of some sort.


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## stcris

My maltese weighs 22 pounds!! I took him to the vet and the vet said he was healthy and not overweight by much!!! He is 3 yrs old and is very active and loving!! He is pure bred and has a shade of ivory down his back. Is that normal??
Could he maybe be a coton de telurear (Sorry 4 my spelling


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## Hunter's Mom

Julz - I would say that if it is a maltese it is likely mixed with a bichon or other small dog and is carrying more traits of the maltese (other than weight). Our friend had a bichon that was almost 20 pounds. I am sure there are others here with more information that I but that would be my best guess.


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## CloudClan

I fostered a pair of dogs that the first owner swore were Maltese, but looked to be Bichon mixes of some sort. She said they were registered, but did not have the papers, so I do not know what registry. Anyway, they were both overweight and should have been 15 and 12 pounds respectively, but one was very close to 20 when they came into rescue the smaller was about 16 pounds. We got some of their weight off before they were adopted out, but they never did look like Maltese to me.


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## MaryH

CloudClan said:


> I fostered a pair of dogs that the first owner swore were Maltese, but looked to be Bichon mixes of some sort. She said they were registered, but did not have the papers, so I do not know what registry. Anyway, they were both overweight and should have been 15 and 12 pounds respectively, but one was very close to 20 when they came into rescue the smaller was about 16 pounds. We got some of their weight off before they were adopted out, but they never did look like Maltese to me.


C'mon Carina, there's more to the story!! Carina gets the dogs, calls me and says "I've picked up Thelma and Louise. They are VERY big and VERY overweight. I'm going to put them on a diet. Oh, by the way, the owner gave me the food she was feeding them. Guess what kind." I'm like "I don't know. What's she feeding them?" .....

Brand name .... COME N GET IT!! For days I had visions of Carina scooping out minute quantities of healthy diet food, yelling out "Girls, Come N Get It", and two white pillows waddling their way to the food bowl. The good news is that Carina got the weight off of them and they went on to live happily ever after. :aktion033:


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## Hunter's Mom

MaryH said:


> C'mon Carina, there's more to the story!! Carina gets the dogs, calls me and says "I've picked up Thelma and Louise. They are VERY big and VERY overweight. I'm going to put them on a diet. Oh, by the way, the owner gave me the food she was feeding them. Guess what kind." I'm like "I don't know. What's she feeding them?" .....
> 
> Brand name .... COME N GET IT!! For days I had visions of Carina scooping out minute quantities of healthy diet food, yelling out "Girls, Come N Get It", and two white pillows waddling their way to the food bowl. The good news is that Carina got the weight off of them and they went on to live happily ever after. :aktion033:


:HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley:Sorry Carina but that just made my night!!!:HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley::HistericalSmiley:


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## maltlovereileen

I would say that it could be a definite possibility they bought this dog from a pet store as a registered maltese but may in fact, unbeknownst or proveable to them, have a little bichonmixed in. I've often thought millers did this on purpose to have larger mother dogs to produce more pups without risk of needing a c-section. Just a little hypothesis of mine. Our first was a large guy (think he got to 15 pounds) and had an ever so slight wave to his hair...registered as purebred maltese...and still perfect in every way to us. But do think he may have had a skeleton in his closet. 

I wouldn't worry about trying to correct your friends if they think they have a malt...what matters is that they love that big bag o bones


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## Fluffy

Fluffy has always had an extremely short puppy cut until recently so when I was talking to my parents, they swore up and down that Fluffy had hit over 20lbs and that she just grew grew grew. The only thing that grew was her hair. She's still about 10-13lbs. 
Maybe something similar is going on with these people?


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## nekkidfish

Well, I have not heard back from the gal (Lady B), so I doubt her story.

The deal is I run a small breed play group, and our rules are that it is for dogs 15 pounds and under. A lady (Lady A) brought a mini weener dog to a meetup, and he was unaltered. It caused problems with a number of the dogs because he was aggressive and trying to mount some of them. Our rules state that males have to be neutered.

So, I sent Lady A a nice note and stated that we were not asking her to leave the group, but as per our rules, she was welcome to come to future meetups, once her boy was neutered.

She sent me a note back and said that was fine, no hard feelings, but to please remove any photos of her dog. (whatever) Not an hour later I get an email that a new gal (LadyB) has joined the group. Within 5 minutes, she RSVP'd yes to the next meetup, and immediately sent me a note saying "Oh no! My Maltese weighs 20 pounds ... can we still be a part of your group?"

It was all very questionable to me, as the two events happened so close together in time ... but I did what I would normally do, and sent Lady B a note that I was sorry, but that her dog was too big for our group, and I wished her luck finding another play group in her area that would work better for her pup. I never heard back from her, and she never removed herself from our group.

I have a feeling that Lady A was pissed, and had a friend join and post that, just to see if I would bend the rules. But, that might not be the case ... who knows.

Anyhoo, that was the reason for the original post.

Thanks and HUGz! Jules


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## michellerobison

Who knows I've heard of Chi at 20 pounds,guess if it's really overweight and poorly bred... That would definately be a supersized Malt...


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## bellaratamaltese

Wow you have a lot of rules for your group! 

At one of my meetups, a person came with an unaltered yorkie. SO annoying.


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## nekkidfish

bellaratamaltese said:


> Wow you have a lot of rules for your group!
> 
> At one of my meetups, a person came with an unaltered yorkie. SO annoying.


The rules are all pretty basic, but the biggies are no unaltered males, females cannot come to a meetup if in heat, dogs must be under 15 lbs., and your dog must be under your control at all times.

We have a pretty good group of folks shaping up ... we're still pretty new.

HUGz! Jules


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## ANNATRUESDELL

mysugarbears said:


> I have never heard of a maltese getting that big.:blink:


 MY MALTESE IS 12-13 POUNDS


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