# maltese barking at company



## blkdog (Dec 29, 2014)

Hello,

I have a wonderful little Havanese who loves everyone. He rarely barks, if someone rings the bell he will bark but once I open the door he meets every stranger like his long lost friend. Wagging his whole little body and happy for any human petting and love.

I have a lot of friends with toy breed dogs who bark when company comes over and than when someone goes to pet them they back up and continue barking. I am sure everyone has met this kind of dog somewhere.

As my Havanese gets older I am starting to think of my next dog. I would like a smaller breed, a little more portable than my fifteen pound Havanese. I am looking at possibly a toy poodle or maltese. On the poodle forum a lot of people describe their toy poodles with this behavior, barking at company and some even growling and nipping.

This behavior would really bother me, we have company a lot and I have been so lucky to always have had very friendly dogs who just want to shower our company with affection.

What experience have you had with your maltese when company comes over. How do they react to strangers, barking, backing up, growling or happy to meet someone new and wagging their bodies and jumping up on guests for some love?

All my dogs have been therapy dogs so I am looking for an affectionate and loving dog who is outgoing and friendly with everyone he meets. This totally describes the Havanese but not sure about the toy poodle or maltese? We, also, have a standard poodle and he acts like a golden retriever, loves everyone.

Thank you for your comments.


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## mdbflorida (Feb 28, 2013)

I think it really is about temperament and training. I have a maltese and a wheaten. Both will bark at the door bell, run and greet the visitors, and Kiss them to death. No barking once they enter. Now the kissing is another thing. LOL


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## LOVE_BABY (May 5, 2015)

*Barking & Socializing*

Hope this helps, all Maltese are individuals with different personalities but here is a description of our boy when it comes to visitors & people in general. My Maltese Baby does bark a lot. He barks when someone comes to the door or in the house, or walks past our house, when someone is in the house including us & we use the bathroom & close the door behind us he will sometimes bark because he doesn't want us to disappear/go away, barks when the phone rings, when the TV turns on. 

He stops barking as soon as the person is near him though. Baby is super friendly with people, people are his favorite thing in the world! His favorite activity besides cuddling on the couch with us is going out with us into the world & hanging out with friends or meeting new people. He kisses everyone he meets and gets so excited for everyone he meets that he is beside himself with joy! He gets sad when people leave.

Buy some miracle we have trained him not to bark in stores, but we can't seem to get him not to bark at home {I guess he feels territorial?} If a person in the mall for example happens to ignore him & walk on by Baby gets depressed & looks very sad, dejected & heartbroken. In the past we also considered training him to be a therapy dog to cheer people up in hospitals & nursing homes & He would probably make a great therapy dog if it weren't for the strick regulations about washing your dog before each visit, I don't want to wash Baby more than once every two weeks so I don't irritate his skin. I'm also afraid of people in hospitals dropping him accidentally. So we only make regular people out in the world happy by letting them meet our loving Baby when he is safe in his dog stroller :wub:!
P.S. Your babies are adorable & I love your Poodles hair cut!


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## blkdog (Dec 29, 2014)

Thank you, Love Baby, your Maltese is a doll.

Thank you for your comments, I agree training can help but on the poodle forum, a thread I did not post, it seemed a lot of people had this barking and even growling issue that had done a lot of socialization and training.

I am trying to weigh out pros and cons of each. After having two white dogs, I kind of like the idea of getting a black or red dog, you can't see the dirty paws, not always muddy but gray from pollution I think if we walk on some sidewalks, tear stains, stained beards. It takes a lot of work to keep them white, as you all know. I like the poodle coat, it's a lot of grooming clips but my havanese and I would guess the maltese mat more. 

I am concerned the poodle is more fragile than the maltese, even though the maltese is just as small but poodles have those long thin legs.

I am guessing the maltese is more friendly to strangers while the poodle is totally devoted to it's family it may be more reserved to others. I am just guessing, my poodle is very outgoing but he is a standard.

I have met a couple maltese that have been extremely outgoing and friendly with me after just meeting me, but I don't know if that's typical of the breed. The toy poodles I have met seem more reserved and less outgoing.

I realize each dog is an individual but certain breeds do carry certain characteristics.


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## Smtf773 (Apr 8, 2015)

I really do feel strongly about this when folks lop on character traits to a breed. There aren't bad dogs. Only dog parents that poorly train their dog or raise them in bad environments! Just like people and kids. Aren't there some kids out there you've thought the same thing about


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## Maglily (Feb 3, 2009)

Jodi (maltese) barks at outside noises, the doorbell and when friends enter the house, but quickly stops and wags his tail and is friendly to everyone. And outside he barks at a lot of bigger dogs and is friendly to most smaller dogs. I won't let him meet all dogs, especially big dogs...so he is not that easy going and also because I don't know what the big dog is like either.

A pet store owner (who pet sits and sees a lot of dogs in her store) said once that not all small dogs she's met are as friendly as him. But I think a lot of it is personality, training and socializing. I do remember reading about maltese that they are the most gentle of the small breeds.


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## LOVE_BABY (May 5, 2015)

blkdog said:


> Thank you, Love Baby, your Maltese is a doll.
> 
> Thank you for your comments, I agree training can help but on the poodle forum, a thread I did not post, it seemed a lot of people had this barking and even growling issue that had done a lot of socialization and training.
> 
> ...



We were only able to 'train' Baby not to bark when 'outside' of the house in public such as at the mall for instance, at home we have a harder time stopping him & he barks --I think the reason might be that he's protecting his house! I used to use a thing called the 'Pet Zoom' it emits a high pitched sound & it stopped Baby from barking, I think I may have to try going back to that again.


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## Calisi (Jul 1, 2014)

My Cali has never barked at strangers once they enter the house so when my son came home for a three week visit from Japan and Cali barked and ran from him daily, we were all surprised. Most would think he taunted or possibly abused her but that is a totally wrong assumption because my son is a lover of all dogs and Cali is the first to ever behave this way with him. My son is a marine so when he arrived in uniform, I thought she feared the uniform but even when he was in street clothes she offered him no love. He would offer her food, she would accept the food and bark at him after eating it. He was so sad because Cali rejected him, he had waited two years to meet her. My other two dogs love him but Cali never warmed to him.


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## LOVE_BABY (May 5, 2015)

Calisi said:


> My Cali has never barked at strangers once they enter the house so when my son came home for a three week visit from Japan and Cali barked and ran from him daily, we were all surprised. Most would think he taunted or possibly abused her but that is a totally wrong assumption because my son is a lover of all dogs and Cali is the first to ever behave this way with him. My son is a marine so when he arrived in uniform, I thought she feared the uniform but even when he was in street clothes she offered him no love. He would offer her food, she would accept the food and bark at him after eating it. He was so sad because Cali rejected him, he had waited two years to meet her. My other two dogs love him but Cali never warmed to him.


Just a thought I had, perhaps Cali sensed the close bond you have with your son & felt jelous over you and in that way Cali might have felt possessive over you and threatened by him? I could be completely wrong with this guess. {sorry- I know I spelled jelous wrong & don't know how to use spell check on this new computer of mine yet! Spelling is not my stron suit!}


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## Calisi (Jul 1, 2014)

LOVE_BABY said:


> Just a thought I had, perhaps Cali sensed the close bond you have with your son & felt jelous over you and in that way Cali might have felt possessive over you and threatened by him? I could be completely wrong with this guess. {sorry- I know I spelled jelous wrong & don't know how to use spell check on this new computer of mine yet! Spelling is not my stron suit!}


I can agree with that, she would tolerate him when I was away but when I was home she would stay near me and would growl and bark at him.

Good Point, Thank You


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