The Maltese Coat

A Maltese has hair, not fur. There is a single layer of it, no undercoat, and it keeps growing the way human hair does rather than shedding out in seasons. That is why the breed barely sheds, why it suits many allergy sufferers, and why the coat needs the attention of hair rather than the neglect most fur will tolerate.

Silk and cotton

The standard asks for silk: long, flat, straight, cool to the touch, hanging in a sheet and falling back into place when you run a hand through it. Some Maltese grow something closer to cotton instead: softer, thicker, a little wavy, warm to the touch, and inclined to tangle on itself. Cotton is a fault in the ring, but in a pet the difference is practical. A silk coat brushes out in a few minutes a day and resists matting. A cotton coat mats in a day if it is missed and takes far longer to keep. Breeders who select for the standard are, among other things, selecting for the coat that is easier to live with, and it is one of the quieter reasons to buy from one.

The three coats

A puppy's first coat is fine and relatively short and needs little more than a daily comb. Somewhere between eight and twelve months the adult coat starts to come in underneath it, and for a few months the two textures together mat faster than either does alone. This is the stage where owners give up and clip, and there is nothing wrong with that; it is also the stage where, if you intend to keep the coat long, you have to brush every single day without exception. The mature coat settles in during the second year and, in a silk-coated dog, is the easiest of the three to keep.

The daily routine

Lightly mist the coat with water or a leave-in conditioner first; brushing a dry Maltese coat breaks it. Use a pin brush with straight metal pins set in a rubber cushion, without the little balls on the tips, and brush in layers down to the skin, not over the top. Follow with a steel comb, checking behind the ears, inside the legs, under the collar and between the toes, which is where every mat begins. Wipe the face and the corners of the eyes with a damp cloth and dry them. Done daily, the whole thing takes ten minutes and the dog comes to like it. Done weekly, it takes an hour and the dog does not.

Mats

Work a mat apart with your fingers and the end of the comb from the outside in, after spraying it with conditioner. Never bathe a matted dog: water tightens a mat into felt, and felt is cut out, not combed out. If a mat is against the skin, let a groomer deal with it. The skin under a mat is often sore already and scissors in untrained hands take skin with them.

Keeping it long or cutting it short

Most pet owners keep the coat in a short "puppy cut" of an inch or two, trimmed every six to eight weeks, which keeps the look of the breed without the daily discipline of a floor-length coat. The long coat is for people who enjoy the work. Either way the face, ears and feet still need daily attention, and the grooming page goes through bathing, drying and the tools from start to finish.