Two old companion breeds, crossed
The Maltishi — you will also see it written Malshi, Mal-Shi or Malt-Tzu — is a cross between a Maltese and a Shih Tzu. Both parents are companion breeds with very long histories, and neither of them was ever asked to do a job other than keep people company. That is a good part of why the cross turns out the way it does.
The Maltese is one of the oldest toy breeds in Europe. It is tied to the island of Malta and to the trading ports of the central Mediterranean, and it appears in Greek and Roman writing as a small white lapdog kept by people who could afford one. Its coat is a single coat, with no undercoat underneath: long, straight, silky white hair that hangs like a curtain. The breed has been carried about in the arms of its owners for something close to two thousand years.
The Shih Tzu came from the other end of the old world. Its ancestors were Tibetan companion dogs sent as gifts to the Chinese court, where they were developed into the small, long-coated dog kept inside the imperial palaces. The name translates as lion dog. Only a handful of them left China for England in the 1930s, and every Shih Tzu in the West traces back to that small group. The American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1969.
Put the two together and you get a small, long-coated, thoroughly people-shaped dog with the Maltese’s lightness and the Shih Tzu’s steadiness.
No two litters quite alike
There is no breed standard for a Maltishi, because no registry writes one for a cross. That is simply a fact about the dog rather than a warning label, and what it means in practice is straightforward: a litter is a set of individuals, and you choose the puppy in front of you rather than a specification on paper.
Most Maltishis are small — usually somewhere between six and twelve pounds, and roughly eight to eleven inches at the shoulder. They are compact and neat, with a level back and a tail carried up over it.
The coat is where the variation shows most. Some puppies take the Maltese side and grow a long, fine, silky coat that falls straight. Some take the Shih Tzu side and grow a thicker coat with more body and a slight wave to it. Most land somewhere in between. Colour runs from pure white through cream, apricot and gold to parti-colours with white on the chest, face and feet, and a good many puppies carry darker shading on the ears and muzzle that lightens as they grow up.
Muzzle length varies the same way — a little longer than a Shih Tzu’s, a little shorter than a Maltese’s, and different from puppy to puppy. So does the ear set and the way the tail is carried. Two littermates can finish up looking like different dogs, and that is normal for the cross. The thing that stays consistent is the temperament, which is what most people came for in the first place.
The coat and the weekly routine
A long coat on a small dog is a routine rather than a project, once you have picked a length and stuck to it.
Most Maltishi owners keep the coat in a short, even trim — usually called a puppy cut — which suits the dog, suits the weather here, and turns grooming into a genuinely small job: a comb through every couple of days, a bath when the dog has found something worth a bath, and a trim at the groomer every six to eight weeks. The places worth going over properly are behind the ears, under the front legs and the trousers at the back, because that is where a comb earns its keep. Brush first, then run a metal comb through, which tells you the truth about whether you actually got down to the skin.
If you want the long look, it is entirely doable. It moves the comb from every couple of days to every day and adds a bath and a proper blow-dry every week or two, and the result is spectacular.
Either way, the hair over the eyes keeps growing. It either goes up into a small topknot with a soft band or gets trimmed back, both look good, and it is the sort of decision you can change your mind about every few months.
The rest is quick. Nails a little and often on a dog this size. A wipe around the face after meals, because a long pale coat keeps a record of dinner. Ears wiped while you comb. Teeth brushed from the first week, so that a Maltishi decides early that the toothbrush is just part of the evening.
The easygoing end of the small-dog spectrum
This is the reason the cross exists at all. A Maltishi is a friendly, level, affectionate little dog that wants to be where the people are and takes the rest of the day as it comes. They settle into a household quickly, they are as content in an apartment as in a house with a yard, and what they mostly want is to be in whichever room you are in.
They are physically affectionate in the way both parent breeds are: on a lap, against a leg, along the back of the sofa behind somebody’s head. They are easy company for adults, good fun for older children who enjoy a small dog with opinions, and they generally get along well with other dogs and with cats they have grown up beside.
They will let you know when someone is at the door. Taught from the first week that a report ends with a thank-you and a return to normal, a Maltishi keeps the announcement short and then goes back to what it was doing.
Short absences are worth building into the routine early — a chew to work on, a comfortable place to be, and no ceremony on the way out or the way back in. A puppy that learns in its first month that people leave and people come back settles into the pattern without ever thinking about it.
Training and the first few months
Both parent breeds are bright and both like to be right, which makes a Maltishi a pleasure to teach. Food works, praise works, and on some days a squeaky toy beats either. Keep the sessions to two or three minutes, ask for one thing at a time, mark it the moment it happens and pay it well.
Two things repay real attention early. The first is handling — being combed, held, having feet touched and nails done — because a dog that enjoys the grooming routine makes the next fifteen years straightforward. Start with ten seconds and a treat and build from there. The second is house training, which goes best when it is boring and predictable: out first thing, after meals, after naps, after play, and a proper celebration every single time it goes right outdoors.
Socialization is the rest of it. Take the puppy out through the first year to meet ordinary things: different floors, umbrellas, wheeled bins, hats, calm dogs, people of every size. A Maltishi that has met a hundred ordinary things before six months treats the hundred and first as ordinary too.
What a day with a Maltishi looks like
Modest exercise, plenty of company. Two short walks a day suit one well, and the walk is more about the smells and the news than the mileage. In a Florida or Tennessee summer the early and late hours are the good ones, and a shaded route is worth the detour.
Indoors, a Maltishi fills the gaps in the day. It will follow you around the kitchen, take up a position where it can see the front door and the stove at once, and turn a rolled sock into an event. Five minutes of fetch down a hallway does as much for a dog this size as a half-hour march, and a food puzzle or a treat under one of three cups keeps the mind occupied.
Evenings are the whole point. A Maltishi that has walked, played, been combed and been included spends the evening tucked against somebody, and that is the entire design of the dog.
Come and meet the Maltishi puppies
Because there is no standard, the only reliable way to know what a particular Maltishi is going to be like is to meet it. Coat, size, muzzle, the way it carries its tail, how forward or how thoughtful it is with somebody new — all of that is individual, and five minutes on the floor tells you more than any description can.
Our Maltishi puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and our team can tell you what a particular puppy’s coat has been doing and how it has been getting on with people. We have a store in Orlando and one in Nashville, and you are welcome to sit down with a puppy for as long as you like before deciding anything. Find directions and hours, and ask about financing while you are here. Every puppy here goes home with its vet records, its vaccination history and a health warranty, and our team will walk you through what those cover.