Daily care
Many people ask us how we clean them? Why are they so white?
A-Rod and Bailey actually stay in the house most of the time. Every time they go out, we usually wash their feet or give them a shower after. However, in general we only take them to the parks during the weekend. So they always have a shower on weekend. We don’t send them to a dog salon all the time because we actually enjoy giving them a shower. Not only does it improve the relationship between us, but I’m also very OCD on every detail. For example, any bug on their body, or any skin issue. We send them to the dog salon only when they need their nails cut or a haircut. I am still not very good at cutting their hair.
A-Rod and Bailey they have just a little bit of tears but so minimal. Before we go to bed we just wipe with a cotton round (angel eyes or plain human grade eye wash) and brush it with a fine comb. I recently tried changing this step to the morning instead because they always have seem to make big eye boogers during their sleep. In the morning, I clean the eyes first, check their skin and give them a quick once-over for brushing. Bailey’s skin had some issue before, so keep a closer eye on her skin. Once I’m done this, I’ll usually clean their teeth (with a gel that you can apply to their teeth) and then check their ears for any problems..
If your Maltese has tear stains you might want to look at what is causing the staining? . Allergies or food are the two most common things.
Another reason they are so clean is because of our house rules. No licking. We stop them licking their paws and bodies. If they can’t stop licking, we will check what causes them to do that. The Saliva might cause their hair to discolor. So, that’s definitely no no to us! We also potty trained them to go do their business indoors on pads, so this way we don’t have to worry about any rain or dirt from outside. This helps immensely.
This is how I clean their face:
These are the hair shampoos and conditioners we have at home:
A-Rod has been using different shampoos. My favorite on A-Rod and what I use right now is the Kiehl’s shampoos and conditioners.
Bailey is using Zymox’s shampoos and conditioner. She had some skin rash/lesions before from some insects. Sometimes she tries to scratch her skin. The Zymox’s shampoos and conditioners really help for this type of problem and the scent of Zymox is actually pretty good. Sometimes we will use the whitening bio-groom shampoo to get their hair very bright white, but it really depends on how their hair looks.