Here we’ll discuss a few ideas on how to care for your Maltese’s coat: how to brush your Maltese, dealing with a matted coat, pet clip and wrapping up your Maltese. Brushing your Maltese every day is important, especially if he has a long coat. The longer you wait between brushings, the more difficult (and longer) each session will be. You’ll need a pin brush and coat conditioning spray. Also, get out your apron or grooming smock. There’s no need to be covered in long white hair if you don’t absolutely have to be.
How to Brush Your Maltese
To make sure you brush the whole coat, start with the underside, not the top, using a pin brush. This will make sure you get right down to the skin without irritating the skin itself. Brush with smooth long strokes and try not to “flip your wrists” at the end of the stroke, which can result in dreaded hair breakage. As you brush, continually mist the coat with a conditioning spray, which helps keep the coat from breaking. There’s really quite an art to all this, best learned by watching someone groom a Maltese for the show ring.
Dealing With a Matted Coat
The Maltese coat tends to mat, and there’s no mistake about that. How much your own dog’s hair will mat depends on the
particular texture of his coat; it’s a very individual thing. Some Maltese are “matters” and some aren’t. If you find a mat in
your dog’s coat, try to work it out gently with your fingers first—don’t attack it with a comb or mat breaker except as a last resort, since that inevitably results in loss of some hair.
If the mat is too tough to handle with your fingers alone, spray it with a detangler or conditioning oil. Sometimes you have to let it soak in for a while. Once you’ve done all you can to that point, use the end tooth of the comb and work your way into the mat. If that doesn’t work, use a mat-breaker, and promise yourself you’ll be more attentive next time. Of course, if you don’t care two cents about your dog’s coat you can just cut the thing out (being careful not to cut the skin itself), but your dog will lose an element of his most striking characteristic.
Wrap Up Your Maltese
If you want to show your dog, you’re going to have to wrap him up. Usually this process isn’t begun until the dog is at least six months old and most are older); before that the coat just isn’t long enough to stay in wraps. A wrapped dog needs to be re-wrapped at least every other day or his coat will mat. It also critical to keep the coat dry while it’s “under wraps” or, believe it or not, it can mildew and turn a hideous shade of green or even black.
Are you sure you and your Maltese are up for this? If so, here are your “wrapping supplies”:
- Silk “wrapping” paper or bakery wrap paper
- Medium size rubber bands
- Rat tail comb
- Pin brush
- Conditioning spray
Put your Maltese on the grooming table and brush him out thoroughly with a pin brush. Take a well-parted, 2 to 3 inch (5
to 7 cm) section of hair (here’s where the rat tail comb comes in). Spray some oil or conditioning spray on it. Take the
wrapping paper and fold about a quarter of it over to make an even fold, with the fold away from you. Put the hair on the
wrap in the center, and then start folding the paper, first on one side and then on another over the hair.
Keep the hair as straight as possible inside the paper. Crease the paper and then start folding the paper lengthwise. Soon your little Maltese will have a square of hair wrapped in paper next to his body. Secure it with a rubber band and then move on to the next section. You don’t have to wrap the entire dog, although some people do. Others just wrap the hair that is most in danger of setting soiled or broken.
Pet Clip for Your Maltese
If wrapping sounds like way more than you want to do you can go in for a trim or pet clip for your Maltese. You can even do it yourself, although the majority of people choose a groomer. If you want to attempt it, I suggest you first have your Maltese clipped by a professional the way you like and then attempt to imitate the cut. One common practice is to use a clipper with a #4 or #5 blade and clip the whole body from the neck to tail. Use a downward motion to get a smooth finish.
After this, use a #10 blade (the higher the number, the finer the cut) on the sides of the face. Clip from front to back. Clip under the ears, but leave the ears long, and trim the face so that your dog can have a charming moustache and beard.
Trim the head so that he has a little cap. Trim the legs to blend in with the body. We want to remind you that this is your dog, and you can have him trimmed any way that appeals to you. Go ahead, be creative!
