Storybook Maltese

Little was our first show dog.  I was new to showing dogs and was just dabbling and exploring, really, but when Little beat the #1 dog in the U.S.A not once, but twice, I was hooked.  Little’s strength is his perfect structure and movement.

Little came to us after I lost a puppy to human H1N1 virus.  I was desperate to fill the void she had left in my heart and a new friend, Tammy of Silver Brook Maltese, whom I had met online that bred Maltese offered him to me. We bought him.  He was so small, but he was energetic and silly and very entertaining.  At first, we thought we would call him ‘Maximum Overdrive’, and ‘Max’ for short. He reminded us of a wind-up toy.  He would go and go and then drop wherever his energy ran out and take a nap.

One day shortly after we brought him home I had him in my lap while reclined in my recliner.  He crawled up to my chin, rested his little head on my face and gazed into my eyes.  He stole my heart that day and I said to him, “Well!  Aren’t you just a Little Heart Throb?” and so he was named.  It was very easy to call him ‘Little’ because he was so small.  

As a puppy, Little used to amuse us when he would cart the toys from the toy box in the living room to our bedroom, one by one, and lay on top of the pile of toys and guard them. We used to call him our ‘animal hoarder’.

Little taught me a lot.  I learned about taking care of a show coat while Little patiently let me practice on him, topknot after topknot, which is quite the acquired skill!  His coat is a fine silk coat and it really took a lot of care to grow it out, especially for an inexperienced person just learning.  In hind sight, it was the best coat to learn on because if his coat type can be managed, all the others become easy after that.  In his pet trim, his coat is just so soft and velvety and wonderful to run your hands through.

He has such a heart to please and eagerly learns new things.  His strongest trait is that he is extremely affectionate.  He has a very calming effect on us.  If we are having a bad day, just holding Little for a while makes us feel better.  Even when Little meets a stranger, he will quickly adopt them and curl up in their lap. To this day, he loves to climb up under my chin and snuggle.  He still melts my heart.

He has a very mellow personality and readily complies with whatever is asked of him. I cannot say ‘no’ to him, so he is the king of the Storybook Castle. What Little wants, Little gets! If I summed him up in one word, it would be PRECIOUS!

His adult weight is 4½ lbs.

Little...

Champion Storybook’s Little Heart Throb