I have tried in the past to put sweaters on Bleu. He would not have it. He would go crazy until he would get it off. Well...now that we have Mia..I love dressing her up. She wears tanks, dresses, sweaters...whatever suits me. I finally went out and bought a couple of sweaters for Bleu and a few vests (hubby says he must not be left out)...and he now LOVES to wear them. He actually smiles when I put them on (Mia still runs )....and wears them proudly around the house.

OK...I know that Maltese are very intelligent. He always suprises me with his intellect. But do you actually think that he likes wearing the clothes now because he see's Mia wearing them?

Could be...He knows that he will get "attention" putting on the clothes as well as you paying attention to him...AND you probably tell him how "cute" he is....

I wish it worked that way at my house!! Angelo loves wearing his sweaters, he has never tried to get out of any clothing that I put on him. On the other hand my little monster Ellie will run to get her clothes on but only because she thinks she's going bye bye and when she sees that we aren't going anywhere as soon as I leave the room she is ripping her clothes off

OH, yes absolutely I think he likes the clothes now that Mia is wearing them.

I have a similar situation here. Kallie HATES to be on the grooming table. Yet, after I brush Catcher I can say, "Kallie it's your turn now". And she will actually come in from another room so that I can brush her. She definitely knows that I'm doing something "special" with Catcher and she looks so happy and proud when it's her turn!!

I know they're very smart. That's great that Bleu will now wear his outfits. Maybe he didn't want to be left out of the attention. Hannah copies a lot from Boo. And Boo has even copied a little from Hannah.

yes i totally believe that can happen!


CupCake was a MONSTER when it came to grooming time... but ever since i got little muffin, she has calmed down ALOT.


She saw me grooming Muff, and when it was her turn, she was like an angel.. i was in shock.


and she has a new temperment which i LOVE! i do think they change because of certain attentions the other is getting!

I've seen something similar with my two. Jazz hates being groomed, but when he sees Pixie getting my attention, he just can't wait for his turn. Now he will sit on my lap and let me do anything to him while he looks down at Pixie like he's the king of the world.

I think they're extremely smart, and even at that I think we underestimate them. My Bianca LOVES to get dressed. All I have to do is hold out a sweater to her and she puts her head down and tries to put it thru the neck hole. If I leave one of her dresses or sweaters lying around she'll pick it up and keep bringing it to anyone who'se around until someone puts it on her. I think she likes the snuggle feeling of being dressed.

Absolutely. Dogs are copy-cats after all.

I was just in shock the other day when i was at the dog training place. We have an open pack there, so while we train there are always other dogs around. I have only been working with young dogs and puppies that were doing the 'basics.' I started this one lab with his retrieve and he was doing great untill one day he wasn't sure if he really wanted to do it. Luckily there was about three other dogs sitting around trying to steal the items we were fetch..so I let them and he saw how excited and willing to work and fetch that they were. The next time I had him go get his bumper...he RAN to it! It was amazing 1) that the other more advanced dogs that usually didn't pay us any mind were all over us wanting to fetch stuff and 2) that they motivated the lab to do it!

That paints such an adorable picture-I wish I could see her doing that.

And I have a similar grooming story as some of the others. Tucker always acted as if he hated being groomed-when he saw me getting things ready-he would just freeze and refuse to walk over to the stand. I would have to carry him over to it. And then he would kind of duck and swervr while I was brushing him. The first time I put Cheeto on the stand, Tucker went nutso. So I switched pups, and he stood there and actually leaned into the brush-evening holding his neck up as high as he could get it-so I could brush his chest easily. My hubby was cracking up. Since then, he hasn't acted that obvious about it-but he has continued to act as if he likes being groomed now. Makes it a lot more fun!

Of course they are taht smart lol...just ask him. A guy has to do what he has to do to impress a girl doesn't he? lol

I have a cute story to tell. About 6 months ago we were with my inlaws while a visiting nurse came to see my father-in-law. The nurse put her bag down beside the chair she was sitting. About five minutes later, we see Bianca running from the room with the woman's wallet held tightly between her teeth. The little thief had unzipped the top of the woman's bag and taken the wallet out. I was absolutely mortified!

She learned this neat little trick of unzipping the front of my son's bookbag when she was about 6 months old because that's where he used to put his lunch bag. She now unzippes everything she finds looking for hidden goodies.

My 2 oldest maltese that have passed on use to do that to the Avon lady who use to deliver to me. She consistently set her purse on the floor even though the 2 little thieves hit it every time! Their favorite thing was to pull kleenex out and shred them on the carpet while we were talking.

That's hilarious! Poor woman probably thought you had a trained con artist there. Distract her with the cuteness and the steal the wallet! That is just too funny