All About the Maltipoo
The maltipoo is a crossbreed. Opening your heart and home to a crossbreed is like opening a beautifully wrapped package on your birthday: you never know what’s going to be inside. It’s often assumed that a crossbreed will combine the best of two or more breeds, but genetics doesn’t always work that way. The way genes combine and express themselves is not necessarily within a breeder’s control, even less so when two breeds are crossed. That’s something to keep in mind before you lay down lots of money for a dog that you have been assured will be hypoallergenic or healthier than a purebred.
If ever there were a living, breathing, barking incarnation of cuteness, it is the toy maltipoo. A mix of two of the more popular of small dog breeds, the maltese and the Poodle, the dogs are small, clever, playful and affectionate. The toy maltipoo is also forever young, staying puppy-like well into their senior years. Those qualities have made the toy maltipoo one of the more popular deliberate mixes.
A well-bred, well-raised maltipoo should be friendly, people oriented, and easy to train — and just a little bit of a mischief-maker. Be warned, however, that a maltipoo from an irresponsible or inexperienced breeder can be a mess of the combined genetic problems of his ancestors, without the benefit of the kind of health and temperament testing done by good breeders. That can mean a snappy, noisy tyrant of a dog, nearly impossible to housetrain and with a wide variety of costly health problems.
