Is a good personality a genetic trait of the maltese dog breed?

Question

My mother has a maltese and he is just the sweetest, well behaved little dog I have ever seen. He loves to play but knows when to chill out and he is not trained but if she says "no", he automatically stops whatever he is doing. He always curls up with her when she is on the couch and he loves people to death. When my mother grabs her car keys, he gets into his cage without her even having to say anything.

I would love to have a dog who acts that way [not to mention he is SO adorable and easy to keep groomed] but I don't want to get a maltese based on my mother's dog and mine be a dud.. like an arrogant personality, bad behavior, etc. Are all malteses sweet like my mother's dog, or did she just get lucky?

I enclosed a picture of a maltese in case you are not sure which dog I am referring to. http://www.dogwild.info/maltese.jpg

Answer 1

A good bred maltese is supposed to be a very friendly and playful dog. But a lot I notice tend to be neurotic or fear aggressive due to their large popularity now for that "teacup" sized dog. So in other words, they are overbred unscrupulously.

So a good bred maltese is supposed to be sweet like your mom's. Don't get your puppy from a backyard breeder or a petstore, as this is the place where you'll find a badly bred maltese. Look on the maltese club of america for breed referrals on the web or contact the same breeder your mother went to.