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UPDATE!  Erica is a sweetie who loves to be on a lap or touching one of her people in some manner.  She is good with many commands, but *not* come.  We have been teaching her, "front door" to run to the house, but we have a fence around our entire yard.   She responds to front door pretty quickly now!  She will need to be watched to make sure she does not get out a door or gate and that she has a proper fitting harness that she can not wiggle out of.   She is quite fast.  She is very agile, gets along with the 6 other dogs in the house, 4# to 70#, and we had company for 10 days and she was thrilled to have extra hands and laps.      She will bark at animals on tv and also sometimes at people or things outside.   She really enjoys the Animal Kingdom show on Disney Plus.    She really does have quite the bark, but usually can be called off.     

She is not a night owl and likes to get up early.    She very much loves people, probably more than other dogs.     She is a velcro dog for sure and happy to sit on your lap or in the chair with you.   Her ears are very expressive and she knows she is cute!    Her hair is a bit unruly - it is like a magnet for any loose things in the yard so she has to be watched for burrs or stickies that might cause a mat.     Keeping her tummy and legs trimmed might be a good option since her legs also soak up dew quite efficiently!  

She will be a delight to anybody who adopts her!   She makes us laugh, she is very silly!

ORIGINAL:

 A kind, police officer found little Erica lying in the road. He promptly notified Judy and Erica spent the next two days at our vet's office to be thoroughly checked out.   Fortunately, she had no broken bones, although she did have some scrapes and bruises.  Erica is absolutely adorable and has recovered from her rough start !  She appears to be a Maltese mix and as her coat has come in, she has brown/tan at the tip of her tail and at the outer edges of her fur.

• Appearance  She always looks like she just got up!    Even if you comb her, she will shake and her hair will look all "messed up" again.    She is very petite and the vet said she will always be very lean.

• Energy Level  She is a pup and she plays hard and sleeps hard!   She loves to play with our little Chihuahua and uses her paws quite a bit to bat at him.   She rolls around with him, runs around the yard, stalks him and is a busy girl.   If she is outside in the rain and gets wet (or after a bath) she gets quite wild and once she is dried off she starts tearing around the house!   Our Jack Russell does not approve of such behavior, haha.    Once she has dinner, she is usually content to curl up with one of us.   She sleeps through the night and likes to be touching somebody.

• Food She eats twice a day and we feed a limited ingredient diet.   She eats both kibble and wet food.   We are feeding her Natural Balance Fish & Sweet Potato.   My husband works 2nd shift and we have what seems a strange schedule to many, but our dogs eat at 9 am and 9 pm, which is probably why she is content to curl up after dinner!

• Adaptability She is cautious.   When our son was visiting for a few days, it took her about 3 days to stop barking any time he came out of a bedroom or bathroom, though she was not unfriendly to him.

• Behaviors I have found her chewing on the baseboards a couple of times, despite her acess to nylabones, which she also chews on.    She stops as soon as corrected and we give her a bone instead.   This only happened a couple of times.    She does need to be watched in the yard as she has an interest in eating anything different which she finds in the grass.   Once or twice she has started digging but we do have several mole hills and I think they are too much for her to resist!     She does like the sound of her own voice as well.   She was quiet the first few days here and then discovered she could bark!   I call it a bellow as it is such a loud noise from such a tiny girl!   She also has a brand new behavior which is not so cute.     If we leave the computer chair pulled out from the desk, she jumps on the chair and then the kitchen counter.    Other option, jumps onto the dining room table chair (which is higher than normal) and then the table.    Soooo......we are doing our best to nip this in the bud.

 Animal Social Skills We have 5 other dogs, varying from 9# to 60# and she does fine with all of them.   She has learned doggy rules which she did not seem to know at first.   At times she does not know when to stop trying to play but the other dogs correct her.    She has growled at other dogs when we go places if we are holding her but I think it is more of a protective behavior.

• Obedience She knows Sit, Crate, Go Potty and has a very good sense of Stay.   She will usually obey Come but can have a VERY short attention span!

• Training  She is crate trained and eats in her crate and is also in it when we are not home.   She has never had an accident in her crate.   She does get extremely vocal and excited when we come home and must be quiet and sit before we will let her out.    She is 90% housetrained and does need to go out often.  She had no sense of it when she arrived.   If we take her out and she does not go, I have taken to leaving her on leash with me as she likes to be sneaky and go somewhere such as behind the couch!    She is eager to learn and eager to please and I think could learn many things.   

• Ideal Home  She loves cuddling and attention.   She would probably not like to be in a situation where she is alone for many hours each day.    I think she would thrive being with another dog but it is not required.  

According to www.dogbreedinfo.com, this ancient dog was described by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus as belonging to the "Melita" breed, an archaic name for Malta. It was developed in Italy with the addition of miniature spaniel and poodle blood. It was thought that these lively little dogs were first brought to England by Crusaders returning home from the Mediterranean. The breed became particularly popular with women, who often carried them in their sleeves and even to their beds. The dog was not only popular with women though. Publius, the Roman governor of Malta, prized his Maltese enough to commission a portrait of "Issa" and even have poetry written about her. Today, the glamorous Maltese is an adored pet and sought-after show dog. The Maltese is spirited, lively and playful. Gentle, loving, trusting and devoted to its master. Highly intelligent. Good at learning tricks if he feels sufficiently rewarded. Bold and quick to sound the alarm in case of suspicious noises. It is a classical companion dog; graceful and lovable. They do well with other animals. Maltese love to play outdoors but have a penchant for jumping in puddles. A bath must follow! These dogs can be snappish with inconsiderate children and may be difficult to housebreak. Sometimes they are picky eaters. Include small biscuits and dry dog food in this breed's regular diet to help the teeth stay strong and healthy. Do not over-pamper or overprotect these little dogs, for some become unstable, and some may become jealous of visitors. They have a life expectancy of 15-18 years.