Check out these video interviews with Dr. Julie. This is an excellent discussion of healthy weights in dogs (and performance dogs) and how to evaluate weight. For us Maltese people, this is best done when the dog is wet so you can see the tuck up and hour glass figure.
I'd also like to emphasize her mention of diet. The recommendations on bags are almost always too high. I strongly recommend feeding to maintain healthy weight. That usually means measuring your dog's food at every meal. It also means considering how many treats your dog receives. You may need to decrease meal amounts on days you have training sessions. Many people use the meals itself as a training treat (I tend to do this).
So what type of food is best for your Maltese? Notice I didn't say dog. Breed, dog size, and activity level have a huge influence on what diet is appropriate for your dog. For most Maltese a diet moderate in fat and protein works well. Super-high protein foods are really built for extra-active dogs who need the extra fat. I would stick to a food with less than 30% protein (for dry food) for a Maltese. A diet with some grain or carbohydrate content is usually a good choice (it decreases fat and protein content).
Something Maltese folks may also gain from this video is the mention of straight angles in the rear influencing genetic luxating patellas. Something you see with these straight dogs is that their rear legs are bowed. This bowing also contributes to the conformation of the knee joint which encourages luxating patellas.
I hope you enjoyed the videos as much as I did!
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