10 Things You Didn’t Know about The Malchi
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The Malchi is a designer dog created by breeding the Maltese with the Chihuahua. As a result, it is sometimes called by other names that recall its progenitors in other ways, with one example being Malachi and another example being Maltechi. On the whole, the Malchi has a reputation for being a good household companion provided that its owner doesn’t have neighbors who will be upset by its loud barking.
1. Relative Newcomer
It isn’t impossible for the Malchi to have existed in earlier times. After all, both the Maltese and the Chihuahua are long-standing breeds, meaning that there have been plenty of opportunities for the two to come together to create offspring carrying characteristics from both sides. However, designer dogs are something that have become popularized in recent decades, meaning that the concept of the Malchi is a relative newcomer.
2. Small Dogs
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Malchi tends to be on the smaller side of things for a dog. The Maltese tends to weigh 3 to 8 pounds while the Chihuahua tends to weigh 3 to 6 pounds, so it stands to reason that their offspring tend to be in that range as well. On the plus side, this is one of the factors that make the Malchi a convenient choice to be a household companion.
3. Can Have Either Short Hair or Long Hair
Designer dogs inherit characteristics from both sides of their heritage. Due to this, they can be rather unpredictable. To name an example, the Malchi can have either short hair or long hair because of its progenitors. If this is something that interested individuals care a great deal about, they might want to look for multi-generation crosses that are more descended from the breed with the look that they want in their pet.
4. The Maltese Might Not Be Maltese
It is common for a breed to be named for the place of its origin. As a result, most people will assume that the Maltese came into existence on the island of Malta. Unfortunately, this isn’t 100 percent guaranteed to be true because the breed is so ancient, meaning that we just don’t have a clear idea of what was going on in those times. This is particularly amusing because the Maltese is actually mentioned quite a few times in the sources that have managed to survive to the present. The issue is that they aren’t in agreement with one another. Some say that that breed originated in Malta. In contrast, others point to other places, with one example being the island of Mljet in the Adriatic Sea.
5. The Maltese Has a Long, Proud History of Being a Lapdog
The Maltese has a long, proud history of being a lapdog. Indeed, its ancient ancestors were the stereotypical lapdogs of the Greco-Roman world, kind of like how the Molossus ancestors of a huge proportion of modern mastiffs were the stereotypical guard-dogs of the Greco-Roman world. It isn’t a good idea to go too far with this because the ancients didn’t have the same concept of breeds that we do, but the connection is nonetheless there.
6. The Maltese Doesn’t Shed Much
Generally speaking, the Maltese doesn’t shed much and doesn’t drool much. Thanks to this, there is a low chance of people having allergic reactions to their presence, thus making them a good choice for households in which that is an important concern. The Malchi can follow the Maltese in this regard. However, these designer dogs are by no means guaranteed to do so, meaning that interested individuals shouldn’t just assume that they will be hypoallergenic.
7. There Are Different Kinds of Chihuahuas
Moving on, it is worth mentioning that there are different kinds of Chihuahuas out there. For example, some are short-haired while others are long-haired. Similarly, some Chihuahuas have a “deer head” look meaning a flat-topped head, wider-set eyes, and longer, more slender legs, while other Chihuahuas have an “apple head” look meaning a much more pronounced stop to the head. Besides this, interested individuals might have heard of teacup Chihuahuas, which is a marketing term referring to those that have been bred to be as small as possible. Something that can mean serious health issues.
8. The Chihuahua Can Claim Pre-Columbian Heritage
The indigenous peoples of the Americas had dogs, which came over from Siberia thousands and thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, these pre-Columbian dogs have been lost for the most part, having been replaced by their Eurasian counterparts as well as the latter’s local descendants. The Chihuahua is one of the few breeds that can claim actual pre-Columbian descent. Even then, it isn’t very much in its case.
9. Considerable Variation in Temperament
It is interesting to note that one Malchi can have a very different temperament from another. This is because its progenitors are very different from one another in this regard. Maltese tend to be on the gentler side of things. In contrast, Chihuahuas are famous for being much more opinionated animals. As such, interested individuals should pay close attention to what a particular dog is like unless they are fine with the full range of personalities that Malchis can have.
10. Not the Best Choice for Families with Small Children
The Malchi tends to be a bad choice for families with small children. As mentioned earlier, these dogs are on the smaller side of things, meaning that they can be injured from rough handling. Furthermore, the Malchi tends to have a notable limit to what it will and will not put up with, meaning that this kind of treatment has a very high chance of resulting in retaliation. Under these circumstances, if interested individuals do let their Malchi interact with small children, they might want to keep a watchful eye over them to make sure that everything goes smoothly.
