Maltese x Shitzu - Bo
by Cheryl
(Coopersville, Michigan)
Bo with his toy lion
Our Maltese x Shitzu Bo is a great little guy. He has more personality than any other dog that I've owned. He loves to play, and when he's tired, he loves to go to bed with mama. Bo is the first dog I've seen who watches TV on a regular basis. He will lie on the floor watching TV, sometimes for an entire show or movie. He especially enjoys watching anything that has animals, and when he sees animals on TV, he runs to the TV and jumps against it, barking. He weighs only about 16-18 pounds, but he throws himself at the TV so hard that he actually blew the back out of our last TV stand. People think he's crazy when they're visiting and he suddenly flies against the TV, barking like he's crazy.
In July we got another dog, a rottweiler puppy (Rosie). Though Rosie is now 3 times Bo's size, Bo maintains the alpha dog status and has no problem reminding Rosie that he's the boss. He will play mind games with Rosie just to irritate her. If Rosie is chewing on a rawhide and walks away from it, Bo will grab it and put it in a particular place and then guard it (because he has no intention of chewing it or playing with it). If Rosie comes near the rawhide, Bo will block her, growl, chase her until we finally tell him to let her have it. Then he walks away and acts like it was his idea. Bo also loves to play hide-n-seek, but only with our daughter. She will hide in the house while we cover Bo's eyes. As soon as she is hidden, we say, "Find Kelli," and he will run through the house until he finds her, sometimes taking up to 15 minutes if she finds a really clever spot. Our other dogs have never figured out how to play the game - they just chase Bo and bark because they don't get it. Also, after Bo has a bath, he does what we call the "idiot run" through the house. Our Maltese x Shitzu is like a little Tazmanian Devil, which scares Rosie because he doesn't normally act so crazy. He tries to play with her, but she's busy trying to get out of his way.
I'm a huge dog lover, but I have to say that our Maltese cross Shih tzu Bo is my favorite dog of all time because he's a lover, he likes to play, and he's so entertaining to watch.
