Home / Havanese vs Maltese
Havanese usually wins on family temperament and easy training. Maltese usually wins on sheer small size and the purest low-shedding coat, no undercoat at all. Here is the honest, numbers-first breakdown.
Short answer: pick the Havanese if you want the steadier family dog. Pick the Maltese if you want the smallest possible dog with the least amount of loose hair. Longer answer: both breeds get compared constantly because they are small, toy-sized companions with long, silky coats, but the real differences show up in temperament, trainability, and exactly how the coat behaves, not in some vague "better breed" verdict. Here is the honest side by side.
Our take
Havanese usually wins for families with young kids and first-time toy-breed owners who want an easier dog to house-train. It is the sturdier of the two, and it rarely develops the anxious or yappy habits a Maltese can pick up without consistent training. Maltese usually wins if your top priority is the smallest possible dog or the lowest-shedding coat: the AKC standard caps a Maltese under 7 pounds, with 4 to 6 pounds preferred, and its coat carries no undercoat at all, a true single layer of hair. Both are low-shedding, not allergy-free, and both live well into their teens with good care. If you are choosing on family fit and easy training, lean Havanese. If you are choosing on size and coat, lean Maltese.
Thirteen points that actually matter when you are choosing between the two, not just breed-standard trivia.
Swipe sideways on a phone to see the Maltese column.
| What matters | Havanese | Maltese |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 7 to 13 lbs | Under 7 lbs by breed standard, 4 to 6 lbs preferred |
| Height at shoulder | 8.5 to 11.5 in | 7 to 9 in |
| Coat structure | Soft double coat, silky outer coat and undercoat | Single-layer coat, no undercoat at all, pure white by breed standard |
| Shedding | Low. A common pick for allergy-conscious households, never allergy-free | Also low, and often even less because the coat has no undercoat to shed out |
| Temperament | Cheerful and gentle, rarely defensive with strangers | Affectionate and alert, confident with new people and other dogs |
| With young kids | Sturdier build, widely considered patient with children under supervision | More physically fragile, many breeders avoid placing a puppy with very young kids |
| Trainability | Eager to please, house-trains quickly with positive methods | Intelligent but independent, one of the harder toy breeds to house-train |
| Exercise needs | Short daily walks plus indoor play | Short daily walks plus indoor play, about the same |
| Grooming | 2 to 3 brushings a week, trim every 6 to 8 weeks if kept short | Daily brushing to prevent matting, professional groom every 4 to 6 weeks |
| Health testing to ask for | Hip, patella, eye exam (CERF or CAER), cardiac, BAER hearing | Patella and congenital heart (OFA), annual eye exam (ACVO), bile-acid liver screening on shunt-prone lines |
| Average lifespan | 13 to 16 years | 12 to 15 years |
| AKC recognition | 1996 | 1888, well over a century earlier |
| Typical price | $1,500 to $3,000 | Roughly $1,000 to $4,000 nationally from reputable breeders |
If you have only ever seen a Maltese in a show-ring topknot, the breed's actual background explains a lot about its coat and confidence.
The Maltese is an ancient companion breed, believed to be more than 2,000 years old and prized across the Mediterranean long before dog shows existed. The AKC recognized it in 1888, more than a century before the Havanese's 1996 recognition, which is part of why it shows up in some of the earliest American Kennel Club stud books.
A Maltese's coat is a true single layer, long, flat, and silky, with no undercoat at all. The AKC standard calls for pure white, with light tan or lemon on the ears permissible but not preferred. Keeping it long takes daily brushing to prevent matting, which is why so many pet Maltese wear a shorter puppy trim instead.
The honest part
It would be easy for a Havanese site to only tell you what is good about a Havanese. Here is where the Maltese is genuinely the better dog on paper, not a consolation prize.
Both are low-shedding, and plenty of allergy-sensitive owners do fine with either breed. The Maltese has a true single-layer coat with no undercoat at all, so it often sheds even less than the Havanese's soft double coat. Neither breed is allergy-free. If allergies are a real concern, spend time with an adult dog of the specific breed before you commit.
The Havanese, generally. Havanese are eager to please and respond well to positive training, including house training. Maltese are just as intelligent but more independent-minded, and the breed has a reputation as one of the harder toy breeds to house-train, often taking one to four months of consistent work.
The Havanese tends to be the steadier choice. It is a sturdier toy breed and widely considered patient with children, though play should always be supervised. Maltese are smaller and more physically fragile, and many breeders won't place a puppy with very young children for that reason. Maltese generally do better in homes with older, gentle kids.
Both shed very little compared to most breeds. The Havanese has a soft double coat that still carries some undercoat. The Maltese's single-layer coat has no undercoat at all, part of why it comes up so often in allergy-related searches, though daily brushing is still needed to prevent matting.
The Maltese. The AKC breed standard caps a Maltese under 7 pounds, with 4 to 6 pounds preferred, while a Havanese typically runs 7 to 13 pounds. If the goal is the smallest possible dog, the Maltese wins outright.
They're close. Havanese average 13 to 16 years, and Maltese average 12 to 15 years. Both are long-lived toy breeds with good care, and individual health matters more than the small average gap between them.
Leaning Havanese? See what to look for before you buy and what day-to-day life with the coat and personality actually looks like. Leaning Maltese? See Maltese puppies at Maltese Finder, a family-owned site in the same network.
Read the breeder checklist