[Magneticgal]

Maybe the maltese was just a fearful dog. My cousin's mini-pin is the same way and I can assure you 150% that she is NEVER mistreated. She is great with family, but does get scared and snappy around people she does not know. What makes them this way? Who knows?!! I do think that there can be several factors- not just abuse and non-socialization. It upsets me when people are so quick to make a snap judgement. Just because a dog snaps/growls, does NOT mean it was mistreated and not socialized. This is one of my pet peeves. Dogs are like kids in the fact that you can be an AWESOME parent and "do everything right" and still have problems.Some are easy-some are not!!! If you happen to be one that had it easy from the get-go, then consider yourself lucky. People that judge just make a difficult situation worse.