A lot of people haven't seen a maltese so they ask is he a different breed - I have been asked bichon, shih tzu, yorkie, lhasa apso( I think that's what you meant - other people have asked that before), poodle, chihuahua and someone even asked me was he a samoyed puppy!!
I know what you mean about owners leaving their dogs off lead. Last month I was out walking with Milo and a woman had her golden retriever off lead - he spotted Milo(who was on a lead) and started bounding towards him. This dog was huge compared to Milo and could have easily hurt him with one paw swipe - the owner just stood there and never even tried to call her dog back and didn't apologize for her dog scaring the living daylights out of mine!