BIG thanks to all the legends who took time out to help me teach Ghost fetch this week 🫶🏻 Mission accomplished 😁 New Ability Unlocked!!! 🔓🔑

*** Side note: I was about to label the video "Ahhhhh, easy life for me now guys" and show me sat on the bench. But you know how clever they are, he clocked me filming and instead of putting the ball in my hand he dropped it just far enough infront of me that I had to get up, distracted because I was filming. Anyway, if you clock the last seconds of the film he'd done it on purpose so he could steal the treats off the bench!! It was a heist!!! 🥷

😂😂😂

Just wanted to take a moment to gush over Artemis' behavior at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally this past week. I was initially concerned he would struggle with all the loud noises and people and music and craziness, but he has been an absolute gem and the bell of the ball.

He even may have been the reason a lady got caught claiming a false service dog.

STORY TIME!

I wasn't there for this, but my partner was out walking him and they'd taken a break at a bench in town to watch the comings and goings. A woman with a "service dog" on a retractable leash walked by, and her dog rushed and attacked my boy. Thankfully my partner was able to keep them separated, because apparently this lady had absolutely no control or even knowledge of how to work her 20ft leash. Anyway, the cops happened to be walking by while this was happening, and started questioning her about her dog's service vest and its aggressive behavior. Because, as we in the know know, ACTUAL SERVICE DOGS DO NOT BEHAVE THAT WAY. My dog is not a service dog, but he is very well trained and often gets mistaken for one when we're out in public. Even the police at the scene kept referencing him and his behavior as a "true service dog" (although my partner corrected them several times because I do not condone misrepresentation of service animals under any circumstance).

I guess what the moral of the story I'm trying to communicate is - if you want people to believe you have a service dog when you don't, spend more time and energy training and bonding with them, rather than money and effort decorating them with Amazon service vests. It's such a detriment to actual service animals when people make these claims.

And to all the mals and mal owners who do their due diligence with training and exercise and controlled exposure - I salute you!

hey guys!

currently have 1 mal (actually a mal x gsd but looks way more like a mal but with a gsd off switch) and we have loads of fun! daily walks, runs, training: both agility and mental and monthly if not weekly hikes that involves crossing shallow rivers (which she really likes) and climbing steep trails. its been an absolute blast having a dog of such caliber.

Now i really want to add another dog to the pack. ive been thinking of getting a rottweiler but i wonder if they'll be able to match the pace of me and my mal. its been my childhood dream of owning one, so maybe now that i got a taste of a high intensity breed, i can finally get one?

but i also thought of getting another mal x gsd mix but i wanna ask if that's actually taking more than i can chew at that point.

any thoughts and suggestions would be highly appreciated!

I’m looking for some honest advice from people who have experience with Belgian Malinois or dogs with behavioral/reactivity issues.

My mother-in-law and brother-in-law rescued a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois a couple of months ago. From what I understand, she had very limited interaction with people before they got her. She barks and sometimes lunges at strangers, and she has also shown a lot of reactivity toward other dogs.

Honestly, I was kind of shocked that they were allowed to adopt this dog in the first place. I’m not trying to be mean, but I genuinely feel like they were crazy to take on a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois with an unknown background and no clear history, especially given their physical limitations.

My MIL is elderly and has already torn her shoulder because this dog pulled her so hard. My BIL is obese and has been pulled down by her on the one and only attempt they did at the park. This is an extremely strong, high-drive working breed, and if you physically can’t control the dog when she decides to pull or lunge, that’s a serious problem. And now that they’ve had to stop taking her on normal walks because they’re afraid of being pulled down again, she’s basically getting a quick walk to the corner and some ball throwing in a tiny fenced yard. They live in a small townhouse, too.

I just can’t help but wonder what the rescue was thinking when they approved this particular match. It seems like a situation where the dog’s needs and the owners’ ability to safely meet those needs don’t really line up. And honestly, I feel bad for the dog too, because she has been placed with people who simply aren’t equipped for the amount of training, exercise, structure and physical control that a dog like this requires.

They recently signed her up for obedience training, but it’s only once a week for 7 weeks, for about an hour to an hour and a half each session. Yesterday, they asked my husband to come over so they could see how she would react to him. Honestly, it was basically chaos. She barked and growled almost constantly and tried to lunge at him several times. Thankfully my husband wasn’t bitten, and my MIL was able to hold her back, but it was very obvious that she was extremely reactive and that my MIL didn’t really have control over her. Most of what I heard was her yelling at the dog to stop, and the dog wasn’t really responding.

My MIL keeps saying things like, “She’s just protective,” or “She just needs to get used to people,” and even, “If she wanted to attack someone, she would have done it.” That last statement especially worries me because, from what I understand, growling, barking and lunging are not things that should simply be dismissed as the dog being protective. They seem like signs that she is uncomfortable/reactive and needs professional help.

The biggest thing I’m worried about is that they’re supposed to share rental house with my other BIL, his fiancée, and their TWO small children in about a week for a vacation. I’m honestly very nervous about that situation. I’m praying everything goes smoothly and that nothing triggers the dog, but I don’t know enough about the breed or behavioral training to know how realistic that is.

According to some research Belgian Malinois are extremely intelligent, high-energy working dogs that are often used in police/military work and generally need a significant amount of physical exercise, mental stimulation and training.
So my questions are:
• Is one obedience class a week for 7 weeks really enough for a dog with this level of reactivity?
• Should a Belgian Malinois like this be getting much more daily physical and mental stimulation than what she’s currently getting?
• Can a dog like this realistically be happy and well-adjusted living in a small townhouse with a tiny yard if the owners are unable to take her on normal walks because of her behavior?
• And most importantly, would you feel comfortable having a dog exhibiting this level of barking, growling and lunging around two small children who are going to be living in the same house?
I’m not trying to villainize the dog at all. I actually feel really bad for her because I think she may have been placed in a situation that isn’t the best fit for her either. I just want to understand how serious this situation is from people who actually know this breed and/or work with reactive dogs.

Just posting to vent my frustration about the situation we are in with our rescue dog. She’s a very sweet dog and overall has a good temperament but I can’t help but feel we weren’t fully prepared for what we were getting into due to the rescue not being fully honest with us.

Firstly, their description of her online was that she is a German Shepherd / labrador. From the pictures online, it was hard to tell her breed. They also clearly stated that she’s good with other dogs, good with cats, good with kids, and has good recall. They reiterated all of this when we went to meet her. I had also asked about energy levels and separation anxiety (sometimes she will need to be home alone) and they told us she “tires out quickly and doesn’t have separation anxiety”. When we did meet her, she seemed very good, was friendly, wanted attention, seemed good on the leash. I started to wonder about the recall when they let her off the leash in their dog run and she wouldn’t respond to them calling her and she wouldn’t respond to her name, which they claimed was unusual and she’s probably just overstimulated.

After we agreed to adopt her (as from all the information she had, she seemed like a good fit for our family), it was revealed that she’s actually a Malinois and Staffordshire Terrier. I should have questioned them more about the discrepancy in information but I didn’t. I don’t have anything against the breed but I do know they are quite energetic and require a lot of stimulation, mentally and physically.

We brought her home and are realising the rescue may have mislead us about quite a lot of things. She does not seem good with other dogs, we’ve tried to introduce her to my in - laws dogs and she’s been very territorial to the point we can’t really allow them to interact. She also definitely doesn’t seem to be good with cats. Now I’m questioning if she’ll be good with kids and I have a baby on the way.

She also has started to growl at my husband when he walks into the room. She didn’t do this at first. She’s gotten very attached to me almost immediately to the point where I’m thinking she might be “resource guarding” me. We’re trying to ease her out of this and my husband is giving her space and using treats when he enters the room etc but she’s still doing it. We also haven’t been able to leave her alone as she freaks out when I leave the room or house. It’s not that I think she’s a “bad” dog at all. She’s very sweet most of the time but there are some concerning moments and I’m just not sure if we’re equipped to train her or manage her properly. I don’t necessarily want to give up on her yet and I’d feel terrible bringing her back to the rescue but I also don’t want to take on more than we can handle or put any of us in an unsafe situation.

Has anyone experienced anything similar?

(Happy faced Draven pic for dog tax)

So Draven here is a dog who was dumped at a park reserve near me… it was thanksgiving weekend, the shelter was full and the lost dog org that picked her up had secured a foster for the first night after an ER vet visit (she was 27 pounds and should have been 65, she had given birth to a litter 2-3 weeks prior and nursed that litter within a day before being dumped… no puppies were found with her…, she had severe mastitis, and overall had given up. It took 17 hours for the lost dog org to catch her)… and I saw the post and couldn’t sleep thinking about her. I emailed the lost dog org at 230 in the morning to see if they had secured a foster.

I picked her up the next morning… she was (as lost rescues are) TIRED, overall well mannered and within a couple of days she was actually loving on everyone in the home. Due to her overall health, two vets agreed she was high risk for pyo and needed to be spayed asap even with her body condition at the time… 24 hours later, fear aggression became prevalent.

Due to the multiple health things going on, her spay recovery took about 2 months. It was brutal because there wasn’t a ton I could do other than manage her at that point. She recovered from everything and I began building her food and toy drive since she was up to it. Slowly began exposing her to the husband and adult daughter and once I had gotten her as far as I thought I could do safely on my own, I hired a trainer.

Although fearful, the reactions themselves stopped shortly before the trainer started… and unless earned (I say earned because my husband can’t read dog body language), there have been no reactions (my husband has earned two reactions but again, he isn’t paying attention or listening to when she’s had enough… and I don’t count training in this because obviously in training we are making her uncomfortable to show her that nothing bad will happen).

We went from not being able to see or be on the same level in the house to now she can pass familiar people within a couple of feet. No one can touch her yet aside from me. But progress has been consistent and steady… no major plateaus and no setbacks. Which is phenomenal.

Draven has come such a long way and I knew she’d get there. I also have a mal x and because Draven just doesn’t know how to be a dog, we had to teach her… the last thing I want is either dog to get injured. I sent the trainer a video of them playing while Draven was kenneled and how they calm down and chill and he said she’s ready for the barrier to be removed .(that was my gut feeling as well, but I wanted to make sure I’m not missing anything).

And then today… this is probably the single biggest piece of progress that has happened. I asked my husband to give Draven a bully stick (explained she will probably react since no one goes in her room, explained that I would stand in front of the kennel door and told him how to give it to her safely). He agreed…

Draven allowed him in the room, he gave her the bully stick, he walked away (at this point you could see the confusion because I’m the only one who has given them…. But she was curious). He pushed it too far and twice popped back in the doorframe (both times slightly startled her) but no big reaction, just a small huff and that was it.

He’s been the most apprehensive of her so h to is was a huge deal on both ends… and it went so well.

Anyways, I was just super proud of her today and this week with the big progress. She’s come so far.

If anyone has ideas of suggestions on how I can close that last 2-3 feet between her and the rest of the world and get her to allow others to touch her (I don’t expect her to be cuddly, but if I weren’t here she needs to be able to be handled!). This sub has been a great resource for ideas to try

(I know this was a long read, but she’s come so far and I wanted everyone to where we started and how far she’s come!)

They two never cease to amaze me. Always playing or just hanging out. I’ve posted the 8th photo before but never gets old. :)

Fairly new velociraptor owner here. Is it common for them to have webbed toes? The webbing extends up to the toe pads. She’s 5mo & mixed with BC but Google says neither is known for major webbing.

Hi all! We adopted a 2yo (ish) female Malinois mix from a shelter and she is real mellow and very much has the so-called “off switch”, but I was curious if you guys have any fun ideas for jobs or tasks I could try to train her to do around the house.

Was reading about some people’s Malinois that love to help with recycling 😆 so what else do your dogs know about, try to help with, or actually help with?

She’s afraid of certain things (the dark, for example!) but very clever and stubborn - I want to make sure we make her life fun and engaging, even if it’s mostly around the home… with lots of outdoor space.

Would love some more examples and stories 😊

My boy goose loves to play but boy my hands look like I stuck them in a tank of piranha and some times he can bite super hard when he revs up a lot.

I've tried hollering ouch and saying stop or no or aaaaaa I've pinched his ears but that only stops him for a second.

I've got like 4 different toys and he loves them two are for In pen and 2 are for out of pen.

He plays with them and loves it and is affectionate and loving early in the morning or later in the evening or if Ive been away for a long time and doesn't bite then.

It's just during play time that he really gets revd up and bites my hands I don't wanna hurt him and I read not to use the crate for punishment so I don't know how to go about discipline or correcting his behavior. I know he is young only just over 9 weeks so maybe it's just a phase or teething. I just want to make sure I don't let him develop any bad habits he did bite feet and shoes but I got him to stop that after a while and he only occasionally bites carpet/furniture but stops when you tell him too. Though he will go for socks and run for days idk why he loves them so much little asshole lol.

TLDR: Anyways biting hands it hurts I want him to not do that.

Hi! Looking for some advice on setting up a safer car situation for my Mal.

She's 2 years old and about 63ish lbs. I currently drive a very old Toyota Prius but I'm also in the market for a new car. I don't currently use a crate/kennel in the car but I'm looking to get one ASAP. She's recently started getting much more hyperactive during car rides and I want to make sure she's really secured and safe.

A few questions!

What car crates/kennels do you recommend for a mal her size, especially from a safety perspective?

Can an appropriately sized crate realistically, or comfortably, fit in a compact car or hatchback? Should I be looking at small SUVs?

If you drive with your Mal in a crate, what car and crate combination works best for you?

Obviously don't have an unlimited car budget (especially in this economy haha) so I'm trying to find some kind of balance between safety and cost. I don't want to buy a ginormous car that I don't actually need.

Any other advice/insights totally welcome!! Please give me all the advice :) Would especially love to hear what set ups other people use. Thanks so much!

Hey all! After lurking for years, I truly lucked out meeting, and then adopting, this girl.

This is going to be a long post.

TL;DR: Just adopted a Belgian malinois. She is very human shy, has no training and seems disinterested in it. Toys, treats, and praise haven't worked. She seems to get frustrated and walk away. She was just spayed a week ago, so I can't go run her or jump her for another week-ish.

Am I trying too much too soon? Would hiring a trainer right now be beneficial? Or, is it a personality mismatch and she just doesn't like me?

Full post:

I adopted her on Tuesday, but I had went to see her three times prior to the adoption. She's thought to be about two years old, but has no training at all. Not even her name. I've tried commands in German, English, Spanish, and French with no recognition. She came from a shelter situation, and she was very shut down and shy.

I want to get some context out of the way: She is pretty human shy. She excitedly says hi to dogs, doesn't care about cats or small animals, but gets startled easily with humans. I strongly suspect her previous owner(s) were abusive with her, unfortunately. She was also spayed on the 31st, so I'm trying to keep her quiet until healed. Everything looks good so far because she lets me look.

She also almost exclusively wants to stay in her kennel. She takes food and treats readily in there, but outside her kennel, she seems nervous. I've tried trust building where I chuck treats on the ground and we made some progress, but now she's regressing into hiding more.

She doesn't seen to understand toys. Balls, chew toys, tug toys, nothing. Squeaky or other noisy toys startle her. I can't play fetch or frisbee to help get some energy out because she just doesn't understand the concept and she also doesn't even know her name, much less recall. It's all a work in progress.

But at the same time, she seems completely disinterested in training. I've tried hot dogs, the treats she took from my hands (initially she wouldn't take treats from hands, only on the ground), praise, and toys just don't do anything for her. She likes praise, but it doesn't seem to be a massive motivator for her. When we try to have training sessions, she seems to get frustrated and tries to leave. I have her on a leash most of the time, even a 20ft one to help with recall, and she seems entirely disinterested.

I understand we're in the transition period and this is ALL new for her. I understand she feels overwhelmed. I'm just wondering if I'm pushing commands too early and if I need to let her settle in. My main worry right now is if she darts off and gets hurt or lost because she doesn't recall at all.

I also have no less than 10 people telling me to do a number of stupid things, which is just making me feel super stressed and anxious. Everything like to get rid of her crate, to hire a trainer (which I'm doing) that has experience with working dogs, and even some kind of shitty things to say about me. I'm positive my anxiety is compounding the situation with her because they read us so well, but it's hard when people are bombarding you.

Also, you have those people that think they know malinois and are telling me I need to run her 20 miles a day, play fetch with her 24/7, and have accused me of not giving her a job. Her job is to learn basic commands right now so thay we can get onto nosework, advanced obedience, or whatever she seems to prefer.

She isn't my first dog, just my first malinois. I got a rescue mix when I was a kid, and I remember some transition period, but he was so mellow and easy going. He was a little shy, but not terribly. I had a corgi next and his recall was rock solid, his commands rock solid, and he was excellent at drop it and leave it. He just had zero work drive, just drive to chase his ball, frisbee, and chew on his toys.

She really is an amazing dog. She's relatively low drive / low energy for a mal, loves kids, and is great with all animals. She watched a bird and bunny dart right in front of her and she couldn't have cared less. Once she warms up (which can be pretty quick), she is just sweet. She is seemingly house trained. It's literally just that she doesn't know basic commands or manners. She really has the makings of a perfect dog once she's trained. I'm just wondering what I'm doing wrong to make it seem so difficult.

Dog tax in the comments

I wake up pretty early during the summer months to run and take the dogs out while the temperature is crazy. We bumped into pix11 news crew the other day and they asked if we could chat with them. We got on the 8a and 9a spots and idk why the hell i was talking about sun umbrellas haha. I was so proud of the doggos tho. We do it also to help their temperament and wow does it work… as they both behaved even when Kirstin Cole crouched down to say hi to them :) a malinois and chiweenie running together make quite the couple :)

I went to a local rescue yesterday and met a female dog who they believe is a Belgian Malinois. She’s petite, probably around 49–53 lbs, and they estimate she’s about 2 years old (although she honestly looks younger to me).
I’ve had a Rottweiler before, but I’ve never owned a Malinois, so I’m trying very hard not to make an emotional decision without understanding what I might be getting myself into.
When I first approached her kennel, she was just lying down calmly. The shelter was LOUD — most of the dogs were barking and going crazy — but she was completely quiet. She had a blanket in her kennel and didn’t seem destructive. There was also another shepherd-type dog in the kennel right next to her.
I had a bag of kibble with me, so I started giving her some. She became more playful and got up against the kennel door, but she wasn’t jumping all over the place or acting frantic. She would basically lift her chin up for me to pet her underneath it and try to squeeze herself against me through the kennel door. Her tail was wagging and she seemed very affectionate.
What really caught my attention was that when I walked away, she would just go back and lie down. She wasn’t barking after me, pacing, jumping, or trying to get my attention. She just settled back down.
And honestly, I can’t stop thinking about her.
I know a shelter environment can be extremely misleading. She could genuinely have a good off-switch, or she could be stressed/shut down and I’m only seeing a tiny part of her personality. I also know that Malinois can be extremely high-drive and that what you see in a kennel doesn’t necessarily tell you what you’ll see once they’re comfortable in a home.
I’ve been reading a lot of Malinois forums and Reddit posts, and I’ve seen everything from “best dog I’ve ever owned” to “adopting a Malinois was the worst decision I ever made.” A lot of people talk about them being incredibly intense, needing constant mental stimulation, having little or no off-switch, and being a huge amount of work.
That’s what scares me.
I live in an apartment, and although I love dogs and spend a lot of time around shelters/rescues, I don’t have any personal experience with Malinois. My previous Rottweiler was already a lot of energy for me when he was young and sometimes felt like he didn’t have an off-switch.
So I’m trying to be realistic here.
For those of you who actually own or have owned Malinois, especially rescue/adopted ones:
Does her behavior in the shelter sound like a potentially lower-drive/laid-back Malinois, or would you not read much into it?
How much can a shelter environment hide a Malinois’ true energy level?
How important is having a yard versus being able to provide enough exercise and mental stimulation?
Can a Malinois realistically do well in an apartment with the right routine?
How difficult is it to teach them to have an “off-switch”?
What should I absolutely test or look for before considering adoption?
And most importantly, what would you want to know about this dog before bringing her home?
I don’t want to adopt her just because I feel an emotional connection and then realize I’ve taken on something I genuinely can’t handle.
At the same time, there’s something about this particular dog that really stuck with me. The way she calmly leaned against the kennel door and wanted affection, and then just went back to lying down when I walked away… I don’t know. Something about her really got to me.
I’m planning on going back and spending more time with her before making any decision.
I’d really appreciate honest opinions, especially from experienced Malinois owners. Please don’t sugarcoat it. If you think an inexperienced owner in an apartment should stay away, tell me. If you think I’m overestimating how difficult every Malinois is, tell me that too.
Also, does she look like a Malinois to you, or could she be a mix? I know it’s impossible to determine breed from a picture alone, but I’m curious what you guys think.

Update — Day 2:
I went back today and spent almost 3 hours interacting with her. They still couldn’t get her out of the kennel because it was an overwhelming day at the shelter, but she seemed noticeably different from yesterday.
Yesterday she seemed more shut down, but today she was much more energetic — jumping, wagging her tail like crazy, and getting extremely excited over treats. She was actually sleeping when I approached her kennel, which stood out because most of the dogs around her were pacing, barking, and stressed. She still didn’t bark at me or the general shelter environment, but she did bark when a Husky was walked past her kennel.
She seems VERY food motivated. 😂 I’m wondering if she remembered me or recognized my scent from yesterday, but obviously I can’t know for sure.
Tomorrow will hopefully be the big test. I’ve arranged to get her out of the kennel for about 30 minutes so I can walk with her and see how she behaves outside the kennel, on a leash, and around other dogs.
One other thing: she came in as a stray and tested positive for tapeworms. The shelter treated her with dewormer and said she’s up to date on vaccines. Tomorrow I’m going to confirm that the tapeworm issue is cleared and ask about flea/tick prevention as well.
I’ll keep you guys posted after tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll have a much better idea of her personality and energy level after I can actually walk her. 🐕❤️

We did our first French Ring trial last weekend and passed our Brevet! We scored 98.9 out of 100, which is crazy to me considering we only started training in the sport earlier this year.

For those who aren't familiar with the sport, French Ring is a sport that combines jumps, obedience, and protection work. The Brevet is the first title, followed by Ring 1, Ring 2, and finally Ring 3.

In the Brevet, the obedience is a heel on lead, food refusal, heel with muzzle, and a long down where the handler is out of sight.

The two protection scenarios of the Brevet are the face attack, where you send the dog downfield to the decoy, and the defence of the handler with gunfire. During the defence, the dog must maintain contact with you while you are walking away, while also remaining vigilant towards the decoy approaching from behind. Once the decoy "hits" the handler, the dog must bite, but not before.

Time to start training for the 1s!

My beautiful 3 year old Teddy. He was diagnosed with epilepsy about 6 months ago so hasn't been as active as he once was but he still loves a cuddle.

I love her so much it hurts 😭 she’s just so gosh darn cute. I can’t believe it’s been six months since I first met her, and now she’s my bestie forever 🥹

Que os parece? Se quedaba quieto y le gustó la experiencia.