Advice needed Behaviour

Hi my name is James and I'm 24 years old. The dog related to this post is not my own, it's my parents dog. Last year our family became a little bit bigger when we purchased our Belgian Malinois Jet. He is a super alpha and is now one year old.

His training and demeanor is going well but one very big issue has come up. The dog knows that my father is the owner and is normally very well mannered ( or as well mannered as a Malinois is when not getting into trouble) All around he is a great dog and a very good boy.

It wasn't that long ago that he attacked me really shredding my face up, for what at the time I thought was play and for no reason. Tonight it has become clear that it wasn't for no reason and for some reason my laughter, and even my mothers laughter triggers immediate aggression and a sort of defensive attack impulse in him where he completely turns from the very lovable dog that we know, into a very protective aggressive dog. At first glimpse, it seems as if he is coming up to you making sure that you are not hurt and that everything is OK but that is not the case. He doesn't show his teeth, but it's clear that if my hands aren't ready to block or protect myself he wants to go for my neck.

Me and my father are both dumbfounded, as we've tested my theory and for some reason my dads laughter does not trigger this only mine and my mothers. He's truly a fantastic dog and I love him so much, but every time I laugh or my mother laughs I'm now beginning to fear for our safety. Does any one have any experience with this, or any thoughts on how to approach correcting this behavior? My dad does training with him and I work with him as well. We're leading up to IPO but first thing first is simple obedience and as of right now he's getting there. Thank you!

It could be something to do with different pitch, or he’s getting over exited.
Best to seek professional help if it continues

Without seeing what the dogs body language is like before during & after, its very difficult in giving you any advice.

It does not seem acceptable to have a dog who will attack you for no reason, "shredding your face up" because he does not like your laugh - and with the same attack happening to your Mother when she laughs - and yet accepts your Father's laugh. Has maybe your Father somehow taught the dog that he - your Father - is the alpha boss and can only be nice to him, accepting his laughing but nobody else's?

This behaviour is unacceptable in a family situation. Some random thoughts.

I would suggest that your father asks the vet for a referral to a behaviourist. This way, if the behaviourist suspects that there may be a physical reason, the two are able co-operate in diagnosing the root of the probem.
If the dog has been bought specifically for your father to compete in IPO, he is likely to be from a high drive bloodline. This may make him more suited to live as an outdoor dog than in a family situation. I might be making some enquires about his parents, and whether they had been able to live as family dogs.
How is this dog going to react when he comes across children playing? The words, ' hair trigger', spring to mind, I think this lad needs to be desensitised before someone is seriously hurt.
I'm sorry that this sounds so negative, I'm sure Jet is a lovely dog, but you and your mother should not have to live in fear of being so seriously bitten.

Thank you all for the suggestions and advice. We are taking this very serious and will be seeing a professional. He has an extremely high prey, food and ball drive and as stated is usually very tame / playful and lovable. He is of Ot Vitosha lineage and this post was primarily geared towards seeing if any other mal owners have ever dealt with something similar to this before.

As far as him with other people this is always a concern though we socialize him with people and other animals every day. He has no issues with other dogs nor most people though he is very territorial when it comes to his home and his people. ( That in itself can sound negative but this is not the case, he is only sensitive when he is home to strangers, not when he is out in public)

I should also note he seems to be a very jealous type of dog. If my mother shows any attention to my father he immediately gets jealous. A lot of work to be done with this one but he is a member of the family so we will be doing everything needed to correct his behavior and keep everyone safe.

Do you do sleeve training with him? What tone of voice is used if you do. Look at the pitch and tone because he could be misinterpreting your laugh

Hi Chris, no we have not done any sleeve or bite work with him yet. He's passed his basic obedience and we're working on his off leash right now. The strange thing is would be that it is in no way any odd type of sound / pitch / laugh that should set him off. Even just going haha with no emotion at all seems to trigger it. Yet sounds of fireworks or things that should actually upset or startle him do not.

I've been thinking he could be relating it to an animal, as it seems it does trigger his prey drive. Almost like the squeek of a toy even though the tone and pitch of a simple haha to that of a squeek is not the same. For right now I'm at a loss of if I should be yelling / forceful with the command of telling him no the laughter is ok, or if we should be giving praise and trying to calm him telling him it's ok and divert his attention elsewhere.

Now that we know this is an issue we've really been working on it with him and although it might take a little while, he seems to be slowly calming down.

The only advice I would give to you is, to contact some experienced breeders/ owners of your breed, and ask someone to assess him, from your post I take it you bought him from working lines, you don`t say if you are in the UK or not, but I do know that to many Mals (and other types) are going into rescue (here UK ) to often due to their unstable temperaments.

This is what happens when you try to increase a working drive into an already high energy working driven dog.

I cannot give any advice on your dog and his behaviour as its impossible (and dangerous) to dish out advice on a dog you cant judge, all I will say is this, if as youo say and your dog is being triggered by high pitched noise, and its not play then I would be seriously concerned about how this is going to escalate .

As I said, speak to those who understand this breed and can assess him properly, the breeder being your first port of call.

This is what worries me.

Does he socialise with children at all? And do you ever have children in your home?

Because if he can attack you, an adult, and also your mother, are you prepared for what he could easily do if you have a child in your home and the dog is jealous if your father takes notice of it?

These are all issues and things that myself and my parents are working on and taking serious daily. His mother comes from the Czech republic and does French ring training, while his father is a world champion in IPO and multi national champion so ultimately he is the offspring of two very high drive working dogs and we understand this and treat him as such.

He is not just a working dog he's a valued member of the family and we would never even consider giving him up. He is a smart dog, we as his owners although we do our best still have a lot to learn from him and his needs in regards to modifying certain behaviors.

At this point in time although he has attacked me once, i do not view him as a threat just an issue that we as a family need to take serious and address. Will not be daft about any of this and know although everything seems fine it is a very dangerous situation, for the dog and strangers. There are no children in the home nor will there ever be children in the house or on the property. Getting him accustomed to the laughter and one upping his just tolerating children would be our number one priority right now.

As our working dog and our protection dog we would never just allow strangers to pet him without assessing Jets reaction and definitely would never allow just any child the opportunity to pet him under the same scenario. I view this behavior as the first piece of the cookie potentially crumbling and that's why we're taking it so serious. He's not our first dog, but is however our first working dog with such a high drive.

I won't defend his actions or the situation as I do understand peoples concern as of my own but we are however getting to the bottom of this and doing training daily. Not all malinois are the same but hopefully this thread will give some insight into someone considering this breed certain problems one might face. His behavior isn't just on him it is on us as owners to keep him and everyone safe, that is what we're doing.

This is a bit of an oxymoron. In your OP you say

and yet now you say you do not view him as a threat?

The fact the OP would "never ever consider giving him up" says enough to me. A dangerous dog sometimes needs to be given up or put down. If training fails then what? If he hurts someone badly, then what?

He attacked you and displays aggression and you don't view this dog as a threat? That doesn't make a shred of sense.

You have a potentially dangerous dog on your hands who's showing all the symptoms of resource guarding your father!

Dog bites don't just occur "out of the blue" and it seems to me you and your family must have consistently either ignored or missed the early warning signs he's no doubt been giving for some time before he attacked you, leaving him with no option other than to go directly into "bite" mode.

Am I right in thinking the dog has only been trained by your father and you? If so, I'd advise you to get the help of a behaviourist experienced in human directed aggression, who can objectively point out triggers and changes in body language as well as showing you how to manage any given situation.

I live in Hungary where the most popular dog sport is IPO and where many GSD's and Mals as well as other breeds are trained for protection work. Most dog schools over here follow the BH/IPO rules for preliminary dog training. My own two have successfully completed the BH obedience course even though both of them are too small for IPO.

I think you'll find that one of the pre-requisites for both IPO and Protection training is a dog who has good bite inhibition and has a calm and stable temperament, which means due to his present behavior your dog wouldn't qualify as a suitable candidate.

You also say there will never be children in your house or on your property but what about the children who are are laughing and playing whilst you're out and particularly when your dog is off leash? It's something you really need to take into consideration!

Well I know my dog does this also not so much as attacking but when people laugh she gets exited and wants to play

Hello James,
Everyone so far has given the best advice they can give, just remember we are not professionals. It is difficult for us to help anyway as we can not come round to your parents house and assess the behaviour like an expert would. We are simply going off what info we have been given. The problem is the information we have been given is not concrete as you keep saying one thing and then the next moment you have changed your mind! You said you have seeked a behaviourist's advice and what did he say to you?
Jane
xx