Thinking of getting a new PUP.....Mal General Chat

looking to get Belgian Mal to train as a family / protection k-9. any insight on owning one i would get professional training. research goes both ways. i also wanted to purchase my pup from Ivan Balabanov here in Florida, but i would have to be placed on a 12 month waiting period. found a pup from Birgit Hall, European Beigian Malinois but i cant find any reviews online. has anyone heard of her?

I just had to put down my GSP.....due to illness. He was trained as a protection / search k-9.

Worst puppies in the history of the planet!!! Haha. I’m only somewhat kidding. They are hard, and there is not a lot of reward in the beginning, just more biting! Ha!

search for my thread and you can see my frustration.

I’m two months into ownership and she is a thousand times better. Still not crate trained (but still very young so understandable). When people say they have endless energy, they aren’t kidding. It doesn’t matter how much you walk them, they want more.

maligetor is a very accurate term for them. I’ve had multiple shirts ruined with her hanging off them and my arms have had a good amount of bite marks and scratches.

sound like fun?? A mal may be for you!!!

all that being said, I’ve had the opportunity to grow with her . My patience has been upped a ton and I am starting to get that reward from her when she just randomly gets something!! She is not as mouthy as she used to be, but I have a couple good bruises from her from as recently as two days ago from her biting my calf and tricep.

I have a 4 year old daughter as well. Family is a little tricky as she can be a distraction to Willow and that can get frustrating as well.

Sorry for the long winded answer, but even after researching this dog for 8 months or so and having had a high energy dog before getting her, I can honestly say I was not prepared for just what raising a malinois would entail. Consistency with them only works for basics like obedience. Coming up with new ideas to have her think every day is probably my biggest challenge, but so far so good! I am finally able to get 6 hours of sleep a night (she is just under 4 months, so she is killing it in that area).

Think long and hard about the dog. They take A LOT of time, and truly need constant interaction and attention! If you are up for all I’ve posted, grab one!!! Now that she is getting older, I’m starting to have fun with her and she is a freakin’ character and makes me laugh a lot!!!

I just recently acquired a Mal mix (who was supposed to be a mainly GSD mix) from a rescue. She is so Malinois, it's not even funny. Your words have stricken fear into my heart! Not really, but kinda. She's 7 months, and a sweetie, but yeah, the energy levels are unreal. I'm hoping whatever she's mixed with will take off the edge. I frequently hear the term Landshark, when referring to Mals. I wish us both luck.

Congratulations. Yes, Mals are intense dogs. It's what makes them great police dogs. But they require a lot of socialization and obedience and a firm positive owner.

Start her now with interactive toys. Give her mental stimulation. Some dogs, like labs, can be content with long walks and fetch to curb their energy. Mals, JRTs, border collies, huskies, etc need to exercise their brains. And if you don't find an outlet for that, they will. And it won't be nice.

My Tornado-dog is 7 months now. He's a JRT collie mix (has shih tsu and peke also, but they don't show). Unfortunately(?), he got the JRT brain with the collie size. There doesn't appear to be any collie brain at all. It's so bad that his brain tells him he has a small body even though he may get to be 85lbs (I keep telling him he can stop growing).

So my point is if you are lucky, she will get some brain matter from all her different breeds. Or, you end up with a pure Mal brain and I am sorry.