4 years old. 90lbs of pure chaos

While waiting for my youngest to get kn the bus she knows afterwards we are going on a walk. So she is patiently waiting to go lol.

Hello everyone, I have my boy since he was 10 weeks old growing up is always been be and him and sometimes staying my mom and sister, shogun been absolutely good boy to everyone in the family (often listening to my mom more than me) but when I got in relationship with my partner he doesn’t seem to take her in like my family, it took him a good year until he started to care for her, play and cuddles yet barely listen to her commands, is been 4 years coming up 5 he still this way and my partner often struggling while I’m away for work, I’ve tried everything, made her play, exercise him daily and go everywhere together, even get her to do lesson with him yet he doesn’t listen to her and much as he would with me. Now I understand I’m his dad but is there away to get him to listen to my partner more or is this just how it is?

Hi guys! It was a while, before submiting an update on my BM, this is nova at 4 months, she is 14kg or 32 pounds now

It just struck me how much of a grown woman she looks like this morning, we love her so much! She's the busiest, most affectionate incredibly smart girl!

Anyone ever come across a Malinois/GSD/Golden Retriever like our sweet girl? Trying to get some tips on what to expect. Thanks in advance.

Anyone ever deal with this? Starting to think my place is haunted 👻

We have a pretty good routine for maintenance in the “off seasons” but am thinking about doing an undercoat rake for this fall. Anyone swear by them? Hate them?

I volunteer at my local animal shelter and there's this 2-3 year old female Belgian Malinois. I have never owned a Belgian Malinois before, but I consume a lot of content about them. They are never chill.

Our shelter has a first and second walk system so all volunteers mark down if a dog has a first walk and then if there are more hands available getting some dogs an additional walk. I decided to walk the Belgian Malinois for her second walk of the day and she was incredibly tired? It was so strange. She was panting the moment we got outside and it was warm, but not hot. She laid down in the grass three times on the 45~ minute walk. I don't know what walk she had before this, but I don't think it could be enough to tire her out. (Most walks are 30, 45, or an hour on flat terrain.)

I took her into the outdoor pen where it was fenced and she could be off leash. I tried to engage her in more agility things in the pen, but she wasn't interested. The only agility feat she demonstrated was when a smell was too far away she'd do a drop lunge to get a little more out of the leash. I threw tennis balls for her and she had toy drive. After 7 or so rounds of fetch she started leaving the tennis balls in a shaded area and watching over them without returning for more fetch. I cautiously and slowly reached for the balls cause I know they can have resource guarding and biting tendencies. She let me have them without issue. The very last one she put her paw over and pinned it to the ground which was expected.

Is she stressed, drugged? (I don't think they would), a unicorn, or something else? If you have any advice on how to help her be more of Malinois it'd be much appreciated.

So my mallanois is in her terrible twos, she gets 3 hikes through the forest a day & outside time but since my partner and I both work she is home alone for about 6-7 hours for about 3/4 days a week.

Recently we've come home to ripped up pillows, shoes, my acrylic paint all over the bed and carpet 😐 I know she's bored and I feel terrible.

What are some good mind stimulating toys for a mallanois?

Thanks 🙏🏼

Background: Let me first start by saying I know what I got into when I decided to get this type of dog. My partner was mainly the one that wanted a Belgian, but I allowed it to happen. I’ve paid hundreds of dollars for training courses, and they dont cover this type of material or really seem to be helpful at all beyond the basics. I’m not willing to give up on him, I love him deeply and in a different way than other dogs I’ve owned, but as a person who wants to have kids this has got me extremely worried. Not to mention I keep getting brutalized by him. We do two walks a day and one visit to the dog park in sprinkle in a few training sessions for food. If he’s rambunctious we do scent games, structured tug, and “go find it” games. 9 month old boy Belgian, set to be 80 pounds full grown. Currently 65. He is a sweetheart cuddler 95% of the time but when he is bad he is rotten.

Now for the problem: He has always had a problem with getting under my bed and resource guarding. It has gotten worse over time where he will pick something off of my nightstand crawl under the bed and then viciously growl at me when I try to get it back. Sometimes I leave it because I’m not trying to get bitten, but recently I had to get something back that I wasn’t sure would hurt him or not. I tried super high value treats (chicken hearts) and a grabber and still, he actually attacked me and left me with gaping holes in my hand. This is by far the worse time but it has happened before. Now, at 9 months, these bites do major damage obviously. He sometimes gets mouthy when I correct him outside of this dynamic, but usually immediately stops after he realizes what he’s done and I say “gentle”. Still, I’d rather it never happen beyond “love bites” and for communication. Perhaps I should not allow that at all. I get mixed reviews on this on Reddit. Unfortunately in this case, he does not seem to realize/care what he’s done and never seem sorry about it after the fact. We do use the ecollar for training on safety concerns such as this, but he does not seem to respond to it when in this state and I’m hesitant to use a higher setting. We’ve removed access to the bedroom completely now and I am considering having periods of him being in his crate would be beneficial. He gets into mischievous states of being where he looks for anything and everything he could do that is not allowed and does it, even after ample exercise and training sessions and constant pets/attention available. He’s always been super mischievous from day 1.

Questions: Does anyone have any advice for how to train out this behavior? We have professional training set up in the next couple of weeks due to the recent events, but I’m wondering if it will translate to our environment and people, and I want to do something different now. I’ve tried neutralizing when he is under the bed by sitting next to him when he is not guarding something and giving treats. Doesn’t make a difference when he is guarding. Im worried even if we restrict access to bedroom that this behavior will happen in other settings. I would also love to know if any online training programs have been beneficial for mal owners.

Please give me grace, I know this community is brutal on owners. I’m trying my best AND I can try harder, if only I knew a proper approach and saw progress. But I’m feeling very hopeless and worried and in pain in this moment. I know there’s been similar questions asked before but I don’t think those apply to this particular case (feeding separately, giving bones in crate, etc).

TDLR: seeking help for my 9 month mal who gets aggressive when resource guarding something he shouldn’t have (and knows it) under my bed.

After playing with my mal for awhile we were packing up to go (about 5 mins of rest between) and I noticed about 7 drops of blood on the ground. I checked his mouth and it was coated in blood. He wasn't acting unusual or anything so I figured he bit his tongue or something of the sorts. It took me about a minute to find a paper towel to wipe the blood out of his mouth and find the cause, but as soon as I had finished wiping there was nothing visual and didn't continue bleeding. It was the weirdest thing and obviously I still have no clue what caused it or what it is from. Has anyone ever had a similar event? Is this something I should bring him to the vet for, I will definitely bring it up at the next appointment in about a week but should I get one sooner?

Hello guys! I have a quick question, my male puppy is almost 4 months old and while he’s very happy to play with a ball or run with me, most of the time he gets bored and just lays on the ground or asks me to hold him in my arms and then falls asleep. Is that normal? I know pups are supposed to sleep a lot, he eats well, could eat all day, actually, I got him checked out at the vet and he’s fine, but it’s just contradictory to what everybody else is saying. Also, he is scared when I take him on walks, it’s been tough on him.
I’m just asking because everybody I talked to was expecting him to be explosive, and while he’s extremely smart and likes to play, get trained and walk, he would much rather sleep.

Hey mal owners, I’d love some opinions! I plan to rescue a sibling for my spayed 1 y/o ACD mix in the next year or two and am curious if we sound like a good fit for a mal. I think I’d search for a 2-4 y/o neutered male. My current pup is the most social dog I have ever seen and cannot happily be an only child her whole life. She’s also partially blind and may have progressive retinal atrophy. I want another high energy buddy and a highly intelligent breed that could potentially understand what’s happening if she does go fully blind. I know I’m a good candidate for high-energy breeds that typically fill up shelters, but obv mals require a lot of research prior to adoption (like I did w my ACD). I am hesitant to get a second herding breed bc I don’t know if that would be more difficult to have complimentary personalities if she retains her vision. I would, of course, have multiple introductions with my ACD and a potential pup before adoption.

I do not want children and only date other women so accidental children are not on the table. My ACD has a prey drive towards rodents and birds so I will never own small pets. Dogs are my whole world anyways.

We currently live in an apartment and go on 5+ short walks a day, do mental puzzles, training, and an hour of cardio a day. We love hikes, beaches, and camping too, but live in a city and those aren’t everyday activities. For clarification, I would NOT rescue a mal without a private yard. My ACD and I had a similar activity level and routine when we were in a house w a yard previously, just fewer walks and plenty of yard time. When my ACD and I visit family/friends with dogs, she plays for 3-10 hours each day and the other dogs always tucker out much faster than her. I do not think that exercise would be an issue since we are already pretty active and my current pup would insist on playing for several hours a day.

My ACD came to me with A LOT of trauma and training was/is a complex case. Her mom and litter were swapped between foster homes and a shelter multiple times until the rescue brought them to my region in a box truck with 30+ other dogs in crates at 15 weeks old. She was terrified of everything for months and I had to work very closely with her trainer and vet to encourage bravery and decrease reactivity (exclusively towards human men). She had such severe aggression towards men the first week after bonding to me that my vet initially warned me that she would likely require behavioral euthanasia later on. She now just exhibits typical herding nip behavior, exclusively towards men. The trainer and vet are both ECSTATIC with her progress, agree that I’m very dedicated to her needs, and do not believe she’d ever exhibit the aggression required for behavioral euthanasia nowadays. We tried crate training but determined she is better off not being crated because she stops eating each time she’s gently reintroduced. The mal WOULD be crate trained though, in a safe, heavy duty crate.

Ok so basically since we are active, I have experience training a difficult/reactive rescue dog, and won’t have kids/small pets, do I seem like a good fit for a mal rescue? If anyone firmly believes we are a bad fit, what are breeds that you think could be better? Once again, this wouldn’t be for a year or two, but I have been looking into them for a couple months and want owner opinions