Any experiences of fostering police dog puppies?

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Jinx94

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I've had a lot of interest in malinois' for a while but am adamant that I will steer clear until I have found a good breeder, a good trainer and have spent a lot more time learning about dog training. If I had one, I would want to be doing high level obedience and canicross.

A friend from uni is now fairly heavily involved with our area's dog unit and has two alongside his own dogs. He's been fairly positive about it, and as fosterers get so much support, I'm giving it some thought.

Has anyone done this? What have your experiences been?

I know that malinois have a very high drive and that they are workers rather than pets. To be honest, I have such a busy mind that I'm keen to have a dog with trainability and drive. I know that my house and garden will be sacrificed and that if I choose to go ahead, I'll be cursing my decision fairly frequently. I'm not completely naive. However I'm sure that I'm more naive than I realise!! :p
 
No experience of fostering but I have got a Mali x GSD. Does that count? All I can say is that many Mali owners will not recommend a pet home and give the impression that you would be owning some sort of wild animal. Not the case. Yes, they are more intense than your typical pet dog, requiring more mental and physical stimulation on a regular daily basis. They like routine, they expect routine. Mine is an extremely affectionate dog and much to my delight have found that my piano playing relaxes her (my piano playing is crap, but it works). She has been a joy, is wonderful with people and dogs but I did put the work in when she was a puppy. Socialising, puppy obedience, new experiences on a daily basis. Genetics have played a part in her good nature, I’m sure and I can’t take all the credit. You sound like you have given it considerable thought and are prepared to put the work in - go for it, imo.🙂
 
Just to add, mine has a very high prey drive. I’ve previously owned lurchers - she is a highly athletic, obese Lurcher with big ears who is lethal if she catches a furry. Also my house and garden are still intact.😀 I don’t regret tipping my toes into a small part of the Malinois pond. They’re different but an enjoyable challenge.
 
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Tiddlypom said:
I’m presuming that a police dog fosterer is encouraged to get their charges used to small furries without being lethal to them?

It would be bad form to chomp up any cats in the vicinity whilst upholding the peace.
Click to expand...

Indeed. The advantage of a well trained Malinois is they will respond to a very loud, very fierce, ‘leave it’ unlike my previous beloved lurchers.😀
 
my friend did this. She had the dog GSD for around a year till it went back. He was from a working strain, he was very hard work and very full on. She took him to the police training courses and was told what to do and how to train him at each stage. She put in a lot of work and training and was there for the dog all the time. She learnt a lot from the police training. She was very upset when he had to go back but very proud at his passing out parade. I think she cursed her decision, was in tears as he was so difficult but she learnt so much from it and said if the dog had failed the police training she would have him back in an instant.
It seemed to have been having the worst puppy from the most active working strain and having it for the first year of it's life. I think you have to be very committed and possibly regard it as an experience you will learn a lot from. Due to her circumstances she was at home full time so I think it is a case of basically dedicating a year of your life to this project. She was a police office albeit not a dog handler and she had a lot of support from the force.

It did have it's benefits however. Once he went back she took on a rescue GSD who had problems and he has benefitted from all her training. She then met my GSD puppy who was a nightmare and very similar to the police one she had. She taught both of us a lot.
 
If you like dogs that happily launch themselves out of third storey windows, like swinging from fluoroescent strip lights, chew tyres for fun and generally need to have something in their mouths at all times, it'll be right up your street ;)
In all seriousness, there are also lots of lines to consider with Malis...German, Belgian, Dutch, all with their own pros and cons and then there are the bin end dogs that are very drivey but have awful nerves because people started breeding them with no knowledge whatsoever, based purely on some YouTube videos of 'hardest/tactical dogs' or they watched a cool movie called Max or that one with Keanu Reeves. So choose carefully if you get one of your own.

What I would say is that a busy mind and a busy dog isn't necessarily a good combo. I'm a high energy person and my older dog is also very high energy and we drove each other loopy. My younger dog hasn't been with me very long but is a lot fizzier than he was with his previous owner, I must have the canine equivalent of an electric bum. Hit me up for all your drive-building needs 😂

So if you do get one, it needs to learn how to learn and to learn how to relax.
I wouldn't have one myself, but my GSD is from mostly Belgian lines and everyone tells me he is a Mali in a GSD coat lol.
Nothing like any dog I've ever owned before.
 
I have a rustic primitive livestock guardian breed. She is a military working lines Sarplaninac rescue pup that came to me at 4months from Serbia. She has ultra high work drive, thru the roof infact, and it has been the most challenging 2.5 years of my life. I previously had Swiss White Shepherd and another livestock guardian breeds.

My hands were like minced beef for most of the first 18 months and I had bruises from teeth, thru heavy layers that i never thought teeth could get..frustration and over threshold redirection, not aggression.

She learnt to switch the oven on,on the first eve and to flush the loo on day 2. She has super spidey powers and suction pads where her paws should be and the most active intelligent mind I have ever seen.

I was grieving losing Connie when I took her and have to say it was the most amazing thing I ever did. She has made me the handler I used to look up to and only ever dreamt I could be. I learn everyday with her and despite having been turned away from numerous trainers before we even started, even some with GSD and malinois. We compete Scentwork UK and do tracking and trailing. I wanted to do mondioring with her, but am reluctant to put her into a situation due to being a livestock guardian and incredibly bonded to me.. She is a self thinking intuitive and independent dog, I would worry about a random confrontational situation going wrong if trained in man work,so sadly giving that a miss. She is like a malinois on steroids/with nitrous injectors and I wouldn't have her any other way.
If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be teaching calming techniques as early as you can. I use middle work to get any situation back to my control and she feels most secure with this as we have eachothers backs. Send aways to her mat have been invaluable as has a very solid rest command.There is a whole lot more to her story but I am incredibly lucky to have her and to be able to work her. If you do this, either for police or take one on yourself, make sure you have about 50-75 % more time than you think you might need. I would do it all again in a heart beat and hope you get to experience this as well. Don't underestimate a gsd..they are phenomenal in their own right,tho mals seem to be more the go to now,sadly for health reasons. Everybody is different and it's parents and line will affect who it is,as will its early life.

Looking forward to following your adventures
 
@CorvusCorax There is absolutely no reason an lgd breed couldn't do mondio tho? If you think about what they are bred to do, they are perfect for it.. not all of them are bred for bulk and this is commonly to do with people breeding for what people want..fluffy bear like, massive,bulky, agressive(££££) can apply that to any breed and you see the differences start to be presumed normal..just like show v working.) A primitive, rustic unmessed with, true to type LGD is incredibly agile and speedy! Many of the military dogs in the home countries of these varying breeds are used, some sharper /harder than others so would be ideal /fit for purpose. I can't answer for the UK but would be very surprised if there were none,tho there are, fortunately, minimal amounts over here compared to other breeds, mainly I think as most are not yet kc recognised.. and not a great choice for most non working homes(totally depends on dog tho obvs).
Mine is very fast and agile so palisade are no issue and the flee attack? Well let's just say having been on the recieving end in play when we were practicing send aways and recall..I am grateful they aren't all built like tanks🤣 she has taken me out on several occasions side on..like a steam train!and can also land on my head when i havent even seen it coming!(she has a huge sense of humour!)this was taken when she was just under a year and she is still filling out..but will always be a lean mean zoomie machine😂😂😂. I am so very tempted, but going with my gut.she loves nice people once correctly introduced, but is very strong minded if she thinks we are under threat, or surprised.I love her too much to take the chance..20191117_235925.jpg
 
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I'd just not heard of any, which is why I asked! I didn't consider they might be mostly hair 😂
I don't actually agree that what is described as a 'primitive' type, is perfect for sport like that but I am sure we can agree to disagree :)
I'm sure you are doing the right thing/following your gut though and am glad she enjoys her nosework!
 
That depends on how we both understand my use of the word primitive! I know what i mean! I would prefer to use a more primitive dog/breed, than one that has been bred as big and scary, beefy and agressive etc to line someone's pockets..which sadly with the Sarplaninac ,Caucasians,even tibetan mastif etc has..even down to some of the colours being bred out for the trendy iron/wolf grey. Essentially I think it is lines, breeding and training as much as it is the individual dog.
I hope so too as you could argue it both ways, is it better to have a trained self thinking weapon, than a loaded self thinking weapon(please excuse the use of the word weapon here) at least you would have an element of control calling a trained release ? She's still young and yes..nobody is as glad as me that she loves her nosework so much! Handler is in the dog house tho and needs to give herself a shake before the next trial after an epic idiot moment.but that's another trauma altogether.poor dog!🤦🏼‍♀️
 
Release should be taught to all pups from a young age anyway, ball, tug, sleeve, whatever, out means out unless you're training a tactical dog :p
I don't think all dogs/breeds/types are cut out for certain sports (which I prefer to perceive as breed selection tools where one competes against a schedule), and this is based on my own experiences, it's *purely* a personal opinion which requires a very long and boring explaination covering everything from the way I hear a dog bark, to the health and safety of decoys, who largely perform their roles voluntarily and usually have day jobs to go do. Like I say, it's just my own opinion and I appreciate that I may look at things differently than others :)
 
Another bad job of explaining myself again..(I confuse myself regularly so only fair I confuse everyone else!🙃) I genuinely think we are on the same page & do agree, many breeds I wouldn't use/not suited.. but many breeds also that I would think long and hard..and same within that breed, some dogs just aren't right for it for many reasons. I think my least confusing way forward here is comparing seeing owners at flyball with dogs who just shouldn't even be there on many levels, even tho they are fast, high drive and love their ball..emotionally they are off their fluffs and doing some serious harm chemically from all the stress.(dont mean brussel spout type of stress chemicals either) it's very sad to hear/see. I also wish no harm to any helpers. We struggled massively with bite inhibition for what seemed like an eternity.non of the usuals seemed to work and I think most of it was down to the time she did or didn't spend in the litter environment, with her dam. She is incredibly gentle most of the time now, toothless frail gerbil.rather than shark, and her out is 99percent solid..resource guarding has lowered,but is fully monitored for safety. I can do pretty much anything with her taking food out,putting my hand in, rescuing things that shouldn't have been taken from the vice..handling /removing her feed..no one else can and that i think goes for most her handling..my main worry is if we did do man work, if anything happened to me, I am unsure of how safe she would feel.(emergency services or new handler,even before competing) this scares me a lot.anyway.thread well.and trully hijacked, but I hope the op got something vaguely useful from my wafflings..CorvusCorax I shall be stalking you now as it's nice to hear someone who thinks a lot deeper than most trainers I have crossed paths with(or rds to avoid!😂)
 
Anyone interested in a Malinois should look up A Purtee Pack on Facebook, she does amazing things with her Mali, just a year old. She's also got a beautiful blue merle collie. Fantastic trainer, I love seeing her videos, she's very inspiring.
 
I dont think I'd be keen to do it. OH is ex job and despite us having GSDs (both parents titled in IPO) I dont feel confident we'd be able to cope with that level of drive/ability.

Now, guide dogs...thats something we'd like to do :)
 
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