Malinois/working line GSD…now I get it!😱

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BBP

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I went along to a workshop given by Kamal Fernandez on high arousal dogs. So good.

One of the dogs that came along…wow. I have heard so much about Malinois but never met one that wasn’t already fully trained so I have never experienced the intensity of a young Maligator. Holy Moses. That is a whole lot of dog. Never again will I think my collie is too much for me or that i can’t cope. He is an angel by comparison.

If you can picture a cross between a flakka addict on caffeine and a heat seeking sidewinder missile, with zero quit and absolute obsession, you just about have it.

Based on my experience yesterday, there is zero chance that this kind of dog will take over from XLBs as the dog of choice, as you may as well live with a tornado with teeth. It might not savage you, but there is a good chance you will die from stress/exhaustion.

This dog was actually a young working line GSD rather than a Mal, but she epitomised everything that is said about the Mals. Apparently she is quite an extreme version, and the opposite of her mother, but I have decided on that basis that there is absolutely no chance I could survive the first few years of working line GSD/Malinois ownership. I shall stick to admiring them from a distance.

It was probably one of the most beautiful dogs I have ever seen though.
 
Hackback

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We had a Mali x GSD, both parents working security dogs. We didn't do our research properly and Malis weren't so well known then. We thought they were a Belgian equivalent of a GSD and they guy we bought him from said they'd started to introduce Malis into the breeding because they didn't have the hip problems that GSDs do.

He was a lovely dog with his family but very high drive, lived to chase (toes were the early warning signs) and needed a lot of exercise, and I would never ever have trusted him with a child or a smaller animal. In fact even at puppy training classes they made me sit in a corner away from the other dogs.

A woman at a subsequent puppy training class I attended with another dog years later had a Mali and it had to be kept muzzled because it would turn on her and attack when it got over stimulated. She must have loved it though because she got another one!

Jonny Devaney has some funny reels involving Malis https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555007275583
 
Clodagh

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My husband has a vague yearning for one. I suspect it would be an awful shock after a lab.
There’s that video on fb with the puppy mal hanging off the man’s overalls and the puppy lab sitting at his feet wagging.
They are beautiful dogs.
 
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I’m sure if they can unlock the key to this one it will be a fantastic dog, but as they said at the workshop, the first couple of years are likely to just be about survival. She was 100% in arousal rather than drive, the tug toy was all consuming, absolutely her drug of choice, she was oblivious to the human at the other end of it, there was no connecting to her brain. The best they got was about a 2 second release, she was absolutely blowing a gasket right from the second she left the van (or before that!). The handler was apparently a very experienced breeder but said this one was another level and like nothing they had experienced before. She was just unreal.
 
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there was a program on the earth channel a while back about what may have been the dog facility in SA in this article or one very similar. They had several breeds all for different uses from spaniels, big hunting type hounds and malis. The different dogs used their different skills in sniffing, tracking and apprehending.
The malis were beyond belief. Immaculately trained, everything at 100 mph and they caught the poachers. The only thing better than watching one mali latch onto and detain the poacher was 2 malis both at the same time. 🤣

love your dog scats.



www.dailymail.co.uk

Meet Killer, South Africa’s most successful poacher-catching dog

Killer, the six-year-old Belgian Malinois is dropped into each search area in the Kruger National Park by helicopter and tracks down hunters who are looking to kill rhinos for their horns.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
 
SkylarkAscending

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paddy555 said:
there was a program on the earth channel a while back about what may have been the dog facility in SA in this article or one very similar. They had several breeds all for different uses from spaniels, big hunting type hounds and malis. The different dogs used their different skills in sniffing, tracking and apprehending.
The malis were beyond belief. Immaculately trained, everything at 100 mph and they caught the poachers. The only thing better than watching one mali latch onto and detain the poacher was 2 malis both at the same time. 🤣

love your dog scats.



www.dailymail.co.uk

Meet Killer, South Africa’s most successful poacher-catching dog

Killer, the six-year-old Belgian Malinois is dropped into each search area in the Kruger National Park by helicopter and tracks down hunters who are looking to kill rhinos for their horns.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
Click to expand...

Very obviously nothing to do with you Paddy so I apologise for quoting your post in that asoect, but dear heaven what a ridiculous name for the poor dog 🤦‍♀️
 
Moobli

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And I think this could well be why I’m seeing more and more working line GSDs in breed rescue. Lots of new owners don’t realise the working lines are very different (as a whole) to the show and pet type lines. Many want a “straight back” so go for working lines not realising that their energy levels, drive and instinct are so much stronger than dogs bred for the show ring. Working bred Malinois are being dumped left right and centre too.
Depressing!
 
MurphysMinder

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Moobli said:
And I think this could well be why I’m seeing more and more working line GSDs in breed rescue. Lots of new owners don’t realise the working lines are very different (as a whole) to the show and pet type lines. Many want a “straight back” so go for working lines not realising that their energy levels, drive and instinct are so much stronger than dogs bred for the show ring. Working bred Malinois are being dumped left right and centre too.
Depressing!
Click to expand...

I cringe when people proudly post pictures of their new pup which is clearly working line, particularly when they say it is their first GSD.
As you say so many are appearing on rescue sites, so obviously working lines and usually with issues even at a young age, it is so sad.
 
MurphysMinder

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Clodagh said:
I was thinking that, sadly people think a working dog is abused. You see it with labs and spaniels as well, so it’s not even necessarily the security aspect.
Click to expand...
When I was home checking for a GSD rescue they wouldn't consider a dog being in a kennel, even if it was only for a couple of hours. I did point out how ridiculous it was, and how hypocritical it made me as at that time my dogs were in a kennel while I was at work . If I did a check where a kennel was maybe going to be used occasionally I told the prospective owners not to mention it to the rescue !
 
Titchy Pony

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paddy555 said:
there was a program on the earth channel a while back about what may have been the dog facility in SA in this article or one very similar. They had several breeds all for different uses from spaniels, big hunting type hounds and malis. The different dogs used their different skills in sniffing, tracking and apprehending.
The malis were beyond belief. Immaculately trained, everything at 100 mph and they caught the poachers. The only thing better than watching one mali latch onto and detain the poacher was 2 malis both at the same time. 🤣

love your dog scats.



www.dailymail.co.uk

Meet Killer, South Africa’s most successful poacher-catching dog

Killer, the six-year-old Belgian Malinois is dropped into each search area in the Kruger National Park by helicopter and tracks down hunters who are looking to kill rhinos for their horns.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
Click to expand...
I met my first malis in SA and Namibia. One was a poacher tracking dog and the others were scat detection dogs. I was so impressed by their intelligence but amazingly also by their tolerance to random strangers. Despite knowing they were high energy dogs, I was lulled into a false sense of security. Luckily for me, I only got half a mali and he came with an off switch! We still had (and still have) some challenging moments, but with help I've got better at reading, predicting and avoiding/managing them.
While I was struggling I went to a trainer that also organised supervised group walks and there was a full mali there. I mentioned to the owner that mine would be out for the count after a two hour walk and lots of social interaction. She said hers would sleep for twenty minutes in the car and then want to go again! (I really felt for her as I gather she wanted an easier type of dog, but her OH wanted a mali, so they got a mali and then she was lumbered with all the care and exercise - OH spent the group walks in the car with his newspaper).
 
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CorvusCorax said:
My WL GSD is 13 and has started a new hobby of chewing metal bowls. Just in case anyone things that they all end up 'settling down' 🙃
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Haha I had a lovely Gsd, who loved if not chewing giant tree branches to sawdust, had a penchant for chewing up galvanised milk buckets.

It was amazing to see how the buckets were reshaped.
 
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I see a few Malis, GSDs and Mali/GSD crosses mantrailing and they are awesome dogs but most are serious dogs and it really made me realise the difference between the working line GSDs and the few showline / pet dogs I’ve seen over the years. These dogs definitely need an owner who knows what they are doing!
 
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