This malinois is defective lol

[Linz2491]

This boy came from the shelter with his brother into our rescue. Purebred malinois about 6-7 months old.
They are the calmest malinois I've ever seen and even pretty calm for puppies!
Brother (below pic) is adopted and I am highly tempted to keep this sweet guy. (I'm experienced and have 8 acres)
But I'm totally wondering with the breed specific temperament is going to show lol. He ran from my ferret! He won't even chase a ball. I'm not complaining too much as at this point in my life, I can't do a high high drive dog. I had a purebred adult last year and she was non stop. Typical for the breed. These guys seem to be couch potatoes!

 

[mike taylor]

Beautiful dogs . I would keep them . But I'm a sucker . I have a soft spot for animals in need .

 

[Tom]

You've got Belgian lines there. They get bigger and they don't have the "sporty" temperament of most Mals. My first two were like that.

Prey is not their primary drive. They mature very slowly and "fight" is their primary drive, but it takes a long time to surface. It is VERY important that you socialize them a lot and correctly to avoid having a very dangerous dog when they finally begin to mentally mature in another 12-18 months. Do not be fooled by their calm, easy going, and sometimes timid current demeanor. It will change.

Do not let people approach them. Let them approach people for a treat or a pet.

This breed is bred to work. They are generally not suitable as pets, and attempts to make them pets usually end badly. Sometimes it can work, but it takes a lot of training time and training ability/experience. Even thought they seem nice right now, realize what you have there is not a normal family pet.

 

[Linz2491]

Thank you Tom for your input and expertise. I don't know much about the different lines. I did shutZhund with my German Shepherd years Ago but I know they are not comparable as far as the temperment. I am very aware of what a malinois is and have been very specific on who the brother was adopted to as well as the one our rescue had last year. I am not sure I will keep, but if I do, he will be worked. He will be well socialized with other animals and people as I run a rescue and have dogs in and out. He is also going to be fixed ASAP which will help with any hormonal aggression.But again, not sure, If a working home comes up, I will probably let him go.
However, he won't even chase a ball, do you think he would even make it in a working home?

I also do consider myself a very confident and competent dog person and deal with very large dogs of all temperaments daily. The one last year was the typical never stopping mal, one that I would love and could handle personally, but with my current lifestyle and animals, she would not work. (My cats and small dogs want to live!)

 

[Tom]

Sounds to me like you are just the right sort of person to handle this sort of thing. Sounds like you have the right mindset and background.

My first Mal was named Bullet. I tested the litter at 7 months and he did not test all that great, but he was the best of the bunch and his daddy was the best working dog I had ever seen. I had all these plans for what I was going to do with my puppy and how I was going to always work him in drive. He wouldn't chase a ball. He would take a tug toy or play tug with me. I thought I could use food drive to keep the early training positive… Nope. No food drive either. He'd skip about every fourth meal even when I'd mix in canned food or table scraps. I was ready to just give him away because he wasn't suiting my purposes for getting a dog. I didn't want to just compete, I wanted to win. The only strength he had was when a decoy got in front of me and him he would come un-glued trying to get the bad guy. No interest in the flirt pole as a puppy, but he was all over it if the rag or toy if it was in the decoys hands. We tried to work him in prey and he just was not interested. But if the decoy would stop running around and show him a threat he'd come alive with fire in his eyes. Where most puppies would cower under that sort of civil pressure, he thrived.

We built all of his training on that fight drive. I literally had to teach him that I wanted him to chase a ball and play tug-o-war with me. It took about a year and a half to get him to barely show some interest in chasing a ball because I wanted him to. His desire to make me happy and his fight drive were the only two training tools I had with this dog. I was ready to give him away as my ignorant, inexperienced mind could not see how this was possibly going to work out for my purposes. My mentor and other club members kept asking me, "Do you like Porter?" (Bullet's dad) And I kept answering, "Yes." They would follow up with: "Well Porter was the same way as a puppy…" I did not really believe them at the time.

At two years old we entered him in his first competition. I argued that he was nowhere near ready. My mentor insisted. We decimated the field. It wasn't even close. The next season he won every trial we entered him in and then he won Nationals against all odds and against a few "ringers" that were held back so that they could win a national title before advancing. It was the biggest upset our sport had ever seen. Bullet's littermate brother, who came to me at one year old, also won his class at nationals that year. And Daddy, Porter, won the 3s.

Bullet competed 21 times in his career. He got 1st place 19 times, and the two times he got second were labeled as ridiculous cheating on the part of the judges by my competitors. He won Nationals every time we entered including winning the 3s in back to back years, a feat which has still never been repeated in the almost 10 years since we did it.

In addition to his protection dog career, he concurrently worked in hundreds of movies, TV shows and commercials. I guarantee you've seen him at some point or other.

In additional to all of that, he was my steady companion. We travelled all over the world together and he slept beside my bed, wherever that was, every day of his life.

He was, and still is, the best dog that ever lived. He weighed about 90 pounds and lived for 13 and a half years.

I now work his son, Seven, and he is following in his father's legendary foot steps. You probably seen him on TV too.