Canine Coach Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 I've seen Mals out herding. They are pretty handy too. They are more suited to a C course than the usual A course though. Very proud of my pups today. Took 12 month old Poodle, Daisy, & 6 month old Belgian Malinois, ZARA, to KCC Park State Dog Centre for the DOGS BIG DAY OUT. It was so popular this year, that traffic was blocked for 2KM down the road to the entrance. Several Hundred dogs of a very wide variety of breeds & a couple thousand people attended. DAISY & ZARA met most of those hundreds of dogs, all breeds, as well as kids & adults of all shapes & sizes My girls were so calm & friendly, taking everything in their stride . The highlight of the day for me was "ZARA", having her 1st Sheep Herding experience in the Herding Demo ring. I was told she did absolutely "everything she was supposed to do" & that she is ready to start weekly formal lessons. YIPEE !!!! I am so excited to begin a new venture into Herding competition. Poor Daisy the Poodle, she wanted soooo badly to get a turn in the sheep pen, but Poodles are not on the list of eligible breeds in OZ, so she did not get her chance (SIGH). Will be keeping them BOTH busy with Rally O. Conformation, Obedience etc next year. On the down side I finally got an air conditioner installed late afternoon yesterday. Let the girls out at 6AM & in the 3 hours it took me to get ready to take them out, they chewed through the insulation hose....That was quick.... I find Standard Poodles as well as my Malinois to be very demanding as youngsters but both are wonderful to train & live with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staranais Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Without sounding as an alarmist, I am a bit concerned at they way some breeders of working Malinois are seemingly selling to anyone and on a few occasions I have seen surplus Mal pups coming out of pet shops and have also seen and tested a couple I would call environmentally unstable with too much sharp aggression for an average pet home to effectively manage. I've got one of those. A wonderful working dog, heaps of drive, smart as a whip, and I adore her - but she is sharp sharp sharp. I have to constantly actively manage her whenever she is around members of the public, and would never trust her unsupervised with strangers or any children. In short she is WONDERFUL, but she is not a pet. I will likely get another malli when I retire this girl from active work, but will be so very careful where he or she comes from. They're all a little crazy, but some lines are definitely easier to live with than others - breeders (and owners) aren't always honest with you or with themselves - and even if you do your homework Mother Nature can still throw you a curve ball! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amax-1 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 (edited) Without sounding as an alarmist, I am a bit concerned at they way some breeders of working Malinois are seemingly selling to anyone and on a few occasions I have seen surplus Mal pups coming out of pet shops and have also seen and tested a couple I would call environmentally unstable with too much sharp aggression for an average pet home to effectively manage. I've got one of those. A wonderful working dog, heaps of drive, smart as a whip, and I adore her - but she is sharp sharp sharp. I have to constantly actively manage her whenever she is around members of the public, and would never trust her unsupervised with strangers or any children. In short she is WONDERFUL, but she is not a pet. I will likely get another malli when I retire this girl from active work, but will be so very careful where he or she comes from. They're all a little crazy, but some lines are definitely easier to live with than others - breeders (and owners) aren't always honest with you or with themselves - and even if you do your homework Mother Nature can still throw you a curve ball! What a pleasure it is for someone to be honest about their dog and being honest is the only way forward. Have you considered for your next to breed this girl on a male who's even on the dull side, well the dull side of a Mal is still a good driven dog, but one with great environmental stability to counter the sharpness in the progeny? To be honest myself I believe the majority of character/temperament flaws in working breeds in this country is largely attributed to breeders who probably shouldn't be selecting breeding pairs until they gain more knowledge of the dog before them that they intend to breed. I have had a few GSD's like the description your girl which I don't regret as having such dogs who made me a better trainer/handler where responsibility and precise management becomes second nature :) Edited January 6, 2014 by Amax-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staranais Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Hi there, no I will not breed my girl. As I said, I adore her, she has achieved almost everything I have asked of her so far, and she is highly successful at her job (certified wilderness SAR dog - with many call outs under her belt including one life likely saved). And to the casual observer, she looks like the perfect working dog. However she is not the perfect package, and I don't believe in breeding dogs in the hope that the progeny will be better than the parents. I don't think her breeder necessarily did anything wrong - like I said, Mother Nature sometimes throws a curve ball. But I wouldn't breed her, either. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Staranais I'm glad your back, you're just the person I want to talk too lol Can you email me on [email protected], i'm looking for SAR resources/material Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staranais Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amax-1 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hi there, no I will not breed my girl. As I said, I adore her, she has achieved almost everything I have asked of her so far, and she is highly successful at her job (certified wilderness SAR dog - with many call outs under her belt including one life likely saved). And to the casual observer, she looks like the perfect working dog. However she is not the perfect package, and I don't believe in breeding dogs in the hope that the progeny will be better than the parents. I don't think her breeder necessarily did anything wrong - like I said, Mother Nature sometimes throws a curve ball. But I wouldn't breed her, either. :) I think every dedicated breeding is done on hope given that we cannot engineer the genetic structure to order yet or avoid the curved balls. How does she go in SAR when finding the subject hyped up in drive?........most of the over sharp dogs I have used wanted to eat them at recovery or fire up on other searchers, albeit some were good trackers if you could keep the lid on reactive aggression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canine Coach Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 (edited) Zara is learning quickly! She is so smart that sometimes it takes my breath away how fast she grasps things. Loves water, always picking something & bringing it to me. Hoping to start her rally, Obedience careers late 2014. Edited February 8, 2014 by Canine Coach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canine Coach Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Zara at 7 months Still growing.......... Brilliantly intelligent! Much loved! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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