Baby-sitting a Malinois

[Blaze]

I'm not quite sure what possessed us to agree to babysit a neighbour's young Malinois called Rex (original name isn't it ...) for 10 days. We're used to Border Collies and Aussie Shepherds, and they're chalk and cheese.
He's just under 2 years old, has a very sweet nature, and has had some training classes. His owner roars at him because he has to be told several times before he obeys. He can also open doors ....
And ...... as Lori says, they never stop moving. Fortunately at this hour, he seems to have calmed down and we're separating the dogs at night.

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[Lori]

Oh what a lovely dog. I think you need a lot of terrain to have a Malinois. I love dogs.

[Blaze]

Yes, he's gorgeous and will give me a lot of exercise (OH has a huge problem with his knee so can't walk far). We've got plenty of space here to let him run around - he's very demanding, wants a ball thrown all the time. No problem with warming him up beforehand, he's already done that himself !
Only thing I'm not keen on is the choke chain but that's the way he's been trained. A yank on the chain along his back, not upwards à la Barbara Woodhouse. I'm hoping it won't be necessary, he's quite responsive to the voice. Because we've only got him for 10 days, I don't want to do anything which might annoy his owner when he gets him back !! We'll certainly work on control by voice and signs though we've found it useful for dogs that go deaf with age

[Lori]

If you haven't seen the TV program "Person of Interest" give it a look-see. There is an absolutely gorgeous Malinois in the cast.

[Blaze]

I've been reading up a bit about Malinois and as I suspected, they need firm discipline or they become very difficult to control. We've always trained our collies from very young but then they're probably a lot easier than a Malinois !
I've just looked at the Person of Interest dog - he's gorgeous.

[Pathca]

Mali’s are being used as police dogs a lot in the UK nowadays

[Loup-garou]

I'm not quite sure what possessed us to agree to babysit a neighbour's young Malinois called Rex (original name isn't it ...) for 10 days.

Is it because you're a kind, helpful, neighbourly dog lover? Just a thought.

[Blaze]

Mali’s are being used as police dogs a lot in the UK nowadays

They haven't been messed with by organisations like the Kennel Club so don't have the hip dysplasia, spinal and digestive problems that German Shepherds have. They're also extremely intelligent, very trainable but need to start early. They're used here by the police, customs, search and rescue, security guards etc. They're very in demand but not an easy "pet" as they are very demanding, as we're discovering !

We separated them last night and it worked very well. Rex didn't make a sound all night though I found my old flip flops had been moved, but not chewed (I wouldn't have minded if they had been).
If we are to leave them together, he has to learn to leave Sweep alone, she's going to get fed up with with his constant sniffing and mounting. If we have to go out, they will have to be separated, but if we can watch them, we hope he'll learn. It's very early days ...
@Loup-garou Possibly ! But perhaps I didn't think enough about how easy or difficult it might be. He's a young energetic dog and Sweep is 14 and has elbow dysplasia and we're very afraid of her getting hurt. They do get on (we wouldn't have taken him otherwise) but we need to separate them if we go out and when we can't keep an eye on them. That said, Sweep can be quite coquettish - her head and tail go up and she struts around in front of him

[Loup-garou]

Don't they say "Owners are like their dogs"?

[Blaze]

Don't they say "Owners are like their dogs"?

Perhaps in the way she likes younger men ....