Baby-sitting a Malinois

[Lori]

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.

You have collies? We lost our collie in 2014. He was 14 and my heart is still broken. We got him when he was 8 weeks old. He came from this breed line (in France):

http://mille.vignes.pagesperso-orange.f ... tation.htm

They don't seem to breed them anymore or we would have another. The beauty and personality of the lineage was like none I've ever seen. Perfection.

Last I looked at Malinois dogs, the price tag was shocking.

[Blaze]

@Lori We've always had Border Collies, I fell in love with them years ago when working on a sheep farm.
Yours was a Rough-haired "Lassie" Collie - beautiful, but all that hair ..... ! That said, we've never had dogs shed hair like the Aussie Shepherds - tumbleweed blowing everywhere on the tiled floors !! Lassie collies aren't seen nearly as much these days, sadly.

I've always been surprised at what people will pay for a dog. Aussies are one of the most popular dogs in France, if not the most popular at the moment and I've heard that their price tag is pretty horrendous. Ours were the result of a friend's 2 Aussies getting together, so we paid very little. We've never gone to a breeder, our collies were all rescues.

[Lori]

Yes, if we ever did get another dog, we would search the rescues first.

We were just so so attached to our collie. I've had dogs all my life, but he was like no other. It was as if he could read our minds and always did exactly what we wanted and showed us nothing but love and devotion.

As we are in hot Provence, we would actually shave him when we had hot Summers. I was nervous about doing this as I feared his gorgeous fur would not grow back to its former glory. It was just so hot, I was worried he could die from heat stroke. The fur did grow back. He was always like a little puppy each time his fur was trimmed. It was funny.

I saw that police forces were paying in the vicinity of $25,000 for a Malinois.

[Lori]

We had a neighbor friend who had an Australian Shepherd. He was all white and so sweet, but yes, his fur flew everywhere. Heaven forbid you actually gave him a hug or petted him for any length of time. You'd be covered in white fur.

[Blaze]

As we are in hot Provence, we would actually shave him when we had hot Summers

We shaved the tummies of our BCs when it was really hot in summer in Maine et Loire, and they stayed cool on the tiles.
I asked our vet recently about shaving our Aussies but he said the fur acted as an insulation from the heat but that shaving the tum was fine. That said, it isn't nearly as hot up here in the frozen north !

[Chappers51]

I always kept Freddy - my OES- shaved as he was born and lived here. The previous 2 were left long for 6 months of the year but given a « panda cut » for the other 6 months. Gollum and Dooley both enjoyed being groomed but Freddy and now Raffi less happy.

[Lori]

I always kept Freddy - my OES- shaved as he was born and lived here. The previous 2 were left long for 6 months of the year but given a « panda cut » for the other 6 months. Gollum and Dooley both enjoyed being groomed but Freddy and now Raffi less happy.

What a cute photo. Does he/she get into the pool? Our collie, surprisingly would not go near the pool.

[Blaze]

I always kept Freddy - my OES- shaved

We knew someone not far from us where we lived before who always shaved their OES for the summer months. They said it was also good for their eyes to keep the hair away. Our local miller had a Newfie that they summer-shaved and they always left a pompom on the end of his tail !
@Lori Our border collies loved the water but not the Aussies ! The most they would do would be to have a little swim in a rock pool, but nothing more.

[Lori]

Our vet told us to expect our collie to either (1) Hide after getting shaved or (2) Act like a puppy, playing and running constantly enjoying his new found freedom. Luckily for us, he chose (2).

Groomer also left a poof on the end of his tail and a small lion's main around his neck. It was really cute.

We tried multiple times to get him to go in the pool. Even tried lifting him into it. He did not take kindly to that.

[MAD87]

Dogs are funny and real individuals! Our last dog (English Setter) hated water but wet farmyard muck was heaven! His predecessor (Standard Yorkie) loved water. Both strays we took in.