any Local belgian Malinois puppies anyone knows of?

[Jer]

National Mill Dog Rescue East of Colorado Springs. They specialize in rescuing dogs from puppy mills so they have mostly pure breed dogs from puppies to adults that need adopted. I highly recommend you at least look at their website to see what they have available (a visit in person would be ideal) before you buy another dog. Unless you have a very specific reason (no, a Disney movie doesn't count) for needing a specific blood line of a specific breed I'm 100% confident you will find a fantastic pet to adopt and when you rescue a dog it's far more rewarding every day you're together. I speak from first hand experience and I will never buy another dog as long as I live.

[Great-Kazoo]

National Mill Dog Rescue East of Colorado Springs. They specialize in rescuing dogs from puppy mills so they have mostly pure breed dogs from puppies to adults that need adopted. I highly recommend you at least look at their website to see what they have available (a visit in person would be ideal) before you buy another dog. Unless you have a very specific reason (no, a Disney movie doesn't count) for needing a specific blood line of a specific breed I'm 100% confident you will find a fantastic pet to adopt and when you rescue a dog it's far more rewarding every day you're together. I speak from first hand experience and I will never buy another dog as long as I live.

[Erni]

+1 to everything said here. Looked at one and also a husky for a few days and decided not to go there, as they are high maintenance and the 4 foot fence we have would not be good enough. Went with a GSD. If you want a pet go with American lines on GSD, if you want a work dog get a Deutschland GSD. Even then the dog was highly driven and started challenging me for alpha until we clipped him.
I can highly recommend the breeder we got him from. I constantly get comments on how he is the best behaving GSD anyone has met.

[asmo]

I have a general question about working/sporting dogs I've always wanted to ask. Does having a lot of land make up for giving them something to do all the time? For example, I wouldn't feel as bad for the days I don't get to walk my dog if we lived on 50+ acres. How much does space to roam matter for a dog like this?

For some dogs this is okay, as they will roam and work themselves while they explore (Collies, Labs, etc) -- but that is not the mentality of a Malinois. A Malinois *NEEDS TO BE WORKED*, it has an innate drive to want to work and do something useful for its master. They have been breed specifically for this purpose. If you don't give it something to do, ALL THE TIME, it will find something to do - and 99.9% of the time you won't like what it chose to do.

Imagine a 5-8 year old, on meth/speed, who needs you to constantly keep him entertained. That is about 1/10th of what its like to have a Malinois. They are incredible, loving, caring, wonderful dogs -- but they are bred to work, hard.

I have worked with Malinois (and GSDs) in both a working and a sporting capacity (and I have GSD at home now). I have been in bite suits, and have been on the other end trying to work the dog for 12+ hours a day (it is effing hard).

[MED]

If you want a [pet] dog with high probability of health issues go with American lines on GSD

Fixed: The American bloodlines for GSDs are truly terrible with the exception of those imported in the last 10 or so years to repair the breeding process here in the USA; don't touch them unless they trace back to European animals in the last 10-15 years as part of the rebuilding process with several generations of OFA certifications in the good and preferably excellent ratings. Also, if the animals don't have some measure of Schutzhund training and aptitude, stay away from them; it's absolutely not worth it with this type of dog.

It will be a family member pup and not a work dog, so super high-speed tactical work dog breeders are not important to me, on top of the fact that i am not a wealthy man and cant afford the price tag that goes with the primary breeders dogs.

My thought on this is pay a little more upfront or end up paying a lot more in medical costs later. I've paid next to nothing in medical costs and my GSD is 10.5 years old...you would never guess her age.

[MED]

For some dogs this is okay, as they will roam and work themselves while they explore (Collies, Labs, etc) -- but that is not the mentality of a Malinois. A Malinois *NEEDS TO BE WORKED*, it has an innate drive to want to work and do something useful for its master. They have been breed specifically for this purpose. If you don't give it something to do, ALL THE TIME, it will find something to do - and 99.9% of the time you won't like what it chose to do.

Imagine a 5-8 year old, on meth/speed, who needs you to constantly keep him entertained. That is about 1/10th of what its like to have a Malinois. They are incredible, loving, caring, wonderful dogs -- but they are bred to work, hard.

I have worked with Malinois (and GSDs) in both a working and a sporting capacity (and I have GSD at home now). I have been in bite suits, and have been on the other end trying to work the dog for 12+ hours a day (it is effing hard).

Sounds like you have a lot of good info. and more experience then me. What I found to be the biggest difference with GSDs when I starting working with them is their absolute need for a handler as well as their possessiveness of their handler. I had two GSDs in the house before the divorce and they coexisted because my wife was the handler of one and I was of the other. My GSD is an interesting dog; watching her with the kids growing up was rather funny at times because she herds and she corrects. I haven't worked with the Malinois; getting a GSD trained gives me about all I can handle with the time I have.


Here is my pup hanging out with my ex's Husky.
Attachment 59243

[Erni]

Yes MED my pup came from a line of OFA certified dogs, and came with a replacement guarantee. (I know sounds bad...) At 2 year check up the vet said his hips looked great.
It is an important factor as someone we know was warned their 3-4 yo will need both hips done.
As with any breed look at their faults and make sure to guard against them. No breed is without faults.

[joeyshoe]

we have a belgian malinois and he has been the most amazing dog. we got him when he was about a year old and he seemed insecure and skittish. i am not a dog trainer but i've worked with him some and he is just a joy to have now. he is very gentle with my five children and our chickens. he is very playful and has a ton of energy but he can also turn it down and chill. from what i've seen, that isn't normal, but that's what my mali is like. he is super smart and teachable. he gets super affectionate when i come home from work. if you have any questions about the breed, feel free to message me and i'll do my best to answer them.

we have been thinking about breeding him since we love the breed so much now, but we're not sure we want to deal with all the haters.

[Tremek]

How do you guys feel Rottweilers rank in this discussion? We're thinking about one eventually but I would be interested to hear thoughts about how mellow they are compared to a german shepherd.

[Doc45]

Rotties are awesome dogs but once again you need to deal with a high quality breeder or go with Rottie Rescue for a pooch needing a new home.

They are very head strong but very loving, sweet and gentle dogs when combined with a good owner/environment. I had one pure bred years ago when I lived in Arizona and he was a most incredible dog, protective of the home and family but once he knew someone was ok he'd try his best to crawl into their lap-just over 100 lbs of a snuggle bear.

My current dog is a Rottie/Lab mix (Ziva, rescue from Dumb Friends League 4 years ago) and she is also a great dog with a cool mix of their two personalities with the exception of being small dog aggressive (except for puppies and my son and d-i-l's puggle).



She also enjoys curling up on the furniture, 65 lbs of love.