Moses Mommy
 

Thoght my puppy was a Mastiff looked at papers he is a Belgian Malinois. I am doing as suggested on sites when he barks I should quietly say sshhh otherwise yelling creates opposite affect. I had no idea that these dogs are so high strung and need allot of work. I am keeping him of course. I need training techniques, he is so smart and learns command easily. He is also bi-lingual as we are Jewish and his adopted brother understands same. If anyone has suggestion I realize we are going cycling and lots of swimming in summer but now it is cold and at close to 4 months old he is strong thank you in advance:fingerscr

The shhh seems good. Turning your back on the dog (meaning breaking eye contact and ignoring this bad behaviour) at the same time as the Shhh might also be something to try.

Then the second the dog is quiet, turn back toward the dog and say "good dog" while petting it.

The general thinking is to never reward a "bad" behaviour and to immediately reward a good one.

Either way though, the turning your back on the dog (punishment) OR the saying "Good dog" with a petting (reward) must happen at the same time as the dog is exhibiting the good or bad behaviour. Any delay in doing either makes the dog unable to associate the action with the consequence.

It's disturbing that you can't tell, at 4 months of age, the difference between a Mastiff and a Malinois. It's disturbing that a so-called "breeder" would sell a pup of either breed to an inexperienced owner as both have challenges in their training, mainly to work with their built in desire to protect, but also with the Malinois a very, very, very energetic and high drive dog.

Please, I urge you, get into training classes. These breeds need a firm and knowledgable hand.

If your pup is only 4months old now, in February, then he will only be 8 months old in June. Most advise you will hear about running is not before 18 months or even 24. This is to allow the soft joints of puppy to join up and become solid before you stress them.

My breeder also cautionned against too much swimming on soft joints. LOL, just think, is it harder for you to run in the water? Harder for your dog too. The stresses on joints while swimming are different because swimming is not weight bearing but there is still stress; more like using a resistance band when you exercise.

Your breeder should be available to answer any questions you have, is this the case? Hopefully you were provided with guidelines on how to raise this energetic breed. Please consult with your breeder on the training issues, your plans to run and swim the dog. I find it hard to believe this breed would be sold into a pet home at all. I would expect the breeder to at least require the dog be involved in a sport like fly-ball (I know one who is) or Rally (I know another two who show up at our trials) or agility or competitive obedience. Schutshund (sp?) is an area where Malinois excel.

[QUOTE=Longblades;1053763]It's disturbing that you can't tell, at 4 months of age, the difference between a Mastiff and a Malinois. It's disturbing that a so-called "breeder" would sell a pup of either breed to an inexperienced owner as both have challenges in their training, mainly to work with their built in desire to protect, but also with the Malinois a very, very, very energetic and high drive dog. [/QUOTE]

Is he a mix at all? - the only reason I ask, is because same as Longblades, not sure how you could't have known he was not a mastiff?

My brother's mastiff was very well behaved and trained, yet she still had to go to go a trainer for a while . Maybe it would be a good idea to take your fur-kid to some training.

good
 

[COLOR="Cyan"][/COLOR] I am not on the computer regularily hence I do not respond all the time however, when I could I do. Moses is very smart and strong. We are taking classes and working towards a healthy relationship with people and other dogs. He is a good boy and I love him. In fact I had no computer for awhile there fore no response.:cloud9: