My female Malinois 'Sasha' is now 6 months old. She looks very much like Mr Frawley's female Mal actually a very striking resembelence. My Mal is my second dog that I have owned, I had a Malamute Timber wolf cross breed that I had for 9 years that was a rope around my neck as it was a very hard dog to upkeep and train and not very good around kids, which led to his demise as he went after my young daughter once to many times.

Sasha has come from this kennel here in eastern Ontario.

http://www.arek-malinois.com/

It is actually her Father is on the front page Farley Von Donnertal, he is a beautiful dog and her Mom is Brax Ot Vitosha both of these dogs come from a long lines of well titled european stock, so we have high hopes for Sasha.

We would love to try competitive obedience, tracking and possibly shutzhund.

Any way to figure out how big she will be? Her Mom is about 55 lbs and Dad closer to 75. At 6 mos Sasha is close to 45+ I'd say now. When could we see her close to full size?

This is my first female dog so bear with me with the silly question. When do female Mals go into heat for the first time usually?

Thanks in advance,

Geoff

My bitch weighs in at 67 and she is trim. One rib visible when not working and most ribs visible when working, running hard or playing. Her sire and dam are about the same as your girls, weight wise.
Jesea went into her first heat in Sept 06 and she was 11 months.
Have fun with your Maligator....

Yeah Sasha's 1/2 sister Eklypse http://www.arek-malinois.com/Breeding/New%20Folder/Eklypse-web.jpg is full grown almost 3 years old and is 49 lbs at 6 mos Sasha is as big now and huskier. We went and checked out a flyball team class that Eklypse competes in and Sasha was described as being chunky by the locals and she isn't no way chunky be any long stroke. As we can still feel her ribs etc.. Ha "Maligator" I'll tell that one to my wife she calls Sasha our Land Shark!

Don't worry about size as you have nothing to do with it anyway. Just keep her healthy and enjoy. What ever size you will have your hands full. My first Mal will be here next Sat. Can't wait.

I have Sasha's 1/2 brother, a 3 1/2 year old male out of Brax. I'm rather partial to Brax, as she spent a few months here trialing.

Draco is about 65#.

PM me if you'd like pics.

Yes Brax is wonderful animal, she was awesome around my kids the times we went to visit Rob and Maureen we are going down actually this weekend. We need to return some borrowed books and a puppy crate. Great people to work with I'll give Brax a pat for you! I think I've seen your dog Draco on youtube?

Geoff,

Malinois are typically easy to train, with the huge assumption that you know what you are doing. They learn very quickly, which means they can learn the incorrect things to do as quickly as they can learn the correct things to do. We currently have a female Mal b/c the previous owner was sold a Bill of Goods on how ‘easy’ Malinois are to train, and how much support she’d have from the breeder (none). Mals can be easy to train, but are often not so easy to live with or manage the way you would some other breeds in day-to-day life.

She sounds very toy motivated, therefore any available ball is hers. If she is anything like my female male, then this is the case. My dog plays ball with me and no other dogs present. If the situation is any different than this, she is kept in a down and/or occupied by me and does not participate otherwise. Your dog is still very young, there are many times where she is probably testing the waters to see what she can do (and get away with) to the other dogs.

De-fusing the situation is often the best alternative with a highly driven, potentially dominant dogs, especially if you’re not sure about how/when to administer a correction. For example, not bringing her toys into public areas for ‘free play’ is probably the best option until you can manage her better and/or control the environment better. Also, I wouldn’t let her ‘play’ with other dogs. A Malinois’ idea of playing, often isn’t much fun for the other participant. Because Mals are often much faster & more athletic than other dogs of their size, in addition to being very intense and very inclined to frustration aggression…this can lead to a disaster.

As a rule, don’t let your dog play with other dogs, especially dogs outside of their ‘pack’. She also needs to learn and understand that all good things come from you; food, toy, affection, etc….I’d stay away from using an e-collar to correct any of this stuff right now. In an aggressive confrontation, or a situation that has frustrated your dog, the e-collar correction can lead to the dog venting (biting) into the nearest animate object it thinks was the source of the pain. You can imagine how this would be bad.

Teach the obedience in a positive, motivational & consistent manner and in an environment that is relatively free of distraction. In situations where she’s fixated on another dog or dog’s ball, get her focus onto you…make sure she’s looking at you, pause…then reward. By the way you describe your dog, I’d probably use a ball or tug for this reward.

Yes sir John you hit it on the head,

 Quote: "John Haudenshield"

She sounds very toy motivated, therefore any available ball is hers. If she is anything like my female male, then this is the case. My dog plays ball with me and no other dogs present. If the situation is any different than this, she is kept in a down and/or occupied by me and does not participate otherwise. Your dog is still very young, there are many times where she is probably testing the waters to see what she can do (and get away with) to the other dogs.

De-fusing the situation is often the best alternative with a highly driven, potentially dominant dogs, especially if you’re not sure about how/when to administer a correction. For example, not bringing her toys into public areas for ‘free play’ is probably the best option until you can manage her better and/or control the environment better. Also, I wouldn’t let her ‘play’ with other dogs. A Malinois’ idea of playing, often isn’t much fun for the other participant. Because Mals are often much faster & more athletic than other dogs of their size, in addition to being very intense and very inclined to frustration aggression…this can lead to a disaster.

As a rule, don’t let your dog play with other dogs, especially dogs outside of their ‘pack’. She also needs to learn and understand that all good things come from you; food, toy, affection, etc….I’d stay away from using an e-collar to correct any of this stuff right now. In an aggressive confrontation, or a situation that has frustrated your dog, the e-collar correction can lead to the dog venting (biting) into the nearest animate object it thinks was the source of the pain. You can imagine how this would be bad.

Teach the obedience in a positive, motivational & consistent manner and in an environment that is relatively free of distraction. In situations where she’s fixated on another dog or dog’s ball, get her focus onto you…make sure she’s looking at you, pause…then reward. By the way you describe your dog, I’d probably use a ball or tug for this reward.

This is exactly the way Sasha is and I have been now more so utilizing a tug while backing off on the positive reinforcement (treats) and have removed all unneeded balls etc from the equation. She outs the tug on demand now with no hesitation.

Thanks for the kind advice.

AMEN, John !!! What a great post -- and most of that can also be said for Akitas <:-)

 Quote: Candi Campbell

AMEN, John !!! What a great post -- and most of that can also be said for Akitas <:-)

Funny the classmate that Sasha gets riled up the most about is an Akita. He was her heeling partner in the two dog heeling exercise, last Saturday. I was more tense than she was, Ha-ha!

Thanks again for the great advice,