Hello! My name is Linda & I'm lurker who's now officially signed up.

I'm looking for advice on my Malinois. My story is an old, familiar story - not nearly enough research prior to writing the check for my Mal. Bad decisions are made in times of tremendous stress....

I purchased him from a local trainer with an agreement that he would train the dog with me (of course) training at home as well. The dog does have a pedigree of Mondioring titled dogs. I was looking for dog for protection. To make a long, unsurprising story short - the trainer has not held up his end of the bargain. I now find myself with a dog that I strongly suspect does not have the drive to do the work. I'm not sure if he came this way or was mismanaged by the trainer. I by no means had any experience in this type of training & everything I have learned is because of watching videos from this site. Mojo is my first Mal & a real learning experience. I bought him at 5 months old & he's 19 months now. Unfortunately because of all of the tug work & drive building exercises I've done, I find myself with very painful hands. The dog is 60 lbs of solid muscle & very strong. Of course, the answer from the doc is quit doing the thing that aggrevates the injury so I can't do much work on building drive without having lots of pain. Currently he doesn't seem to have much interest in protecting much of anything. He is a little more "forward" (for lack of a better word) than he was. By this I mean that if anyone other than me does something to him physically that causes pain or discomfort (like the vet giving him shots, touching his tail - he had limber tail at the time) he will snap but I think this was a warning & he would go ahead & bite if further provoked. Will he become more protective as a function of age or stay the relatively friendly dog that he currently is? I must say that I've socialized him way too much for true protection work...

Mojo's present state is okay obedience, likes to play tug but not as enthusiastically as I think he should. He'll retrieve but he doesn't want to give the object up - he'd rather chew it.

I've wondered about having another trainer look at him & give an opinion on whether or not to push on with bite training or leave him like he is. Unfortunately I'm not close to much of anything where I live & I suspect getting an unbiased opinion on the dog from anyone living here would not be possible. He can look pretty scary & that may be enough detourant. Since I can't do too much with him because of my hands, this leaves me with trying to find someone train him.

Does anyone know any good trainers in the Tx panhandle or Oklahoma who I could visit? Should I just stop where I am & hope for the best?

Do you have a medical condition that causes pain in your hands, or are you injured from your dog?

Most people here, including myself, will tell you that you do not need a "protection" dog, as in a dog trained to bite people for real. Also, it doesn't sound like you are physically able to handle a real protection dog, even if you did have the proper training.

A full grown Mal such as yours is plenty of deterrent, regardless of how friendly he may be.

If you want to continue bite training, as in a sports venue, then I'm sure people here will chime in on decent clubs in your area. You can also train him to bark on command, which would be even more of a deterrent.

It doesn't sound like you should stop where you are and hope for the best. I'm sure that with good instruction, he can become a very well-trained dog, and you can enjoy him more.

I hate when people say "you don't need a protection dog", Who knows maybe you do.

Building drive is a strange thing to me, with 2 of mine I find myself trying to knock down the drive so they can actually think a little bit. Your dog is what it is, he either has it or doesn't, you can't "build" it or "make" it.

The dog sounds like he has a good temperament, find a trainer you respect and move forward.

I have a two year old mutt that resembles, (to most but not me), a pitt mix. He's er...um...not the brightest bulb in the box but a great family dog. Anyway, he barks when strangers pull into our driveway and scares people to death! It's great in the way that it keeps salesman at bay and everyone knows he's there. That's enough for me.

If not interested in sport, why not focus on obedience training. A well trained, scary looking dog can go a long way as far as protecting you from potential "bad people".

I'm no expert, just my thoughts.

 Quote: Linda Bransgrove

Does anyone know any good trainers in the Tx panhandle or Oklahoma who I could visit?

Just bumping this, in case anyone missed your location...

 Quote: al curbow

I hate when people say "you don't need a protection dog", Who knows maybe you do.

True, there could be circumstances we don't know about in this situation, I just find it curious that she's been fine without a protection trained dog for 14 months now.

Anyways, not trying to be argumentative. In my opinion, a dog well-trained in obedience and with a trained alert bark is a strong deterrent, and training a dog to seriously bite people for real personal protection is serious business and needs to be well-considered.

Hi Linda and welcome to the forum

No matter what you end up doing with your pup he'll always need obedience. 60 lbs of solid muscle is no joke.

There is a new DVD coming out soon, Training Protection Skills
without a Decoy . If you are interested in protection training your dog this would be a must have. You would still need a good trainer but these exercises would improve your play and relationship with your dog.

Tug DVD should be a great help with your tug play. If the proper techniques are used tug play becomes easier and safer both for you and your dog. If you are very good at it you won't have to put too much effort into the game and the dog will be doing most of the work, which is nice

Take some Advil. I found that Liqui-Gels work the best. Icing also helps.

With a dog like yours it is always better to find a good trainer even if you have to travel for a few sessions now and then.

Good luck!

I've got the tug DVD which is the only reason he is where he is. Prior to that, he had virtually zero drive. The trainer thinks something happened to him at my house which led to him being timid. Absolutely nothing bad occured while I was home. I'd only had him for 2-3 wks before he spent a month with the trainer last summer. I suspect the trainer was way too rough with him. Mojo's a sensitive boy. I rarely need to correct him & it doesn't take much to stop the behavior. I'm trying hard to make training fun for him. Also in an attempt to make him more comfortable in lots of situations, I took Mojo many places including church. The pastor wasn't thrilled about that!!! He must have forgotten that dog is God spelled backward.

The hand problem is arthritis & tendonitis. I'd never had pain in my hands till a couple of months ago. I've done all of the OTC meds & I'm trying to get into physical therapy. If your hands hurt, your whole day is messed up.

Why the dog? I'm in the middle of an ugly divorce. There is virtually nothing I'd put past my hopefully soon to be ex. The situation wasn't bad initially but now gets worse every day.

Of course, the dog purchase was done completely wrong. After I got Mojo is when I really learned what I should have found out before. I'm definitely going to work on obedience. It's funny. People see him & tell me how well trained he is. I, on the other hand, see how far away he is from his titled family & I'm just talking about obedience not bite work. I'd describe his obedience as sloppy & unenthusiastic. He's not very food motivated & would rather get his tug as a reward.

No help from here, just wanted to welcome you to the forum!

Don't forget to post an intro! Maybe a pic of your dog?:smile:

I'll work on the pic. He is a beautiful dog!!