Quote: ross rapoport

 Quote: katie finlay

The best would be to talk to Malinois breeders or people who are very familiar with the breed. In my experience, once you get into the KNPV lines you start losing "pure" Malinois and Dutchies. A lot of them are interchangeable. If they come out with stripes, they're Dutch Shepherds. If they come out without stripes, they're Malinois.

Though, I'm no expert. So I can't say for sure that's how it goes. That's just my understanding of it.

And even in the GSD lines there are different divergences - West German working, DDR, and Czech all have their own characteristics and their advantages and disadvantges.

Right, I didn't want to go into too much detail about a dog I wasn't directly discussing, but my last GSD was from Czech/DDR parents. She was great, but not good w/kids.

Roger needs a job to do, soon. He's getting really yappy in the house and I need to figure out what the best use of his energies/tendencies is. Not having had Mals before or really knowing any IRL, I just don't know.

I was just touching on the fact that the show/working line split is not the only divergence in the GSD.

I agree with what Mara said about herding. If you can't stick with it, I wouldn't recommend it. It's teasing to the dog, IMO and very dangerous for the sheep.

Didn't Conan love his herding?
You have to do it in some controlled situation, with a herding trainer, and the dog on a leash in the beginning.
Mara people must have given you some terrible sheep to work because they thought your dog was so great or something.
People think my dog is a huge chihuahua, they bring out the easy ones.......

He did, but I couldn't fully commit to it. So we stopped. Now he loves hid Flyball. I've had a sheep try to attack Conan. He fought back but I ran the sheep off and kept ahold of Conan before it got uglier.

No herding here. I'm sure I could find something, but I doubt I'd stick w/it.

He gets a lot of exercise w/me in the woods. But I need more out of him and he wants more out of me. I have thought a lot about agility/flyball-type stuff, he is a leaper.

 Quote: kadi thingvall

Then there are traits certain lines bring to the table. As lines are crossed more and more the traits get "muddy" but it used to be that huge ears meant deux Pottois (2P) bloodlines. White chests and feet meant Elgos influence. Really heavy dark overlay indicated Perle de Tourbiere. Smaller blonde dogs were usually French. etc.

This is very neat info, thanks!

I know Des Deux Pottois is gone...so is there any reason for a current breeding dog to carry that name?

I see "Perle de Tourbiere" in Roger's pedigree. And a search on google turned up links to Loups Soleil (spelling?) as well. Those are just the ones I recognize.

What about traits that go more than skin deep? Are there equally pronounced differences between the lines?

I've heard the Belgian lines have more fight in them. And that's why they do so well at NVBK, where the decoys don't really move. If you get a Belgian bred Mal in FR it's likely going to have a hard time outing because the fight from the decoy just makes them fight harder too.

That's pretty much the extent of my knowledge there, haha.

 Quote: Ross Rapoport

He gets a lot of exercise w/me in the woods. But I need more out of him and he wants more out of me. I have thought a lot about agility/flyball-type stuff, he is a leaper.

I'd be really cautious about encouraging any leaping/jumping at his age. Agility would be a great activity, if you can resist the urge to practice jumps until he's mature! A-Frame, Weaves, Tunnels, and the dog walk should keep you plenty busy though. Jumps will come in time.

 Quote: Kelly Byrd

 Quote: Ross Rapoport

He gets a lot of exercise w/me in the woods. But I need more out of him and he wants more out of me. I have thought a lot about agility/flyball-type stuff, he is a leaper.

I'd be really cautious about encouraging any leaping/jumping at his age. Agility would be a great activity, if you can resist the urge to practice jumps until he's mature! A-Frame, Weaves, Tunnels, and the dog walk should keep you plenty busy though. Jumps will come in time.

Rally might be something else to consider.

Hi Ross,

You're right....from the pics the resemblance is amazing! As I may have told you, JD was the runt of his litter and only about 1/2 the size of the other pups (they'd actually named him Nano) and didn't think he would mature anywhere near the size he has. He had another growth spurt just a few months ago where he grew another inch, but he still has long legs and a slender profile (or as Kelly calls him my "skinny-long-legged-mini-mal" ). I'm hoping he'll continue to fill out for another year (he's 18 mos), but if not, he's just fine for me. He's still strong as an ox for his size and has the prey drive.

One of the things that I've recently learned about Mal's (from recently talking to a Navy MP) is that the military is finding that they prefer Mal's because of their size. Their smaller size is more condusive to the type of vehicles the military uses as well as the spaces they are required to get in and out of. They're also leaning towards Mal's because of the amount of jumping they do and were running in to problems with hips on GSD's. They also use them for mine detection and bomb detection dogs. They've been used in conflicts for over 20 years with fewer than 20 Mal's ever being mortally wounded (as of '08 I believe). The other amazing fact I learned awhile ago is that because of the Mal's acute sense of hearing they can actually detect trip wires as well (which are detected by sonar).

Do you think Roger might enjoy playing with a BIG ball? I have a "jolly ball" that is actually for my Rottie, but JD loves it and it's pretty indestructible.

http://www.amazon.com/Jolly-Pet-14-Push-n-Play-Purple/dp/B000P71BQU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1298686819&sr=8-4

Or how about a soccer ball that you and he could play soccer with?

The other thing that JD loves is the Gofrrrr Ball. He can chase that thing for hours.

Or I can send you my Bengal cat and Roger can chase him for awhile

Edited by Dana Martin (02/25/2011 08:50 PM)
Edit reason: Kelly's label for JD LOL

What about tracking? I know it's not fast paced, but it won't cause him injury, you can do it anywhere, and it forces him to think.

 Quote: phaedra rieff

What about tracking? I know it's not fast paced, but it won't cause him injury, you can do it anywhere, and it forces him to think.

That's a great idea, Phaedra!