Nick, the main thing you are accomplishing is teaching the puppy not to trust you or enjoy being near you. If you keep it up, the effect will become virtually permanent.

Malinois are a sensitive breed. They trust quickly as pups, but once that trust is blown, all bets are off. A "velcro" Mal pup is an insecure pup trying to figure out his environment. He may run to you when he's scared, Nick, but have you ever heard the saying "better the Devil you know than the Devil you don't"? He KNOWS that you may hurt him, but he DOESN'T know how badly the unknown will. So he goes to you. That phase won't last long... I would give it til he's about 10 or 11 weeks.. 12 at most. Then you WILL have a problem.

Malinois pups BITE. They chase things and BITE them. They take things they don't know into their mouths to see if it's food or something fun to BITE. They were born to BITE!!! This is the breed... anyone with a Mal will tell you that.. in fact several have.

I feel bad for the pup, but I feel bad for Nick as well. Why? Because if he continues treating this wonderful puppy the way he is, he will NEVER know how amazing the relationship is between a person and a Malinois. I have had several dogs of different breeds in my life. I can tell you honestly that only 2 of them would be willing to die for me... my Mals Toni and Caterina.

You don't get this level of devotion by scruffing and scaring a pup. You get it by being a fair and consistent pack leader. If your Mal thinks you will die to protect him, he will do the same for you.

For any lurkers out there thinking about getting a Malinois, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE think about it. They are not a breed for everyone... spend some time with a Malinois pup if you can so you can understand why they are called MALIGATORS. Be prepared for the pup to bite you, tear your clothes, shred things in the house (this holds for most working line pups). Your first few weeks with the pup should be a positive time, bonding time. The pup needs to learn the rules of the house, how this new pack works, and most of all, he needs to learn to trust you.

Throwing around and scruffing a 13# pup isn't pack leadership the way I do it, it's simply being an abusive bully.

--Kelly

Nice post Kelly.

Another thought--why is it so hard for us humans with our 'big brains' to figure out that to get a dog to want to come to us, be near us, is to bribe him? Dogs are so easy once you get out of the 'beat it into him' mentality.
My dog RACES to get to me.

Do you know how many times I have corrected him for not coming? ZERO.

I specifically train the come only when I have what he wants. And I am the BEST playmate on earth when he gets to me. My own family members haven't figured this out. It's so EASY it's ridiculous. Create the habit in him that when he pays attention to you, good things happen. You can get half-assed obedience by using big punishments but who wants a half-assed dog that doesn't like him/her? My dog LOVES being around me and follows me around all day long waiting for good things to happen.

It ain't rocket science, it's a dumb dog. Be your puppy's best friend. Create the habits. From there you can do anything.

Yep, in a nutshell: I want my dogs to RACE to me, happy to hear me call them. And they do.

It's not rocket science. I'm just the best thing in their world. You nailed it, Claudette.

Kelly, that was an awesome post.