I would like to start by saying hello to everybody as I am new to the discussion board,but not because I am new to dogs or to Leerburg,but believe it or not i'm new to the Internet. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Now for my question,I just purchased a 6wk old Malinois puppy, and would like some pointers if any one can help. I have a 2 1/2 yr old American Bulldog who is very dominant to other dogs who she spends alot of time with. If its just a dog she meets at the park or other dogs she does protection work with she's fine. She's not dog aggressive in the sense I think of, but she has got into some nasty fights with my 6 yr old boxer who is completely submissive to her and she was raised from 8 wks old with him. They are both fixed.Now I fear I did something wrong in there socializing with each other,and don't want to make that mistake again.I also would love for her to not be so dominant to this dog.I a'm very familiar with am. bulldogs and other mastiff breeds,but this is my first sheperd breed so anybody who can give me some tips on what to expect out of bite training my Mali would be greatly appreciated. I have several puppy videos from Leerburg and they have worked great for my Bulldog,so I look forward to using them with my Mali. Sorry for the drawn out question. I promise my future posts won't be like this. thanks.

Hey Decoy Boy,
Welcome to the board...and the Internet... everyone comes around sooner or later haahah. I guess I will try and answer your questions to the best of my ability for ya.

Dominate dog issue.. once a dominate dog always a dominate dog. My best advise is to keep the new pup away from your Dom dog and just avoid the problems all togther. Kennel one of you can. That's what I would do and when you socilise the two keep the troublemaker on lead at all times so you can correct for posturing and any dominate behaviour. Don't put up with that doggie Bull **it. Your the dominate figure in this picture.. you say, they do.

Bitework with the Mal... well it's anyones guess...If you got a good one it should be a lot of fun, there is really no way to tell you how it's going to go, the best I can say is they are high driven dogs with a zest for work... you can take it from there.

There you have it...good luck and congrats on your new puppy!

Welcome to the board, Decoy Boy, and congratulations on the new pup.

I know absolutely nothing about Mals, but are you planning on living with all 3 dogs as house dogs or do you have a kennel? If you are going to keep them all in the house, you are creating a pack situation, which can cause some serious problems. If you aren't aware of the issues involved in having more than 2 dogs living in the home, the topic for Raising Multiple Dogs in the Same Home may be helpful to you.

Good luck with your new puppy!

Welcome to the fiery pit, Decoy Boy! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I think what you'll notice about the shepherd breeds is their quickness to respond to stimuli. They tend to be highly intelligent and very alert. What this means in a nutshell is that you have a dog that is readily trained, but also that you'll need to "think on your feet" to adjust to the swiftness of the dog's reaction and the "expectation" of the dog that you are keeping up with him. I think this is probably especially true with the Malinois.

Good advice from Lonny on the dominance thing. There's a chance that your Mal might grow up to be the top dog, but let's not go there now. Is it a dog or a bitch?

And Melissa sure nailed this one... don't even think about having 3 dogs as house dogs. You're just asking for trouble. Sure people have done it, but after exceeding two dogs you start having a pack situation and that's the last thing you need.

Pete Felknor

The one thing I have to stress is work the dog in prey first. Alot of trainers think just because a mal pup is biting like a gator that it can handle defence work. Thats the biggest mistake that I seen made over and over agian. Specially with mals. Mals seem to get stressed very easy so the trick is to have the dog calm in bite work or rag work. All I have delt with is Mals and dutch shep and this is the observation that I have. Also work on the out command now!!!!!!!!! If you can make him understand not to stress on the out now when the pup is small you will end up avoiding alot of problems later down the road. Good luck and have fun with your new pup.