Hello all,

I have just rescued a male Malinois. He was a stray in London for an unknown amount of time and is approximately 1- 2 years old. From what i know about malinois he is almost definately a working type mali. When i first got him he was very nervous nand wouldnt take food or toys or even come anywhere near me or anyone else but after a couple of weeks he started to come out of himself and even began to play. His way of playing was to run at me and bite my arm (of course this soon became something he was not allowed to do !) ,he has also has his canines filed, both of which seem to tell me that maybe he has had some kind of training for a purpose at some point?
I have a lot of experience with training rescues in agility, obedience and working trials with a lot of success and i am interested in taking up schutzhund with this new addition. I've had my mali for over a month now and every day he comes out of himself a little more and he now has some very solid basic obedience but is still very nervous in new surroundings.
Just wondering if any one have any experience with training a nervous rescue dog, in particular a malinois for schutzhund and if anyone has any tips for bringing on a nervous dog in preparation for training for this sport.

Have you ever been to a club and watched the dogs work?

Ever see any nervy dogs there?

If nothing else, broken teeth are going to keep the dog out of any of the protection routines.
Doesn't mean you can't start with him and perhaps get him to a BH. It'd be a big step for him.

Yes i understand it would be difficult . I've had his teeth looked at by someone i know does schutzhund with their dogs and as its just his canines have been flattened off then they say it may not affect his bite. It's a shame because at some point he has been a great dog because every now and then he comes out of himself and his drive to work is immense but then we go back to square one because of something as small as a car door closing ... think maybe his limits could be to just do working trials.

I have to ask: Why Shutzhund?? Because he's a Mal?? Mals can do more than SchH.

I personally like to "ask" my dogs what they want to do. I introduce them to different things and whatever they enjoy the most is what we pursue. Toni enjoys agility and Cat likes Rally. I would like to do Ring Sport, but I haven't had a dog choose that yet.... no point in making a dog do something they don't enjoy or that they are afraid of, right?

Good luck with your dog. Even if he doesn't do SchH, love him for what he is. And bless you for rescuing him.

--Kelly

I have other dogs and compete already in agility, obedience, working trials and flyball, and most my dogs are multi-discipline dogs purely because they love it all! Like you say never make a dog do something they arent interested in , i've even have had dogs who were stunning conformation but hated showing so they were never shown! I have a few friends who train dogs for schutzhund and enjoy helping them out so the main reason is i would love to try it myself and people have asked why i don't try with him just to see if he has potential. So we will see how he goes !
Today he decided when we went out for an hour, that a cage just wasnt where he wanted to be in the house so managed to break the welds in the mesh to get out and we came home to him laying on the couch ! So he definately has a brain in there when he wants something !