Anybody have a Malinois or other high-energy dog?
 

I have a 5 month old Malinois, got him a couple months ago. Love him. He's the typical high-motor player. Always wants to play ball, follows everywhere I go and gets there first.

I'm looking for other things to give him to do. I play ball with him, take him hiking or walking every day, have multiple toys for him, have a bungee toy hanging from the tree. I've looked in to Schutzhund training for him but it's not for me right now.

What do you do for your high-energy pup?

https://i.imgur.com/YaqXcRg.jpg

I think these dogs like to chase down terrorists with Seal teams, in case you do that in your area.

:thumb: Indeed they do. Spec Ops use Mali instead of German Shepherds for plane jumps because they weigh less. I’m reading a book about one of them now called No Ordinary Dog.
These dogs are so smart.

You might consider flyball. It is a team sport for dogs. I had a Heeler that *LOVED* playing flyball. She would come home from events dead ass tired and it was great as it gave me a respite from her bringing me every toy in the house in a bid to get me play for the 3rd hour in a row.

Of you are thinking of things they can do on their own... I'm also interested as my Louie is also a high energy guy. He loves playing with his sisters but they are too old to keep up with him.

Flyball? Going to look that up, thanks. Is Louie a Heeler? Aussie Shep? Have you looked at flirt sticks? Think I might try that too.

My Jack Russell was so high energy in his young/adult years he about drove me and the wife nuts. We found out he liked to chase laser lights when we tried to get our cat to play with it. He went nuts over it. I usually ran him ragged like 2 or 3 times a day with that thing. I actually bought a little more expensive one that had a bigger rechargeable battery just for him. If he takes any interest in it, it is a great way to run him ragged. I either had to do it inside or early in the morning or later at night so he could see it along our privacy fence.

Oh wow, hadn’t thought of that. Adding to the list. Thanks!

The dog we had on our team used to love to run beside us when we rode bikes around, we bought a small football to throw around between us that he chased. The team handler would have the dog pull him around on a skateboard.



I will call the handler and see what else he did and see if I can give you more ideas.

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We believe that Louie is a cross between a Kelpie and a Blue Tick Coonhound but we have only seen photos of mama (Kelpie) as he was a rescue. His cow spots and the brown socks on his legs don't really match with a Heeler but dead on with the Coonhound.

https://i.imgur.com/hOygEaJ.jpg

Also... he doesn't bark as much as he screams at things (bawl mouth) like the coonhounds do. But until I get a doggy DNA test on him... I really don't know for sure. Also... never heard of flirt sticks but looking them up right now.

You had military K9 interaction? Cool. Would pay to see the skateboard thing. I really want to be able to bike with him but I don’t know if he’s disciplined enough yet. We work with a trainer once a week, former cop, but we’ve only had 2 sessions. Thanks man.

That’s a good looking boi! Great ears. I gotta see about this fly ball thing.

Yeah we had a handler and dog attached to our team for a deployment, so we had a few months before we deployed to train together.

Cool. How was it? The bond between handler and dog was probably something to see.

I dunno, but you should teach it to do this.

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I have an Australian Cattle Dog. He's old now, but that dude needs shit to do. I don't know if BM's are like that, but he was bred to do a job, once he internalized what his jobs were he calmed down a lot.

Some of it might be mental stimulation as much as physical.

Good Luck.

Gotta have alot of chew toys and pull toys at your disposal, if you have a dog with high possession they'll obsess over them all day especially when they know it's a game of keepaway and they'll win no matter what

We have a Bernese Mountain Dog that is as active as she is big. And she’s a BIG gal. The usual dog toys last about 30 minutes with her.

There is a bone toy that she loves, I’m not sure who makes it, but it’s a fairly large, hollow bone that comes filled with peanut butter. She spends hours working on those things.

This dog needs work... daily. Probably smarter than a lot of people I know. How much time & money do you have? One thing you could do is protection training for him and you. This would feed the high-drive and ultimately give you more control over him in all situations.

If you have a lot of time and want to travel... he could be trained to sniff Corona Virus in human sweat. However, once complete you would have to contract him (and yourself) out in order to get practice. In any event, that dog is smart and needs work or he's not happy.

I know excellent trainers in Tucson.

I have Brittany Spaniels. Originally i just had one male, and quickly realized i couldn't possibly keep this dog happy on my own. A second dog made all the difference. They play with each other all damn day and come in at night (mostly) calm and tolerable. The best thing i did was buy a house with two big oak trees, we have squirrels out the ass and they chase and watch them all damn day, its become their job and mission in life to protect our home from these vermin. And its a plus because all the running keeps them in shape for the few times a year we actually get to bird hunt.

If you want to see a bond between handler and dog, search "Leader Dogs for the Blind" and "Client stories" on you tube. We have met the blind clients that have received the guide dog puppy we raised, and hear the stories of what the dog means to them..... its a cry fest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYHmttAgBFU

I think my dog is mostly a jack Russell Chihuahua mix. Pretty low key but does love to run around with the neighbors husky.

I’d never heard of that breed but he’s a good looking dog! We have a husky cross that’s also high energy to say the least.we live on a half section so plenty of room to run unfortunately it butts up to a state lake and camp ground.I can’t keep her from going to the camp ground and visiting.

Thanks. Yep, Malis are work dogs too and they are EXACTLY like that. Need shit to do.

True. I have toys all over the place. That's for when he's calm. Bastard needs to run.

Holy crap, yeah, BMDs are frigging horses. The peanut butter bone sounds cool. I spread chilled peanut butter on the wall in the shower when I wash him. Little dude is so busy trying to lick it he forgets to fight the bathing.

You sound like you know your Mals. Trained to sniff out CV in sweat? Really?

I have seriously considered getting a second one for just the reasons you describe.

Wow.

Hah, sounds like a cool little doggo.

Sounds like an ideal place for a dog. She's a lucky girl.

Our current guide dog puppy is a 5 month old GSD/Lab mix. So much different than our previous pure Labradors. Smart as a whip, nothing escapes her gaze, she was ringing the sleigh bells to go out 2 days after we showed her. It's no wonder the people who like GSD's as a guide dog want no other breed.

It's really impressive you train guide dogs. Your mastery of the animal is next-level.

GSDs are a noble breed indeed. So are labs. Last December we had to put our Chocolate to rest after 13 years. My three sons and I took him in. It was the shit-show that all pet owners know about. He was more person than dog.

I tried the sleigh-bells on the door thing with my Mali. He learns things in one telling, figured out real quick the bells would get me to let him outside so he constantly rang them to get me to come out and throw the ball with him. Little shit. But, he has never once gone potty in the house since the day I got him at 12 weeks old.

You give us too much credit, we puppy raise and do the basic stuff, take them back after we have them a year, then obsess about whether they will make it through for the next 4 months. But as the clients say without puppy raisers we wouldn't have our dog. The neat thing is it costs the blind client nothing if they are accepted as a client.

Great place to tour (before covid), just north of Detroit, hopefully in the fall they will reopen for tours

Oh lord do I know about that trip, kudos to you for being there for your "family member", I know of some who just abandon them because its too difficult

Boxer.

My go to is take her to the baseball field because it's a huge fenced in area where I throw her a tennis ball she gets it and never brings it back then looks at me like 'wtf, why aren't you throwing the ball?'

Not sure which one of us is playing fetch.

And a side note: boxers can't swim for shit. I'm surprised she hasn't drowned in her water.

Hah, sounds like she has you trained well:D Great looking girl!!

bought my lab a collar w/his name and my phone# on it and it came in the mail last night. as i was trying to put in on, the crazy bastard grabbed it in his mouth and ran off in the woods. i still haven't found the ****in thing.

should have bought two i guess.
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i have a blue heeler 2 yr old, crazy as a loon but a very smart dog. his favorite thing is frisbee at least twice a day no matter what, maybe that will help? o yeah make sure its a KONG brand or you'll be buying one a week !

Found it down by a deer blind. Couple beers for me and one for zeke and we staggered back to the house.
Don’t think I could handle a malinois
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I run out of finding new shit to do for my GSD mix. She is 1/4 husky and 1/4 pit. I think the husky makes her a poor guard dog - she has a mean bark but no aggression towards animals or humans at all. She is too sweet and great with kids so I can’t complain. I can complain about her energy though. She figured out that my backyard drain caps were removable, now i find chewed drain caps all over the yard. I walk her a lot but I think she needs mental stimulation.

Do you all use “puzzle” toys at all? Because she destroys most anything we give her, even the “heavy chewer” rates toys.

I would say do lots of mental stimulation.

You shouldn't do too much exercise with a large dog until they are a year old. Even then you are just making the dog fitter and fitter and they will need to more exercise.

Play games with the dog throughout the day, give them kongs and other slow food release toys where they have to use their minds and do lots of training with them.

Cesar Milan has a new show better person better dog or something like that. I missed the first episode but set the dvr. It’s on Fridays National Geographic I think. I just bring it up because I’m raising another Doberman who’s just over a year old and watched Cesar Milan on the dog whisperer when I had my first Doberman as a pup back in’07. I learned tons of things and found ways to apply them in training my dog. Hope everything is going well with your dog VP! :thumb: Just bumping this for a reminder Cesar has a new show to anyone who used to watch him like me or anyone needs pointers

We rescued a Great Dane puppy in June. He was super malnourished, and had some virus that we had to keep him away from our other dog until he got a clean Bill of health. Never had a GD before, but thought they were laid back and mellow. Well as an 11 month old he’s far from that. When he stands up he can put his paws on my shoulders, and he is FULL of energy 24/7. Sometimes it’s hard to remember he’s just a puppy because he’s so big, but he’s adapting well so far. But he’s constantly either trying to attack you to play, or zooming through the house full blast.

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hahaha, what a derp! GDs are phenomenal dogs. Big, lovey, slobbering, scary bark, cowards who terrify people who don't know their nature and just see/hear their giant presence :thumb:

That’s totally him so far, and has separation anxiety. My daughter has a Pomsky and it’s about a third of his size. She comes in and just owns him, and runs the house every time. It’s comical as hell. She never backs down and has him on his heels for a while.