New Puppy Food? Questions

Hi everyone, my wife and I are adopting an 8 week old B Malinois and I like help with what food is best and I also need to settle on some kind of electronic fence. I have more questions but I don't want confuse myself.
Any help would be appreciated.

When your puppy arrives you should keep her on the same food that the breeder has been using - at least for the first few weeks. She will have enough changes to adapt to without challenging her digestive system.
I am going to leave the answering of your specific queries, about brands and electronic devices, to one of our US members. We tend to have different brands of food in the UK, and electronic fencing would be very unusual over here.

In regards to food, I agree with @CaroleC to stay with the food the breeder is using. Beyond that, there are many good quality foods available and I would confer with my vet. What works great for my dog may not work well for yours. Your vet can discuss the benefits of various brands and types and any specific concerns for your puppy.

As for electronic fencing, I do not recommend them at all.

First, at it's most effective, it will only keep your puppy in the yard. It will not keep other dogs, or other creatures out.

And that leads to the second issue - with a breed like a malinois, it is very likely that he will latch on to a scent or sight and chase - and an electonic fence won't stop him. He'll run right through the electric shock of the fence in his excitement. And then he is outside the gate and wants back in, but without the focus of chasing prey, the electric shock is now stopping him from getting back inside the yard.

In addition, it punishes him for simply being alive. He doesn't know that he isn't supposed to walk over to that tree - and when he does, bam! He gets punished. That can lead to him becoming fearful of random things. If he happened to hear you laugh when he gets that invisible shock, he may connect your laugh to pain. Or maybe he connects it to a car horn, or seeing a bird, etc. Or maybe he connects it to people because when he ran to go greet a passerby he got shocked.

For the yard, I would recommend fencing in a manageable area for him. That is his secure place where he can go out without direct supervision. It doesn't need to be a 6ft wood fence - my dad's property had split rail fence and he added horse wire so the dogs couldn't go through the rails. It kept the property "open" but the dogs were secure.

Then you can work with him using positive force free training to venture out in the open area of the property when you are with him. Starting with a long lead.

Thank you for the reply Toed. That is exactly the impression that I had formed, but had never seen the system in use. All devices which rely on pain or fear to have their effect should have no place in modern dog training.

@CaroleC Exactly.