Malinois issues!! Help! Questions

Hello!!!

I found this forum on google because I am having issues (well maybe????) with my 3 month old malinois.

Previous dogs were a husky, puggle and English Bull dog. While I know the malinois is a different dog, I tend to fall back on what I did for my husky (another high energy working dog)

here’s where I am confused. I keep reading about how quickly these dogs pick things up, but so far, she is having a rough go at pretty much everything. After a month of ownership, she has pretty much gotten “sit” (most of the time).

the main reason I am posting is walking. She won’t. Like at all. I’ve tried using just time (letting her venture by herself), toys, food and treats. Nothing. She just sits and plants. My biggest concern is that these are supposed to be high energy dogs and I’m going to be screwed if I can’t get this figured out sooner rather than later.

any help would be amazing!! I’m starting to get pretty frustrated and wondering if my husky was just a freak of nature and picked up on things quicker than he should have

All puppies are different, I think you are expecting to much too quick from the pup, the more frustrated you get the more anxious the puppy will be.

Puppies can do this when they are apprehensive about the big bad world, give her time, do you have a friend who has a well mannered dog that might encourage her along?

I actually have my old husky. My ex wife has him and she said I could use him to help out if needed. Great dog and was my first working breed.

I asked a friend as well last night who has a mal and he said the same thing. Just slow down a bit.

she gets her second rounds of shots on the 26th. The vet recommended that I wait until then to introduce her to other dog’s. I’ll see if I can’t go grab Atka (husky) at that point and go for a walk or two to get her some confidence. Thank you for the reply!

When you say she will not walk at all, do you mean she will not even walk a few metres or do you mean she will not walk for more than a few minutes. I see from her picture that you are using a leash on her collar - have you thought about using a harness?

No more than a few meters at a time. I just got a harness today after reading some other threads on here. I’ll try it out and see how it works. I truly hope it’s a fix. I have heard nothing but horror stories from a hyper malinois, ha!! I like my things

So take her for maybe five metres, stop and give her your "sit" command, then turn round and go home. See how that goes and if it works, try that a few times then increase by another few metres, varying the direction each time if possible. Talk to her, point at something close and say "hey, how about going to look at that" or something. Make it seem like a game to walk, make it interesting and fun.

It might work, but she is only a baby and she has to get used to things. If she sits and plants before you want her to stop, so stop, wait, and then tell her come on, it is time to move again, but do not try to make her.

Will do!! Thank you!!

I am having great results with liver jerky treats.

my pup loves them so much his learning is sped up.

like hyper sped up lol .

amazing how much his comprehension went up when I discovered them.

they are a bit moister than normal jerky and need to go in the fridge

I’m also sure they would be easy to make. Given a bit of googling.

By far THE WORST dog I have ever owned. Sucks. I truly expected more. Dog is exercises and worked with every day 3-4 times a day to the point of exhaustion, but does not learn a thing. (She knows sit and sit only, even though I have worked on come and lay down). and insists on peeing and pooping in her crate after peeing and pooping outdoors less than an hour before. She will turn into a crate dog. Sucks, but I am not about to let this dog run my life. I was playing with breeding her, but not with how bad of a dog she is. Officially 3 months, underweight and not up to par when it comes to learning from what I have read with a malinois. My puggle picked soooooo much more up by now than this dog has and she was legit dumb lol

Maybe you should consider re-homing her as it sounds like you are not at all happy with the way things are going. She is only a baby still and I think your expectations of her learning so much so quickly is not helping either of you, especially as you seems to be comparing her to your other dog.

I would be happy if she just was just STARTING to get something. Potty training? Basic obedience? Walking? Something. I’m not expecting a perfect dog, i promise. And re-homing here in San Diego basically means euthanasia.

Example. Tonight. We got to bed. I had just taken her out. Less than 30 min later she pees and poops in her crate....eats it. Okay. Whatever, she is a puppy. I clean it up, got back to bed. That brings us to now. She threw it up. Once again. Puppy. I get it. I take her out. She pees and poops again outside. Bring her in, clean it up. Fresh towel and clean crate. Walk away to put old towel into a fresh wash. Come back to her pooping in her crate again. It’s been 5 minutes, mind you in the correct size crate. Tell me how long you think this re-homing would last

If she is underweight and having trouble holding herself a vet visit would be advisable.
Or change of food.

What are your expectations of this pup? (sport, companion)

You really come across as impatient, the worst thing you can do with a puppy is to get angry and start directing negative energy towards it.
What training methods are you using?
Training should be ‘fun’ rather than concentrating on the negatives, play with her, tug, ball games ect, when on walks and indoors.

Let her be a puppy, enjoy her for what she is, not what you expect her to be, there is plenty of time for the rest of their training.


If you really are not happy with her perhaps the breeder would have her back.

OK - what are you feeding her, because something just does not sound right. Puppies should not be emptying their bowels so often.

Either her food is completely wrong and being underweight as you say she is, she is obviously not getting the correct nutrition, or she has a problem in her digestive tract so is not digesting what she is eating.

I really think you need to get her checked by her vet. And you cannot keep her in a crate all the time except for exercise.

I think your expectations are too high and your patience too low to be honest, but on saying that, I would seriously have this pup checked out by the vet particularly in respect of pancreatitis and thyroid problems.

Very like neither are the cause, but it's something I would have checked out if she is underweight and toileting too often

Malinois are smart dogs, and your puppy looks well-grown in the photo, but certainly something is wrong here. Please tell your vet all that you have told us, and get him to give her a thorough check over. If you could take a fresh urine and poo sample with you, that would be a useful beginning.
In the meantime, don't hassle her to walk or train - just some puppy play to try and build a bond between you. There is plenty of time to catch up on the serious stuff when you have the all-clear, and know that she is well enough to respond.

She went to the vet this last week. All checked out fine. She was the runt of the litter and like I said, she has doubled in size in a month.

dog is just meant to be a companion dog, nothing more.

as far as being impatient, I’m now on my 6th dog and have had better results with all of them. This one is just not getting it. I am out of work right now, so time is not the issue. I’ve taken her out often (minimum once and hour during the day) and she was doing great in the crate and started to regress.

I have not gotten mad at her once. I’m sure she senses my frustration at points, but I calmly get her out of the crate, and we go outside for her to use the restroom, then I come back in and tie her to the table so I can clean her crate.

You all keep telling me that my expectations are too high and that honestly scares me. I’m not looking for her to be 100% potty trained, walk 20 miles and hit every basic obedience trick in the book on demand. Progress would be nice. Like increase past “sit”, walk further than a few dozen feet etc. I’m seeing dogs (malinois) that are far past her capabilities at 3 months. I know every dog is different so I am not holding her to that standard, but after being told what smart dogs these were I was hopeful. My stubborn as all get out English bull dog did more at this point and I got him at the same age.

By the way, I do appreciate your help. I have read non stop about this dog for 8 months. Pretty much anything I can find. I have zero expectations past basic obedience so I can control her on the street or out in public. I have based all my “what should she be doing” stuff based off what I have read and other owners locally

May I ask why you tie her to the table - does she not have any time to roam free - because it appears that she is either in her crate or on a leash.

Again you are comparing her to another dog which seems like you expect her to be exactly the same as they were at her age, but dogs vary as to when they learn things and it is not really fair to expect her to be the same as they were.

Because it was 3 in the morning and as a malinois, every second of the day (or night) is play time. It’s hard to clean a crate with her on my back chewing on my head haha! I’ve tried.

she is out all day. When I can watch her. So if I am doing the dishes, folding laundry etc, she is in her crate. My arms should be proof enough that she is out all the time and I engage with her the entire time. I expected the mouthy, so that is one thing I don’t worry about too much other than saying “ouch” quickly if she bites too hard.

As far as comparing her to another dog, I am comparing her to ALL of my dogs. I have had some quick learners (puggle oddly enough) and some slow ones (English Bulldog). I’ve also dealt with higher energy dogs (husky) and am kind of combining what I did with them as well as what I have learned from this website, friends , and books.

I truly do not expect her to be any of the other dogs, but I’m using past experience with other breeds to know what to expect. For example, I KNOW she is not even close to being crate trained, so I don’t expect her to not have accidents. Just like if she pees on the floor in the house. I don’t expect her to sit every time I ask. There are LOTS of distractions, and I get that. I’m currently trying to work with her on focusing on me.

I work with her throughout the day in 5 min (no more than 3 times a day) increments with food. Otherwise, she eats by hand and we do LOTS of play time. She loves her frisbee and will chase it for hours. No walks as of now simply because she just won’t do it, but we do go out on the street (for the noise to build confidence) and I just let her explore where she wants to go for 30 to 40 min