Almost troubled 1 year old Malinois Questions

Me and my gf have a 1 year old Malinois named Winnie and absolutely love her! She’s super sweet and fun and of course full of energy. The problem is over the past couple months we have noticed that while taking her almost anywhere (dog park, friends houses, family) if there are other dogs there she doesn’t play nice. She isn’t necessarily mean but she nips and barks and is very much in the faces of other dogs. She is however more aggressive with the neighbor dogs. There are dogs on both sides of our place and whenever they are out side she runs from window to window trying to see or get outside to them. She barks and growls through the fence and on 2 occasions has pushed her way through the fence by breaking the fence boards. These dogs to my knowledge aren’t provoking her, however one of the dogs does stand his ground and bark back showing his teeth. On the other side is a very sweet older German Shepard who doesn’t really care about Winnie. It’s getting to the point where we can’t take her anywhere and are always scared while at the dog park. She is generally well behaved and knows simple commands such as, comes on command, knows sit, stay, shake, roll over, “go to your bed”, “load up” in the truck, but she could care less about me or my gf while enteracting with the neighbor dogs. I have tried swatting her butt, and even a shock collar at one point but that only made her nervous and unsettled. I’m by no means a dog trainer and am looking for any and all advice from people familiar with the breed or anyone really. I’m worried We’re raising a dog who will only get worse over time and get herself and us in trouble by hurting herself or another dog.

I don’t have your breed of dog, I have Akitas. I am not surprised by her behavior as she’s starting to grow up and “feel herself”. I think this behavior is somewhat common and to be expected with this breed.

My dogs do not like or interact with other dogs anymore. They love people, but not other dogs. my current male used to go on walks, on leash, almost everyday where we would walk past loads of other dogs. He did great at this for awhile, but as he matured he was less friendly with some dogs. Once I got the female he became protective of her. I can’t walk them there anymore.

I previously shared a chainlink fence line with a neighbor. He had some hybrid wolf dogs. It started out as two and ballooned into a pack of 7 at the apex. Wasn’t a problem when I had collie x labs, but when I got my first male Akita it became an issue at times. He would go and secretly hang out (on opposite sides of the fence) and flirt with his “girlfriend” a 1/2 white German Sheppard x 1/4 wolf x 1/4 husky I think, could have been malamute.. Anyhow when the other wolf dogs realized they were over there, especially her brother, they’d come over and a whole lot of noise would ensue. He’d taunt them silently from our side and they’d react loudly on the other. And he wouldn’t let me catch him for awhile, just moving away from me and continuing to egg on the other dogs. I had to build another fence a ways away from the chainlink. Happily he no longer lives there. Sadly I no longer have that dog.

I don’t have any good suggestions for how to alter her behavior, but as you’ve already figured out, definitely not swatting on her butt, and absolutely not a shock collar. Honestly she may not be able to share a fence line with another dog, especially if her yard is small. I would always walk her on a leash, and no more dog park. You may need to adapt to your dogs needs.

The Malinois is the classic dog in need of a job! This is an intelligent and vigorous breed which needs an outlet for its energy. Have you thought of trying a dog sport with her? There are now so many clubs where you can learn the basics of obedience, agility, trick training, scentwork, or tracking. Agility and scentwork are the fastest growing of these, and have a good social aspect too. The majority of trainers use reward based methods these days. If she shines, you could get hooked! I'm presuming that you are in the US, check the AKC site to see whether there are any clubs in your area, but there could be private/unofficial training groups too.

Personally I would stop going to dog parks she doesn’t need to interact with strange dogs ,concentrate on teaching her to ignore other dogs and make her walks enjoyable by playing and interacting with her, short obedience lessons ect:
As for other dogs ,you need to be observant and try to see approaching dogs before she does, or at least before she starts kicking off as once her attention is on them, you've already lost the battle, If necessary turn her around and walk the other way if she's already focused.


In the garden I wouldn’t leave her unattended have her on a long lead/line and work on getting fast and solid recalls so that she comes immediately when called.
Oh and block her from running from window to window.
Would be worth joining a good obedience / sport club