I train Mals and i can assure you that due to their nature and high "maintenance" (numbre off hours training) they will never end up with drug-dealer's, breaker's-yard and 'ard man. They need a deterent dog that doesn't take much time and energy. A mal that doesn't has a job will find something to drain his excess off energy and it won't be to the liking off the owner

Greetings


Johan

These dogs come from belgium and are as a breed older than the GSD (only a year or so ) and they are great dogs to have. The handler agression issue is due to the dominant nature of these dogs. The dogs in the video were poorly trained. A well trained mal does out even when he is in fightdrive. I can send mine on an attack and within the last metre i can stop the attack which is far more difficult than an out.

Greetings

Johan

A whole webside and forum about these guys :[Mod Edit: url removed: no links to forums]

Greetings


Johan

Oh I realise that Johan, but how many "bad guys" will it take before the penny drops? Not that I have any sympathy for these people, believe me. But it's a similar situation to the concerns some police are expressing about introducing more mals to the UK forces - people won't always view them as a large, powerful, intimidating breed and some morons (criminals, not police) will see them as an 'easier' police dog than a GSD and rott - only then will they find out the mistake they've made. These are kinda my views, but as I say, I'm definitely no expert and certainly not experienced when it comes to mals; I'm just reiterating what active police dog handlers have said.

My concerns aren't for the idiots who create these situations, but for the breeds that end up on the DDA or worse because of the morons' behaviour. If they become popular with the general public, there will, IMO, be enough incidents for the breed to get a bad rep or worse.

Not that many, they will get more than they'd bargained for and this at a very young age eg les than a year closer to 6months and they will get rid of it and deem these dogs as being crazy, lunatic etc and stick to a calmer breed

Greetings

Johan

I know this is an old thread and hope over the last few years your views have changed but I have never heard so much rubbish about a breed in my life, you said you have never handled a Mal so but out with the rubbish coments on their attitude or unsuitabilty for this sort of work all my Mals out on command the only one who wont is a passive attack dog the job of this dog is to stop armed suspects in their tracks and like the video will not release unless commpelled to there has to be no doubt in the dogs mind whether it should bite or not, its simply release chase bite nothing else, And the fact that Mals become agressive or come up the lead at you thats just bad handleing not bad dogs,

I never tire of watching this sort of dog display. It's not just the dogs that I admire but the attention to the dog safety too, such as, making it jump over the top of the car so that it is less of a target against a bullet.

Absolutely stunning work they all do.

Edit: Ooops. Didn't realise the thread was that old!

Well said, well said indeed, I wish more of the Mal handlers would realise this

Belgians generally - and that includes my choice of Belgian, Terv - do not tolerate bad handling and will come up the lead, sometimes a handler will then get out a certain sort of collar and shock them, remaining ignorant of their own shortcomings. A dog coming up the lead is almost always due to pain/fear.

I love the speed and power of these dogs and never tire watching Belgians generally - my first 2 never stopped, were always on the move ... interestingly it can throw up some training problems as they will solve "problems" with speed.


Wys
x

Totally agree, there is no place for shock collars, barbaric pieces of equipment.

Another possibilty of the coming up the lead scenario is when the Mal has been trained to do something it knows what it should be doing but the person holding the lead doesnt.
The stronger dog in frustration can drive its handler into releasing him, but again thats not a bad dog just a bad handler.

I have worked both GSDs and Mals, and my present dog is a Mal, at the risk of offending the GSD lovers of which I currently have two, I would have a good Mal over a great GSD anyday, although they are not suited for everyone.

Boo Hisss. Ban this man.