Why do Mals Turn? - Page 1

I have heard that their are only two types of Mal handler's.

• Those that have been bitten
• Those who will be bitten
  

Why is do Mals turn on their handlers?  They were my top choice for an new schutzhund prospect until I heard these types of reports.  Is any of this true?  any information will be helpful.

Thanks for your time and help!

This is the problem I see.... my Mal would never turn on me or my son, I know this. But I took her to 2 different trainers in a year .. and both said she's handler aggressive to the point of non-worthy. Ya, ok. Now if I want to do anything with her ... I have to do it myself. I think this time I'll do the trainer courses for K9's like @ the Solutions Center or something... and then proceed to title her myself. I really don't have time with the horses and all though, she loves her farm job. We'll see.

They seem to be a more "feral" or "primitive" breed of dog. Sometimes, you have to be willing to take an unwanted behavior or two or three in exchange for heightened overall instinct.
I have never had a mal, but I have talked with someone who used to do very well in trials with them. He said you have to do something every day with the mal or it will take it's own lead and become self assertive and feral.
Give me a good GSD. To me, it's not worth the little bit of extra edge you might get with the malinois..
And, here is the other problem..
Aggression / assertiveness is not the only feral behavior on the range of social behaviors. You could also get a shy or timid one, or one with bad nerves. I've heard over the years that the hard core mal breeders and trainers PTS or otherwise dump a lot of dogs to get to the few really good ones that can do tournaments.
And, they do not tend to make good pets, from what I have heard.
But, it's all hearsay.. I've never owned one, so I don't know.

Oh geez... quite the stereotype.  In truth you cannot make such generalizations.   I have had a GSD who has "tagged" me more often in one bad training session than my husband's Mali has ever attempted.  It's all about respect and good dog training.  I do not dispute the fact that there are some wound up shit Malinois out there.  However, to say that Malinois are all handler aggressive is pure BS.  Honestly, the fact that my hubby's Mali is not afraid to show teeth on him makes him a better dog trainer because he really has to THINK about what he's doing. 

Personally, I am GLAD that I have a GSD that will "turn" if I give an unfair correction because that forces me to have the discipline required of a good dog trainer.  Some GSD's are so soft they just take any crap that the handler dish out, and that is shit dog training.

Yvette

"Why is do Mals turn on their handlers? "

Most likely because the handler deserves it.  Thats the reason a lot of high drive dogs bite back.

Margaret N-J

I have 3 mali females and they have never ever behaved aggressively towards me even when put under pressure during training.I think it depends a lot on the handler, you need to know the dog.We have a dog training school and over the years we have trained a lot of dogs.Some of them were handler aggressive either because of high self-confidence or weak nerves or because of incorrect handling of their owners.To handle such a dog you need to think ahead and "read" what the dog is telling you.My husband love these dogs because they are challenge for him.

I have owned 2 mals and neither one has come back at me. My first mali, I did the protection work myself! The generalization of such is dissappointing! Sounds like a pitbull story to me. Poor dogs!

ron

Some of you act like you know everything there is about a dog, but than you go out and make stupid assumption on a breed that you hardly know anything about. Any dog can turn, it's not breed specific, it is genetic, fundation done on the dog, degree of trust, hardness, etc..

Maybe people are just too slow to get out of the way. Everytime I have been tagged by a dog it was accidental, I got in the way of the reward. My new pup is so fast and as ball driven as his big brother. I'm used to big brothers speed and get bit all of the time. Someday I'll smarten up and move faster.

BTW most handlers that ever got bitten earned the right long before he got bitten. Learn to read your dog and you will avoid it. I got bitten by my dog more than once, and at first I always blame the dog, but after few days when I was thinking of the situation I was like geezy I am a stupid ass I would bit my self if I would do some of the shit to my self. lol.