new house - Page 1

Hello,

I have moved to a new house since 5 months. I have 3 cats and two 3 year old kids (twins). The house (my father used to live) has a big garden and many many windows/doors (40 according to the alarm). The cats can be controlled and stay in the house and the kids never play in the garden unattended.

Me personally I leave the house (weekdays) from 0730 to 1700 for work. This time my wife is home or drops the kids at school going for shopping, cooking etc. We also have a lady to help us with the housework and kids. The house has a fence but not big enough and anyone can jump in. My wife and I sleep quite heavily and sometimes don't listen to noises.

For time that I am out of the house but and for the time that I am in I want a guard dog, as sometimes I feel unsecured and I have been suggested to buy a ready trained dog instead of a puppy who will definitely need more time and sometimes doesn't grow as a guard. My experience with dogs is higher than average and I had various breeds of dogs, cats, birds, hamsters but never a trained one.

My question is: a professional told me that he found me a very well trained malinois from Germany, 15 months old, grown with the trainer's family (he has two kids 8 and 10 years old). I understand that the kids should never be alone with such dog, but please tell me if I make the right choice, i.e. to buy a well trained dog (at euro 5000 approximately) instead of a puppy, as I want a guard dog immediately ?

Thanks.

Hello, I am Tim from Top Gun k9. www.topgunk9.com

I think that if you need immediate protection you should buy an older dog but make sure that you can trust the person you are buying from.  5000 Euro is alot of money in american dollars.  You can probably get one more reasonably priced in the states.

The puppy issue is a family decision.  Mal's will usually protect you when they are of age.  With the puppy you know what its training is and how it was raised.  It may take a year to a year and a half to have them ready, so can you wait.  Remember that alot can go wrong with an older dog to a new family with kids.

If you are not experienced with older dogs it takes time and patience to get to know the dog and their tendencies.  You also have to teach the kids how to interact with the dog because they need to feel comfortable handling the dog on an everyday basis.  They also need to know how to turn the dog on and off in a crisis situation.

I have purchased many older dogs and have had no problems.  Some have been trained in bite work and some have not.  Just remember 8 and 10 year old kids aren't always responsible and do silly things from time to time.  They will have a hard time understanding the danger of a dog that bites for real....Good luck....Tim

Top gun k9 is right. One more ... if you import the dog  and is not going to work out the way you wanted then what ? All the best   Bob

Top Gun K9 is right, if you need security now, a pup would do no good now until it is grown up. :)

In addition to the precautions, if we're talking about mals, be careful if you get a hard dog from a line of hard dogs.  They may be good with their original family, but will definitely require a lot more time to bond with you and your family before he protects your family and not see you as objects of suspicion yourself!  My mals are good with me, and will protect me and our place very very well.  But if I sell my dog, for example, to someone else, and they don't know how to break him in, so to speak, my dog might break them in, so to speak.  So be careful also, especially with hard mals.  You're paying a lot of money for a potential liability.  Make sure you are educated by the seller/breeder and a proper Transfer of Commands transpires before you take him home or pay for the dog.  I wish you all the best with your decision. :) 

Dr. Abel Manalo

5000 Euro for a 14 month Mal?? I personally think you need to ditch your broker.

Which country are you from. €5000 is a lot of money based on the country and what you can do. Overall, protection dog + kids = bad news