Puppy start marking? - Page 1

Dear all, I would like to share a little bit about my puppy's behaviour, which is a little of concern.

She is a belgian malinois, currently three months old. I start to socialise her to new people and environment by bringing her for walks in the park and beach every day.

At 7 weeks, she started barking at people who came too near to us during walks. This is not a major concern as I do not want a social butterfly dog, a guard dog attitude is favourable to me.

When she was 9 weeks old, she started humping blankets, stuffed toys etc. I discouraged the behaviour with a 'No', and took the toy away. She now only humps when there is stuff toys around.

When she was 10 weeks, she started territory marking. Likely it was triggered by another older female dog (her friend she plays with) outside the house, but I originally thought she might have urinary tract infection, as I never had a puppy who started urinary marking this young. I originally thought it was an accident, until she peed a new puddle every time i finish wiping and cleaning the previous puddle. She peed about 12 times in 15 minutes, which i originally thought was a urinary infection, until I realised she only pees when she sees the other dog.

My major concern is on the territory marking, as I owned dogs before, but they only started marking territory in their adolescence. I am aware each dog is different, but isn't 10 weeks a bit too young for this sort of behaviour? 

I have started basic obedience and so far, she is doing good.

For those who have had dogs showing such behaviour at a young age, what sort of problems do you foresee, if any? 

Thank you in advance.

I am not a Mal owner or breeder, nor have I ever been one but I do have experience with GSD.  Sounds like you have a "baby" dominant female in the making.  I have had some start out as you described and later mature to be wonderful females .. still dominant but great dogs and great to live with.  Some dominant females are benevolent dictators and keep order and lay down the rules and enforce them.  Some go the other way and they are what I call "chaos" or drama queens.  These type dominant females love to stir the pot and they are happiest when chaos and conflict is happening.  These types of drama queen females are not much fun to live with and they create chaos with the other dogs.  In the case of your puppy it could go either way but likely she will be like her parents so look at mom and dad for some indication of who she will grow up to be.  Puppies go through phases of fear and confidence.  I have had dominant females early in puppyhood who were little monsters and they turned out great ... it just took time and lots of patience.  Likewise I have had some sweet dominant females that turned out to be chaos queens.  Only time and patience will tell.  For these dominant females training and keeping them occupied can help but their adult personality will likely only become evident between 8 months and one year of age.  Both types of dominant females are great for breeding high drive dogs but the apple does not fall far from the tree so their puppies will be similar to them.  Best to breed them to very stable and level headed males as their puppies generally have drive to burn.  For those who think a dog can never have too much drive one of these dominant type females (especially the chaos queens) will educate you otherwise.