Malinois puppies

We still have three beautiful and healthy female Belgian Malinois puppies available. They will be nine weeks old on 1/27/08.

Updated pictures and video to be added shortly.....

More Training for Baron and Bela

Baron and Bela do 90% of their training completely off-leash now. If they have a leash on them it is either a light check cord or a 6ft leash that they drag behind them. Most of the time they are leash free. They will perform sit and down-stay at distances, they are heeling off-leash either separate or together with both at my left side, they are learning to sit before coming out of their crates, putting their collar on, going outside, or getting fed. Bela has an excellent focus when heeling. We have also been working hard with reverting their dropping into a down from the sit. One of our greatest challenges has been to teach each dog to "honor" the other. In other words, if I give one dog a command, I may not want BOTH of them to do it. I have been teaching one dog to go to a "place" while I require the other dog to perform their "action" commands such as "heel" and "come". This is quite a challenge because they are so bonded to each other. They are improving each day with this. They have a tendency to want to "steal" things and therefore we have taught them the "drop" command. They now give up their possession easily. Their energy in the house is much more controllable and they are much more responsive to our commands.

Learing the "Place" Command

Baron and Bela have been learning a "place" command while they have been at our home. The "place" command teaches them to be calm in the house and gives them a place to be without getting under foot or into trouble all of the time. They have learned to stay on this place even with the distraction of other dogs, us eating dinner, or even when we leave the room. This has become a safe area for them and has helped to establish boundaries in the home. They are also learing to stay in a down while I am getting ready for bed at night or when I am at the computer without having to be put on a specific "place".

Baron and Bela Start Training

Baron and Bela are very nice dogs. Both are extremely intelligent. We can tell they are going to be a lot of fun to work with. They have remembered their previous training and are falling right back into place. They are adapting nicely to the remote training collar. Both of them are going to progress rapidly in their obedience. Some of the main issues we have begun to work on is their jumping up on people and learning to settle down even in the presence of a toy. They are learning to wait patiently to receive their reward of playing fetch. Baron is a little territorial when it comes to other dogs. We have also begun to work on this and in the next few days will continue this heavily. They will learn how to be obedient around other distractions, including other dogs.

Simon and the Elliptical Machine

When I work out on the elliptical machine, I have Simon stay on his place beside the machine. He was very nervous about all of the moving parts, but soon realized that it would not hurt him. I will continue to work with him on this to build his confidence around strange things. Ignoring his nervous behavior and rewarding him for being calm seems to help some of his anxieties. This is a process and something that cannot be fixed overnight. However, through continued work and discipline on your part, we will hopefully see a major change in his anxiousness over time.

Simon Off Leash

Simon began his training on Sunday completely off-leash. He is doing really well with all of his commands and responds well to my voice and the collar. His heel is good and we are continuing to improve it. His sits and stays are also good. He has a little difficulty with the down, as do most dogs, but he is improving nicely with that also. The several days of rain have kept us inside for training, but we hope that these next few days of cold, but sunny weather, will allow us more proofing outside with more distractions.