Belgian Mali Agressive With Other Dogs

Your dog is likely dog aggressive (DA). It could have been triggered by being attacked by another dog, but most of the time, DA is genetic. A dog is born DA or not. Nothing a person does or does not do controls a genetic tendency to DA.

DA does NOT make a dog bad. DA does not make a dog dangerous to humans. DA and other types of aggression are entirely separate.

My old GSD mix was severely DA. He loved all people, never even growled at a person, but he wanted kill every dog he saw. He jumped through a glass window to kill another dog, and wasn't even slowed down by the glass sticking out of his nose and eye socket. One of the first times I walked him, he dislocated my shoulder to get at another dog.

You can, with much work and patience, keep Dutch from acting like a jerk around other dogs. You can, with much effort and dedication, train him to behave reasonably. You cannot "cure" DA. Nothing you will do will make him like other dogs. There may be dogs he does like. Most dogs aren't as DA as my old dog. But, don't ever think for a second that Dutch is going to be safe at a dog park or around other dogs without a leash on. You could end up killing someone else's dog and then Dutch will be put to sleep.

I would recommend a behaviorist. A POSITIVE behaviorist. No "balanced" or "traditional" people. If they use a choke chain or a shock collar, run away. I trained my old dog using counter condition and desensitization techniques and treats, no prong collar, no choke chain, no leash pops, no alpha rolls, no "tsst" sounds. It took about a year. But the remaining 11 years of his life were great. Now that he's gone, I treasure that.

It's too soon for you to know if he is dog aggressive or not.

This is a new dog that has been through a ton of recent changes and you are a new owner. This dog needs time to settle in, time to adjust, time to bond. This dog also needs training. You are going to know so much more about him after you have time to form a relationship.

Don't push new experinces on him right now. Form a foundation with him.

And I don't know if this will help you at all or not, but it's food for thought. It might be time to let go of his "back story." All of the crap that happened to him is in the past. Now it's time to move forward. I owned a dog that was full of birdshot and was found tied to a tree in the woods starving to death. She got an ear torn off by another dog while at the shelter. I treated her like a normal dog and had normal expectations of her and she had a good and normal life and was a working/certified therapy dog. Sometimes I think owners of tragic-story dogs get too concerned about "causes" which become "excuses" which become a way of staying stuck and cheating a dog out of a full life.

For now, build a relationship with your dog. Walk in quiet places. Teach simple commands. Tug. Play fetch. Sit quietly and pet him. Watch TV with him. Take him for car rides if he likes them. Feed the foundation. If possible, find a kennel club and ask if you can watch a couple of classes without your dog. This is usually free. Pick up some ideas. Meet some dog people. Move forward thoughtfully.

And at the risk of sounding ugly, no washed-out K-9 ends up in a shelter. These dogs are either reassigned, thoughtfully placed, or destroyed. Just because a person is a cop and gets a dog that he wants to train doesn't mean that the dog was in a K-9 program. This officer may have privately purchased a dog, messed with it, and given up. This doesn't mean that the dog was really street trained. Let that all go. Try to move forward. And really give thought to whether or not this is the right dog for you.

Just on the chance that he's NOT dog aggressive, but rather "reactive", I will add my input. Reactive dogs behave that way out of fear. If he is new to your home, and he's not sure of YOU, he may react because he's not sure that YOU will take care of HIM if the need arose.

That can be a problem for reactive dogs, I know, I have one. If you do not behave in a confident way when you are with your dog and you see other dogs, your dog might believe that HE has to take care of the situation, this may be why he behaves aggressively. It's kind of a "I'll get you before you get me" kind of idea.

I was a very timid dog owner when I got my first dog as an adult, years ago. When he was a puppy and we met other dogs on our walks, I was nervous, and timid, and afraid of the situation (maybe because he was so small compared to other dogs). My pup picked up on this, and started behaving aggressively, so HE could take care of himself, since I wasn't acting like I could.

Now that I know better, I always put myself between him and other dogs, showing him that I have the situation under control. We've done other things to work on this, but, just showing that you are confident, and expressing your expectations clearly can help.

So, if you were afraid because of his aggressiveness, or if you were worried about how he would behave, or if you were upset about his behavior, he could pick up on all that and it could make it worse.

I admire your committment and I understand your frustration about people telling you to give up the dog.

I have a wicked evil parrot. I posted on a parrot forum to try to learn how to better manage her. Everyone initially told me to rehome my bird. That's wasn't an option. No one tried to help me until it was clear that the bird wasn't going anywhere. So I think I can imagine your frustration.

On the other hand, my parrot isn't going to hurt anyone other than people in my home. She isn't a risk to the public in any regard. Your mal could be a different story.

Containment is absolutely essential. This dog can not be off leash anywhere in the world, especially since you know that there may be issues with dogs. Owning a dicey dog is very, very difficult. Owning a very high energy dicey dog is 10 times worse. Owning one when you aren't in control of your own house/house rules makes this even harder.

There are people here who will help you along. I am one of them. But please place a very high priority on keeping other people and other dogs safe. This needs to be your primary value. Then, bonding with your dog is your next priority.

Consider "Control Unleashed." If the kennel club will let you attend alone, please do. Watching handlers, good and bad, is so educational. Meet some doggy friends. This can help you so much. Tawzer Videos is a place where you can watch as many training videos as you would like for 10 bucks a month. You only get them 1 disc at a time, but it's a great way to learn. I have loved it.

Very best of luck. For real.

Reactivity is not only fear. Swing a rope tug by a mals face, most will bite before it sees what it is. That's not fear, its reactive.

Fear based actions are different, may be what this dog is doing, but not necessarily. If the dog is seeming uncomfortable it is probably nervy and fearful.

I think its great that you are determined to keep the dog. The only reason so many are for you finding a more appropriate home is because its in the dogs best interest.

The same reason many husky owners don't recommend them for most pet people. They take a lot of time, energy, training, exercise, handling, to have happy safe relationships for all involved.

A malinois will react fast. If you are in the park, the dog is focused on a passing dog, and a child runs past after a ball, the dog reacts, snaps at kid..... Now what? The dog isn't aggressive and normally would never bite a person. Yet if not handled and trained, this can very easily happen, with well bred and stable dogs.
The reason many suggest breed research is because certain breeds are created for certain traits. This breed makes such a good police/military/working dog, because the are so fast to react. They can stay intensely focused on what they think is a toy, prey, a threat, whatever they think they should focus on.

You can train and manage DA. It's a constant job, and if the dog is fearful it makes things harder. I really hope this is the worse problem you will have with this guy. Unfortunately, I see way too many where situations get worse without proper training and understanding.