Arrow, Our First Malinois

Arrow - our belgian malinois - came to us because of Rich. As he was getting into full-time professional dog training, he was using Zoe (our border collie) and Jedi (our German Shepherd) as "demo" dogs/training partners. But, when he would ask them to do something, they would look to me, "Do i have to?" So we wanted to get him a dog of his own.

As we discussed breeds, we settled on a belgian shepherd/malinois. But, they are extremly high drive. As in, crated outside all day because they spin and bark and whine. So I contacted a couple breeders and, as I was describing what I wanted, a "lazy malinois," he had one available. A 7 mo old who didn't have the toy drive for dual purpose police/military work. 

Within a couple weeks, Arrow passed his AKC Canine Good Citizen test. He was a super dog to train, and had the energy to go go go. Almost a year later, I realized he would make an amazing service dog, so we started his task training. He was rock solid. We had taken him to plenty of dog friendly locations, stores and restaurants, and now started his service dog training.

So finally, I had my new service dog in training - my husbands dog! 

Arrow has vacationed with us and flown with us everywhere. However, a malinois is NOT a breed I recommend as a service dog. And when people see him out in public, they comment on how wonderfully calm he is, and then they want one. And I have to tell them how they do NOT want one. How he only works for us because we are both professional dog trainers, and even after a full day at Disney, when we get back to the hotel room, he wants to PLAY (and I want to sleep).

Which is why we went with a Golden Retriever as his replacement.