ABMC Malinois Rescue Blog

We wanted to get away for a couple of days so we decided to board the dogs at a local kennel. We brought Beau a few days before the actual stay for some ‘day camp’ exposure. He did very well with the other dogs. The kennel we leave the dogs has a ‘living room’ area with two couches, television and food prep area. The kennel owners said he came right in and made himself at home. Very good news to our ears – we felt very good about leaving him for five days.

We got back from our short vacation today and Beau was very happy to see us! The kennel owners were very complimentary of him – they were also able to give us some insight into a possible food guarding habit. Although we have found Beau to be a little possessive, he easily gives up an object if you ask. The kennel owners indicated that he would give his low warning growl but immediately become his happy-go-lucky self once you talked to him and rubbed his head.

We have found that Beau can be a little possessive with his toys but not in a bad way. He will run away and try to keep it to himself but does not become aggressive at all. It makes for an interesting episode as he tries to run away from Asia [our pocket rocket Mal bitch] but can’t quite ‘escape’ her. He runs around trees, under the deck, into a small hedge, and then back around again. Eventually, all the dogs are so tired that they all lay down and no one can remember why they got into this running mess to begin with!

Beau also didn’t want a bath but it might be because the bathing area has a semi confined spaced area and he might not have been comfortable with that. He is fine with being groomed on a grooming table so I think it was just a new person trying to bathe him in a strange place.

When we first picked Beau up from his previous owner, he wailed and screamed in the car. He didn’t thrash around or spin – he just barked up a storm. So 5/20, we decide we are going to take him to a conformation show about 2.5 hours away. It should give us time to see his reactions and his adjustments to riding in a crate.

Well, he didn’t scream or bark, but he did PANT and sat up the entire ride up. He panted to the point that there was a puddle of drool under him. But once again, no thrashing or spinning. We turned the air conditioner up just a notch and covered his crate but kept on driving. When we got to the show, we prepped the van as we normally do by covering it with the sun shields and sun mesh blankets. Not a peep and not a sound. Asia was sound asleep next to him and he must have caught on to her quiet vibe.

We left him for about an hour and half before coming back to walk him and Asia. He wasn’t too keen on the crowds but we kept him away and he eventually calmed down. We took him back to the van for another two hours. We retrieved him to let some people see him and he was FINE!

The drive home was great. No panting although he did sit up some. He eventually laid down and even took a short nap. Good progress.

He has acclimated very well with the other dogs showing very good social skills in backing off when warned and play very vigorously but not aggressively. He has shown good play drive [tugs like a mad man] but doesn’t know very many commands. We’ll get there.