Belgian Malinois in Need of a Foster Home
The following dogs are waiting to be placed in an ABMC approved foster home so that vetting can be done and we have the time to evaluate them for approriate placement.
Boarding fees have hit us hard this year and have caused us to slow down on intake of rescue dogs. If you are interested in contributing to our boarding needs there is a link to Network for Good on our main page http://partners.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateReport=1&partner=networkforgood&ein=81-6099454
Heading north to their foster homes these five bundles of joy need your help. Left at the shelter in a bucket Rescue was fortunate enough to be able to pull them within 24 hours. They are in a safe temporary place but can not stay there. If you are along the I95 corridor please considering helping these babies. The firist stop on the puppies journey will be in SC where a male will be staying to be fostered by our SC Coordinator. From there the other four continue northward. Another male will be staying in NC. The other foster homes are in MD, PA, and NY.
Contact our Transport Coordinator Lin Karrels: linkarrels@wildblue.net as soon as possible to find out how you can help.
Max was born 09/20/2010 due to an "accidental" breeding. Purebred, but no papers, approximately 69 pounds. He has been raised with other dogs and tends to do fine with them. NO cats. It is said he was good with the owner's 6 year old’s granddaughter, but I have not exposed him to children here as he is VERY scared....he's had almost NO socialization. The owner said he is house trained and kennel trained and just like his father, he has never been on walks or car rides. Owner said he is "very friendly and playful". This is a dog that if you approach him he will run away, he is absolutely terrified, although myself and my staff can handle him no problem, he does get very excited to see us of course because we are with him on a daily basis. He's going to need work, when he's in his kennel all he does is pace back and forth...he almost never rests. Max has a "ball drive", but it's not super intense.
Contact Dar: dvhauser@gmail.com for more information.
History (from owner's sister)
Soldier was 3 months old when he got him. He just turned 3 years old. Date of birth: 12/10/2008
Soldier is neutered. He is up to date with shots and all vet appointments.
Soldier was purchased to be a companion dog for his owner who is legally blind. Soldier has not been socialized outside the home and is kept separated from the small dog and 2 cats.. Because the owner cannot see he has been terrified to have Solider around other animals. He has always been afraid that if anything bad were about to happen he wouldn't be able to see and prevent it. So he has just kept him away. But I can see... and when Soldier sees the other pets through the gate, it's like he gets this big smile on his face and hops around like he wants to play with them. I tell him that but he thinks Soldier would eat them! : ) He says he has a prey drive. The owner realizes he can not meet Soldiers needs and would like to see him placed in an appropriate home.
He is good around people. He has been around 4 adults his whole life so far. And a few friends that come by. He has been around my daughter (10 years old) quite a bit over the past 3 years. He does well around her. Other than that, he doesn't get out much. Just in the back yard to go potty.
Contact Suzanne: malinois.rescue@hotmail.com
Shakira is a sweet, loving 4-5 year old female Mal. She loves to play and snuggle and greets you with a hug. She has a lot of energy but has an off switch. She settles nicely inside the house. She can be full of energy outside if you want her to be. Outside, she loves to nose around and would make a great tracking or nosework dog. She does have some ball drive but not over-the-top and retrieves nicely and drops the ball on command. She knows basic commands – sit, down, come (she has a good recall), and stay. She takes treats fairly gently. She gives great eye contact. She’s very smart and loves to learn. Initially she didn’t want to go in her crate but learned very quickly with treats and crate games that the crate is a good place to be. She now runs down the hall and into her crate when I bring out the treats. She sits and waits for her meals nicely.
She is reactive to bicyclists and people walking by. She will bark and spin and try to chase. She is able to be redirected through distance and treats. She is also intense when greeting people, initially barking at approaching strangers, pulling and jumping, but when she gets to them, she greets fine. We are working on sitting nicely for a greeting.
She loves attention – getting petted and snuggling is her FAVORITE thing. She can be pushy and demanding for it but responds when asked for a sit. She isn’t happy when she sees people hug and tries to get in between but she responds well to a sit command and being treated for calm behavior during this. She learns very quickly with positive training. She wants to do the right thing, just needs to know what that is.
She would do well in a home with a calm dog or a male dog as there is some challenging with my female Mals. She likes to play and will play bow with my male Aussie but she plays too rough for him.
With positive, clear training from an experienced person, she will be a great dog.
Contact Helen: dogluvr@snip.net or Julie: rescuemalinois@gmail.com as soon as possible.
Bo is a big lump of sugar!! He was quite skinny when we first got him but he has filled out nicely. He knows several commands including sit, wait (for food), and down. He often comes when called but will jump out of reach if you startle him by reaching for his collar too quickly. He is scared of loud noises and quick movements so he will need someone calm and patient to help him really thrive. He gets along well with the dog he lives with, he can be a bit obnoxious at times (he IS technically a teenager…) but for the most part they are the best of friends. He barks at strange dogs on occasion but more because he is trying to convince them (and himself) that he is big and strong. If he goes to a house with other dogs he just needs to know that someone is in charge and it is not him. He would do fine with a dominant dog, or in a house where he is the only dog. He is fine with older children as long as they understand that they have to be careful not to scare him, children under 5 might be too much for him to handle. He has gotten much better with the cat, he doesn’t chase her and he is not aggressive toward her. Our home is set up so the cat can get away from the dogs so it may be an adjustment for him to be around a cat all the time, but he hasn’t shown much interest in the cat besides curiosity.
He has a good ball drive, it just takes a little convincing to get him to give you the ball back so you can throw it again. He walks pretty well on a leash and would probably love a home where he could go for frequent walks. He is not a very high energy dog, he can keep up with an activity for a while but he certainly isn’t demanding when you say play time is done. He loves nothing more than to come running over, lean against your legs and look up at you with those big brown eyes….. you just can’t help but melt.
What Bo needs most is socialization with people. He obviously was not socialized as a puppy and where we live he has very little chance to interact with people so he has not improved at all in the time we’ve had him. If we take him out somewhere where there are people he mostly hides and shakes, it’s very difficult to get him to interact. We have introduced him to a few people at the park and he tends to escalate throughout the encounter until he gets to the point of nipping (usually from behind – he really is just afraid). Our biggest concern is that if he does not learn to be more accepting of new people that he will never be adoptable and we would hate to see that happen. He really is a wonderful dog and just needs someone calm with good socialization skills to help him come out of his shell.
Contact Marcia for more information: mhcil@aol.com
Shiloh is an approximately 1 year old male found running as a stray in Pender County, NC. He is Heartworm negative and has received his first set of vaccinations. He is a very sweet boy who loves everyone he meets. He seems to get along with other dogs, but some find his exuberance off-putting. Shiloh is on the small side at about 36 lbs but needs to put on a few. Will you open your arms and your home to this sweet pup?
Contact Katrina for more information: kkardiasmenos@gmail.com
First one is a young female. One of the workers there has named her Gretchen.
Gretchen came in as a stray and the associated (connected, all part of one facility) vet office pegged her to be about two years old.
She is a small female with incredibly tiny feet. She is tan with a black overlay and a very straight nose.
She is very small and delicate, and a little shy at first. The shelter has her noted as shy and submissive, but the shyness appears to be normal in unfamiliar surroundings with a lot going on. She's curious. Her hackles went up a little as we walked the line of the barking dogs in the kennels, but it didn't stop her from looking over and trying to sniff.
They do not have any information on her as she was turned in as a stray, but judging by her condition, she was not a stray for very long, and is certainly not at all even remotely a hardened street dog. She has very little if any undercoat and is a good weight for her size.
She pulls on a leash a little, but it could be also that she wanted to go outside. She is incredibly friendly and gentle, although there is one worker there she's become quite attached to and is adorably playful with.
She does not seem to have much of any prey drive, and likes to be petted and get attention. She runs and plays like a normal puppy, which I would bet she is. Her teeth are a bright, bright white, in excellent condition with no nicks or anything at all, and pointy. Not puppy sharp pointy spears, but new adult pointy, which leads me to believe she's very young. This dog has not, in my opinion, lived a stray, street life.
She is up to date on her shots and while there's no apparent scar at all she might be spayed, according to the vet. I doubt it because she's likely not old enough. There were a few fresh blood spots in her kennel which all assumed came from a nail or something, but when playing there was no noticeable blood at all. I didn't think to check her hindquarters at the time.
Her paws are very very soft on the bottom and have pink on them. She has no problem being touched anywhere, even by a stranger from behind, hands going all over. I was able to check her head, ears and mouth with out any resistance, even putting my hands over her eyes and back of the head, blocking her vision. She does have BOTH front and back dew claws.
She may have stepped wrong and was slightly limping (it seemed to happen just before we took her out as she was turning in her crate on the platform bed) which she showed some favor to in how her weight was distributed when I was checking her legs, and there was a slight limp at one point, but likely just a momentary thing. The aide who was there asked the other who is her favorite if she had any limping just before when she was out and there was none. I checked for any tenderness and didn't get any acknowledgement from her besides oh, what are you doing as she sniffed my hand. On rechecking the spots where those reactions came there was no further reaction.
She is a doll, very sweet and playful, easily adoptable.
Contact Julie: rescuemalinois@gmail.com for more information.
His name is Tug, and his name shows little creativity, ha ha. He does tug. He's a puller on the leash. But lets back up. I was informed this morning that there may be an issue with him as his demeaner is questionable and he shows signs of being almost friendly to then glaring his teeth and barking aggressively at the kennel workers. He has not been checked over, does not have up to date shots and is still in the holding area of the kennel, not open for viewing or adopting. They were concerned about him and said they would need to see how he reacts when I see him to determine, for safety reasons, if I would even be able to interact with him. (No problem, I said I understood, and if that was the case, we had better people than me in dealing with aggressive dogs on our ABMC team who would then be sent in to check him out.)
When it was time to meet Tug I went back and saw his face immediately. He's VERY big. Very tall. The tallest mal I've ever seen. Good weight, not under or overweight, enormous but proportional feet and a very wide face. He has a promounced stop that is fairly rounded at the bottom (I have a female with a similar stop, my male also has the working line stop but less rounded.) He has black spots on the back of his tongue. He is tan with light black tips on his body and a nice solid black mask. His eyes are dark and I can see how they were concerned about him. But he's a funny funny boy.
He does bark aggressively for a dog, but not for a malinois. As he was barking you could see that snarky smart teasing head tilt with the look out of the corner of the eye that is terrifying to the uninitiated, but as I watched there was not even a hint of a raised hair or hackle. I chucked and his tail was wagging happily, not the mean angry wag. He was very gentle in his demeaner, not tensed up at all. I took my time interacting with him by and through the kennel as they watched to see. He seemed to have a particular fondness for teasing the kennel manager (a male) with his looks. The woman who was my contact there (Kelly) admitted she tenses up and knows the dogs can read her, but he licked her hand and seemed to be watching for her happily. This was all during feeding time when he had a full bowl of food. I moved my hand near the bowl on the outside of the crate and he didn't even seem to notice. I did this a few times without reaction. They brought the leash, we passed the interaction test.
I was able to get the slip lead over his head without any hesitation from him at all. He didn't try to force his way out when I did this, and then came right out. Then pulled. He wanted out. He definitely is TUG! Out in the yard I did not take him off the leash. I wanted to because he clearly wanted to run and play (he hasn't been out of the kennel to run since he was brought in). He peed first (squated, did not lift his leg) and then we ran around the yard a bit togehter. He stopped to check out some of the toys, nibbled some, and kept knocking in to me as if to play.
I was able to pet him, although sometimes it was a bit tough on account of he wanted to lick me clean and sit on me. I was able to run my hands everywhere, including belly and groin area without even a flinch. The kennel manager came out (the male) and he was just watching in amusement. Tug noticed him and you could see the jig was up, and he ran over to him and rubbed up against him licking his hand. The kennel manager (Brian) was thoroughly amused and realized he'd been played. The shelter director who had seen us from her office window came out and was surprised, she said she needed to make sure this wasn't the female because she was so stunned at how sweet and playful he was. He licked her and tried to get her all haired up which she was able to avoid almost until the end, ha ha.
He has no undercoat and is shedding like a normal mal.
He's great. Would definitely need an experienced owner on account of his size and energy level, and because he is that smart! He knows he can be intimidatiing and clearly has taken advantage of that, but shows no sign of any real aggression beyond teasing and playing. There was no growling at all, not teeth bearing, just those tell-tale side white-eyeball looks that they give.
Tug was an owner turn in, and the associated vet was the dogs vet, so we have background information on him.
He was born on 4/14/09 and at the time was listed as having come from a friend, but on the shelter turn in is listed as having come from a breeder. No idea if the friend was a breeder or if they knew the friend got him from a breeder, and there's also no information if the breeder was contacted before turn in. He was turned in on March 4th of this year.
He came to the vet regularly and at one year old he weighed in at about 80lbs. He had all his shots and his last visit was last May. He was turned in because the owner's new baby (8 months old now) was allergic. The owners have other children who have been around the dog (I think there was an 8 year old and a 2 year old, so the dog has been around small children and infants.)
He is housebroken and does not mark inside. He may or may not be an excitable peer (the owner first marked yes, then changed it to no on the turn in sheet). He was typically left alone during work hours (about 8 or so hours a day) where he had free reign of the house without incident. He hates crates. Hates them. He will get very anxious and cries and barks when crated (which would explain additional issues being kenneled). He is also an escape artist. He also likes to eat leashes (they mentioned something about anxiety over that) but then seriously, what malinois doesn't?
He is approachable when eating, toys and bones can be removed and he just watches, so he has no possessiveness or territorial issues. He is good with children and calm around them, and also is playful with other dogs. He has never been around cats.
He likes to run. That's noted several times on topics in the turn in sheet. And he certainly does have a malinois dose of energy!
He is not vaccinated and not neutered. Now that they know he is not the aggressive dog they were concerned about, he will be checked by the vet. I don't know if he has a microchip or not.
This is the dog I would want. Unfortunately we do not have a lifestyle at this point that would be fair for him, but he is an amazing boy with a funny personality and is very smart and affectionate.
THE SHELTER
So they have me as the contact, and are very supportive of rescue pulling them, knowing that we would find the right homes for them. Obviously his issues would make us pull him first, but that's because we know his background. I wouldn't want her left in much longer than needed either, although she does have a best buddy there who adores her.
They do spays and neuters there, as well as all the vet stuff. Costs are:
Female Spay (but we don't know if she's been spayed or even old enough) $90
Male neutier $80
Canine influenza shots $26
Rabies shots $21
They would officially adopt the dogs to us, and it would note RESCUE on the top, knowing we would not be the forever homes/adopters. We would not need to go through their regular 4 visit and remaining evaluation process because we are a rescue and they have me as the contact, who lives within their radius requirements.
So all that leaves, I think, is the photos .... attached.
Notice in the pictures, Gretchen is the outside shots. Check her teeth, how pointy and clean. One looks like there's tartar but I assure you that's a shadow, no tartar AT ALL on her. In the pics of Tug notice how soft his eyes are even when he's barking, showing he's gentle, and you can see how relaxed his body is. I can see where a non-mali person might be concerned, but that's the sneaky funny mali we love.
Kia, approximately 5 - 6 years old is waiting for a new home. His owner does not have the time to spend with Kia and needs us to find him a new home with a loving family. Please consider giving Kia a new home with lots of love, attention and exercise.
Contact Julie: rescuemalinois@gmail.com