Preparing for Your First Adopted Belgian Malinois

Recommendations by Malinois Foster Families

When querying our foster families for suggestions, for the new owner of an adopted Belgian Malinois, one light hearted reply came back:

Grooming a Malinois? Hose, shampoo, hose, and at least 20 towels.

• 1st hose didn't make it past the initial grabbing by Malinois and the 20 towels are to dry yourself off after trying to use them on the Malinois.

First aid kit?

• For the Malinois or the person?

Recommended toys?

• Kong and a dressed and ready to rumble decoy.

While the above is intended to be light-hearted it does have a core of truth. The Malinois is possessed of an incredible sense of humor and those with suitable temperament do quite well in the dog sports. It also offers insight into the richly rewarding experience the new owner may have as their newly adopted Malinois becomes comfortable and confident in having finally reached their forever home.

Grooming the Malinois

URBAN LEGEND: The Malinois does not shed or shed's very little.

Definitely NOT true! The Malinois does shed, quite prolifically at least once a year in the Spring and more moderately in the early Fall as they prepare to grow a winter coat. Regular planned grooming can shorten the length of shedding time. Bathing in warm water will also hasten the release of the undercoat, and if your Malinois will tolerate it, blow drying, preferably outside :-) will have much of the undercoat floating away in the wind probably to be used by the local birds to line their nests.

Our suggestions are by no means everything that can be used in grooming, attending the occasional scrapes and cuts or as toys. Instead our lists are suggestions to start you out with the hope that as you become more experienced with your adopted Malinois you will modify or expand as needed.

• Suggested Grooming Supplies
  • Ultra Short Coat Types
    • Shampoo, Tearless
    • Soft Bristled Brush - enhances coat shine
      Highly Recommended: The Zoom Groom
    • Combination Dog Comb, one end medium toothed the other somewhat finer
    • * Resco Guillotine type toenail clippers, alternately a Dremel w/sandpaper tubes.
  • Plush Coat Types
    • Shampoo, Tearless
    • Rubber Tipped Pin Brush
    • Slicker Brush
    • Double Row Rake
    • Combination Dog Comb, one end medium toothed the other somewhat finer
      Highly Recommended Comb: Medium Furminator Dog Comb
    • * Resco Guillotine type toenail clippers, alternately a Dremel w/sandpaper tubes.

* Picking one of the options for toenail clipping is dependant on your Malinois. Some despise anything pressing on the nail, such as manual clippers do, and others think electrical tools are torture.

First Aid Kit

Emergencies should be treated by your Veternarian

National Animal Poison Control
(888) 426-4435. A $60 consultation fee may be applied to your credit card

In Case of Automobile Accident or Other Catastrophe

The Malinois can be a highly active and very inquisitive, read super Nosy, which means the owner can discover various scrapes, cuts or other minor physical injuries at any given time. Your veternarian should be consulted on anything other than minor injuries. However, included in our suggestions for the Malinois owner's First aid kit are some items that can increase your chances of getting your Malinois to the Veternarian, safely, in a true emergency:

• For Treating Minor Issues
• Scissors
• Tweezers
• Safety pins
• Ace bandage
• Triple antibiotic cream
• Ice packs (packages of frozen veggies work well in a pinch)
• Gauze pads
• Vet wrap (not for use directly on wound and do not apply too tightly)
• Paper tape
• Betadyne or Novalsan (or other type of wash)
• Pepto-Bismol tablets or Immodium tablets
• Vaseline
• Ipecac syrup (for those critters that like to eat everything especially one's stores of baking chocolate)
• Benadryl on hand, (in case some curious Mal sticks her face in a ground hornets nest or something. If the face starts swelling up enough it's possible breathing could be impaired. You can't OD on benadryl. When this happened to one of my dogs, the vet said to start with 1 benadryl, then keep giving 1 every hour until the swelling was no longer getting worse.
  If the dog does start to show signs of trouble breathing, get to the vet immediately.
• Additional Items for Temporary Use in an Emergency
• Sanitary napkins
  Foster Home: One of the things that I keep in my doggy first aid kit is sanitary napkins. A nurse that was teaching our Red Cross first aid and CPR classes suggested these. She was referring to things to keep around for people but I did end up using her idea this summer when my Malinois managed to stab himself with a tree branch and had 3 punctures and a long tear on his side. I slapped some sanitary pads I had on hand over the wound (they are clean, thick and very absorbent) and held them in place with an ace bandage. The vet loved the idea and it made her job easier to do the final work of staples and stitches.
• Muzzle
  Foster Home: Something I have just recently added is a muzzle. I had a boy break a leg once, and he was in such pain he snapped at the neighbor who was helping me get him in the car to the vets.

How often do you travel just around town, on trips and vacations with your Malinois? Ever wondered what would happen if you were in an accident and unable to make the decisions regarding your Malinois? Follow the link to our form that can be attached to the crate insuring a person of your choice makes the hard choices that may be necessary if you are incapacitated, In Case of Automobile Accident or Other Catastrophe.

Malinois Toys

Short List of Somewhat Malinois Proof Toys

Toys for the Malinois is a tough subject invariably coming up for discussion whenever two or more Malinois owners come together. It is also often the topic of discussion on lists Malinois owners frequent. Malinois have the endearing but irritating habit of disassembling just about any toy on the market. They pop tennis balls, remove appendages, and stuffing, from stuffed toys, in other words they decimate just about any toy they can get their jaws around. This propensity means that your Malinois should be supervised with toys until you discover their particular quirks. A few toys, while not completely Malinois proof, stand out for the ability to last longer then the average toy.

• Jolly balls tend to last a couple of months
• Tightly braided rope tugs, they last a few months, when fibers begin to come loose, toss out
• Jumbo Kong's (watch regularly for breaks in the upper most ball section and discard when it begins to show separation
• LaCrosse balls
• Use a Lunge Whip (think horses here) and tie a piece of heavy lambs wool fabric on the end (supervised play only and your Malinois's good out will insure a longer life)
• CUZ balls