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ubstantial progress with at home training (we are total novices at basic training, please understand!). The vet told us her paws have lost their arches, likely when she was roaming the streets for many days. The vet said her former owners cut her nails way too short, and they are still very short. No other health concerns that we know of. she is eating adult food per the vet’s direction dezy has had her first round of puppy shots, and flea prevention, but is not fixed nor chipped. when she came to us, we had no way of knowing her medical history, so she is starting fresh on all vaccines and care. We are working on getting the vet visit documentation from the young man who found her to keep her on track for vaccinations. As mentioned, Dezy is not yet spayed. We are looking into getting her spayed, as we do not want someone adopting her just to produce puppies. The drawback is that there’s a 6-8week wait to get her scheduled, and we would prefer to get her placed in a great home much sooner than that!BEHAVIORS
while she is still incredibly energetic (she loves to run around, play fetch, and chew on toys), dezy is now exhibiting pretty normal/expected malinois and puppy behaviors. She goes on at least 2 walks/runs per day Since she has settled down (a little), she’s even started taking naps, or sleeping while cuddling with a family member on the couch. dezy is a “velcro dog”— she follows us everywhere and doesn’t like closed doors. She follows the humans everywhere and needs to know where everyone is at all times. Anytime a door opens in our house, she has to go check to see who is coming/going. We have a fenced yard and she seems to like being outside, but she prefers when a human goes with her outside—she seems fearful that she is going to be left outside but is gaining trust.WITH OTHER ANIMALS
We have an old, geriatric rescued Staffy who has some grumpy behaviors, the worst of which is guarding his food. Dezy and our dog Morti have been having fun playing rough and biting and chasing each other. He regularly growls, snarls, and lunges at her (he hardly has any teeth, btw). Dezy is pretty vocal with Morti to try to get him to play. She nips his heels and bites his tail to get his attention. Dezy keeps playing and nipping until he scares her, and then she shakes it off quickly. she is friendly (but excited) with other dogs and small children. no experience with cats. she is still afraid of her crate, but is doing much better with it. There are two doodle dogs living behind us and when they bark at Dezy she runs from them, but keeps trying to get closer as she seems curious about them. So far she doesn’t bark at the neighbors or their dogs in the backyard. Dezy seems like she’d do well with other fur-siblings, but our old guy doesn’t have the stamina or patience for her—before her arrival he napped about 22hrs/day. she will make an amazing family dog, but needs further training (from someone far more experienced than we are) to thrive, as is true of any malinois. Since coming to us, dezy is getting better with spending time in her crate. She is crated overnight and for 2-3 max hour spans some during the day. (Before she came to us she was crated ALOT which may explain her crate dislike). At first we were able to entice her into the crate with a treat for a few days, but she figured out the trick and won’t fall for that anymore. She is somewhat treat motivated, but not as much as other pups we have had who were extremely so. She has been with us about 8 days and is a completely different dog now that she has settled in, and has some stability, exercise, and routine. At first she was biting and nipping our hands and feet mostly (playfully but painfully) but has since done very well being redirected to toys, bones, chew toys, or a game of fetch. she knows the word “no” and “sit” and “down.” (Except now she lays down when told to sit). When she hears the treat container open, she just sits without being told. she also knows the command “go potty” and is good about going outside, though she still has accidents indoors occasionally. we do believe she came to us with some training, but she definitely needs more, likely at the professional level. dezy does well in the car. She often just goes to sleep.