Hi there, Recently my husband and I adopted an ex-explosive dog named Kely. She's a Belgian Malinois, about 5-7yrs old. She had to retire from explosives early on in her career because she started to develop extreme timidness and anxiety at work especially around people. We thought we could train her on bed bugs because she always enjoyed working, and with bed bug detection the environment is usually more calm and quiet. She did well through imprinting, and yesterday we decided to train at a furniture warehouse. I was discouraged to see that she was extremely unfocused and timid (even though the only other person around was far off in the distance). And even though it was quiet in there, every little noise made her extremely distracted. I know that Belgian Malinois can sometimes have a tenancy to develop these timid, fearful behaviors, but I don't know how to help her. She has always been a little timid, but she used to be an excellent explosive K-9 despite. I feel like it is just getting worse. Do you have any ideas?

Answer Question

Answers (1)

The Malinois is certainly a work dog. However, the dog was retired after a career in explosives. Generally, this means the dog wasn't given enough re-assurance in that environment and developed a "fear and anxiety." Typically, these dogs like to play, they love bite work. They really , really need to be worked. Perhaps, you need to work on "sniffing" other things on walks, in public, luggage, a variety of environments. Lots of positive reinforcement. without observing how you handle the dog, but ... you AND your husband need to be assertive but not dominating. assertive and issue correction properly.