I decided to cross post this topic that I saw from another board, to see how others feel. The post was about Jason Farrish (PSA'er) who ended up on TV having the opportunity to show off his Mali for the news. It was in regards to Protection sports. Below is my post about publicity and how it can be a double edge sword IMO I'd like to hear what some of you guys have to say:


While I am happy for Jason, I know from reading he puts alot of time and training into Bas. Also, it is good to get an understanding out to others about how these dogs aren't ticking time bombs, but rather quite the opposite it IS a double edge sword. When I had my ASR trial here in GA it was the first in my area a fairly decent size city for any type of protection program including schutzhund, and people said I should get the news out there and get some publicity. I chose not to, because of the flip side of the coin which has two parts to it.
First is I deal with Malinois like Jason, the great thing about having a malinois is the fact that people outside of the dog world have not even heard of a malinois, much less anything bad. It makes it much, much easier to actually claim them on your home owners and things of that sort. The lack of publicity has kept them off the "CANNOT OWN LIST". Malinois are most known for their protection work so when people not into dogs hear about them, they will start to associate the malinois as a bitting "attack" dog.
Second thing is the fact that thugs and trash love quote "BAD ASS" dogs because it fits their egos, and that is what happend to the Rottie, Dobe, pitbull, AB and just from the guardian reputation the GSD, I would prefer that only the serious are aware of the malinois. If we don't learn from history we are definatly doomed to repeat it and IMO the best thing for the Malinois is to keep them low key so that they don't get misunderstood, and 2) start falling into the hands of the undeserving. I personally love the fact that you can't pick up a newspaper and find Mals for sale in the pet section, tons and tons of Dobes, rotts, pits, GSD, etc.....
So all I'm saying is the less people know **sometimes** is the best situation.
~CHRIS DUHON

Type of dogs owned: Malinuts

Well said, Chris. Jay and I were in a similar situation this past spring. The local news wanted to do a piece on preventing dog bites, so they asked us to do a demo. We took Tonka and Alex and had a lot of fun, even got the 'talent' to take a sleeve bite from T-dog. Most of the footage was of Alex because he's more 'interesting' on the bite, and I' just flat better looking than Jay

These guys did it right, and made sure that they said these were HIGHLY TRAINED dogs, and not a threat to the normal person....Even included a shot of Jay walking over in his suit and petting T-Dog while she was cooling off.

I, too, think that the fewer folks that know about the Mal, the better...However, I think the more exposure 'in general' that our activites get, the more accepted it will become, and the more morons will understand how much time we put in getting CONTROL of our beasties. I couldn't begin to tell you how many public fields we've been thrown off of because some little-league mom freaked out when we started working our 'vicious attack pit-bulls'.

Type of dogs owned: Mixed Breed Sheepdogs

While I was living in the SF Bay Area, for over 5 years, myself and Kathy O'Brien did a monthly Mondioring demo at the Nike Missile Site in the SF Headlands Nat'l Park. We trained in the area where they used to kennel the GSD that used to protect the interior perimitor of the missile cave. Either myself or a handler from "those" days gone would talk about how the military dogs were trained in mostly "defense" and were NOT friendly The dogs trained in this way would end their careers with the "golden needle" whereas our dogs could be placed with families if need be.
We often used the audience to make the distraction for the absence, to throw the food for the food refusal and to hold a sheet or tarp for the obstacle on the "stick attack w/ obstacle" I would make a big show asking about if they had insurance;), but for our dogs the person kneeling on the ground holding the tarp was of no interest when I was behind it in a suit. The tarp was much less that the 8-10 meter trial specs, it was only~ 6 ft long, but we never had a problem.

We would hand out PROpaganda -http://www.californiamondioring.org/pam.PDF
and after the dogs worked, we would let the audience pet them and take photos. We would educate about always asking BEFORE saying hello and so forth. If there was an unfriedly or unknown dog, we would skip that part, but our dogs were always ok with people.

This was a very popular show and the people always left with a positive opinion of dogsports. The kids, especially the boyscouts LOVED crotch bites or "in the WEEEEnie" as they would say. They also loved when I would "smack" my husband for the defence of handler. To my knowledge we never had any complaints about what we were doing, except from the beach peoples about the gunshot ~ 1 mile away, so we stopped shooting the gun and had the audience go "BANG" when I stuck my hand in the air like a gun.

We also did some other demos here and there including my neighborhood block party. Again, it was very well recieved and I enjoyed knowing that the naughty teens who had been breaking into houses would think twice before coming into my house.

Now, I live in the boonies. To get to our house, you pass the neighbors front 5 acres parcel back from the road and no one should be here unless lost or invited. One Sunday, my husband and I were training and the missionaries came looking for lost souls. I went over to see what they wanted and told them we were not interested. When the turned around and were leaving, I had my husband send the dog for her bite. The missionaries (a van full) practically popped their eyes out of the socket. AND they've never returned.;) The town we live just outside of is a small town and people talk. What they say is the "dog lady" has dogs that are very friendly if you come into the house with us, BUT they WILL bite when told - to them it is nothing personal.

As far as the ruin of our beloved malis, it is already starting. At any given time there are 100+ malis on petfinder.com and likely the number is higher because many rural shelters have not a clue what is a malinois and they get listed as gsd mixes or something else. There are many US breeders who will sell to anyone and don't spay/nueter or follow up on the pups progress/problems etc. So I am sure that we will see more and more problems.

Sorry if I sound paranoid, but I see the problems happening all over first with the breed bans especially pit bulls. In some city shelters as well as here in the boonies, the county shelter will automatically kill pit bulls without even a temperment test:(( and some are very nice dogs.

Unless we as "dangerrous" breed owners,working dog owners, and the dogsport community in general start to make positive PR, we will be seen dangerous and we risk losing the privelege of playing our sports. Unless we learn to work together regardless of our dogsport or breeds of choice we will see more breed bans - rotties, dobes, presas AND malis etc AND then will come the size regulations so that we will be left with 10 kilo dogs that have to be lobotomized....and dogsports will be forbidden like is starting to happen in other places..

Type of dogs owned: 3 legged rottie & malinois

Im open to suggetions Sharon.....ideas for PR?

Type of dogs owned: Malinois

I agree Chris...The worst thing for the Malinois today is media coverage.

We had several individuals in my area about a year ago do a publicity thingy on OLN (the Ultimate Dog)...Breeds which weren't even known prior to the airing of this show...are now on the 'top 10 list' for aggression (dangerous list). There was more damage done than anyone could have guessed. High price to pay for 15 'min' of fame.

Most of the individuals were under the impression from the network producers that this would be for 'educational' purposes and objectivity and in no way was this going be a disservice to any breed...Guess again...They turned it around and the Malinois made the list. Since then, this program has aired half a dozen times. Perfect timing (hardly coincidental) as a new bill was going in for its final reading/approval to ban PB's province wide...Their goal? A National Ban eventually. My understanding is that next breeds on the list are GSD's and Rotts. The ramifications of any type of media coverage on protection breeds spells sure death for those breeds.

Let's face it...the media feeds on 'fear'. Fear is what sells....Cujos are going to get more attention and coverage than Lassies. The media is infamous for misrepresentation. Let's all think long and hard before we jump in front of cameras and reporters.

Popularity has all but destroyed every working breed out there. We need to protect this one and keep 'it to ourselves'.

Even the best breeder is not able to keep track of all their offspring, so you must admit to yourself that there are already bad breeders in the Americas producing unstable and unhealthly dogs that in turn will create even more bad PR.I have seen many people in awe of dogs that they believe are TOUGH, but I see fear aggression. These same kind of dogs, Champion Sch**/Sport dogs and Security/PSD dogs can be made to stop biting with just a newspaper as an accessory, and will blow anal in a dark unknown room on civil bite tests. There will always be bad handlers, bad training and yes, some bad dogs that will flavor public opinion. Those who care about their breed, dogs & dogsports in general, must find the courage and creativity to offer a positive alternative to "media frenzy" We all should give consice, factual feedback to the media when we feel it is misrepresentative AND also feedback and threats of boycotts to the SPONSORS of muck. Breeders and handlers alike should support rescues and oppose breed restrictions and support training and socialization for ALL dogs
The malinois are already out there replacing GSD for PSD and bomb/drug work, as well as been in movies like BEE SEASON on tv like FEAR FACTOR & DOGS with JOBS(mondioring episode) and so forth. To think that it is possible to to keep the malinois out of the mainstream is not realistic. Native American Indians thought that they could be left alone and they weren't. Many Jews, Gays, Blacks, Gypsys, Poles etc. in Europe tried to ignore and hope that they would be left alone - do you remeber what happened?
I say better the devil you know. So, I will continue to do my own thing (mondio) and will continue to volunteer and support rescue of ALL adoptable dogs and will continue to support ANY dogsport or training of dogs that produces happy, social dogs that are under control.

So, for those who have the courage to step up to this challenge:
Feel free to use the pdf pamphlet in it's un altered content or ask for permission to alter. Also, I made a similar pamphlet for FR which I can give you.
DO think on how you will present yourself, your sport AND you dogs and remember that you are an ambassador for all.
Some things that I try to get out to the public-
MALINOIS ARE NOT, NOT, NOT FOR BEGINNERS AND MOST LIKELY NOT FOR MOST PEOPLES!!!! I always stress the amount of work my little one needs - one hour training EVERY DAY. AND hang out together in the house time.
We don't teach our dogs how to bite, ALL NORMAL DOGS ALREADY KNOW HOW TO BITE -We teach them WHEN to bite and when to let go. As I say in the propaganda pam., I truly believe that if your dog does not have some kind of job, you will have problems - digging, chewing UOE (un-authorized oral entertainment:) agression, self mutilation and so forth.
I liken the protection work to teaching at risk youth boxing or martial arts, that is to say, all species have aggression that must be held liable to rules and control in order for our social (pack) systems. To deny the existance of this aggression is like telling a teen age boy that it is wrong to think about sex, the results being that he will at best, be in conflict, at worst become an offender. In any case he will STILL think about sex no matter what.
Our dogs are ALWAYS social and I stress that I will NEVER teach protection work to unfriendly dogs. If a dog is not enough under control to let strangers into my house, then it's not possible for them to "protect" me because I have to put them away when "strangers" new friends, repairmen and so forth, come into my house.
We ALWAYS do food refusal at demos and often when people say "my dog would never do that" we explain how ANY dog can do this and ALL dogs should. Same with the absence of handler, heeling and positions.
Sometimes we do the defence of handler while walking thru the audience.
I give a simple explaination of defence and prey drive and talk about the "old" & "new" ways and how we now do very little to zero defence work, which can be very stressfull for the dogs. I often decoy my own dog w/ my husband handling and these things often come into the discussion, as for me it is no problem and there is never a question in her mind as to who she must bite.
While in our private training, I do use physical pressure on my dogs, in demos, I stress that in the Mondioring rules it if FORBIDDEN to hurt, hit or harm the dog in anyway.
We try to avoid publically trashing any other dogs or ways of training, Sport, Security/PSD etc, and I will censure anyone on my team who does so.
If you want to keep the audience off your field area, or if you have an uncertain or uncontrolled area, get some portable sheep fencing. This fencing is also great, even necessary, to train an advanced search for Mondio.
When we demo, I wash my face, brush my hair and try REALLY hard to avoid cuss words.
SF/Marin is one of the most liberal areas in the world, yet we have had great success with this path.

Type of dogs owned: 3 legged rottie & malinois

I often tell officers to not do a photo shoot of their dog in defense or biting equipment.

As I know, the dog will be promoted, and accepted by the public it must protect. The newspaper will only display the photos of the officer and the dog for PR Reasons. Most will not show the pic of the dog biting. It will be put away for future use.

One day the dog will have an actual live bite, and the PR stops. Now it is time to go through the desk of old photos or puter for the photos. And the front page will show the dog biting somoene or looking defensive. Fear Sells, and Newspapers need to sell.

We do bite prevention demonstrations, it is an orchestrated event. We teach about drives, and how the breed of dog doesnt matter. We do bite work in the demo but always do a friendly greeting before and after. We only take SAFE DOGS that are well trained.
Sometimes for socialization we will take a pup, or young dog.

In terms of the Malinois, I fear the future. I try and protect the breed as best as I can. However, I am aware their are many who simply do not care. Its the quick buck they are after. And the consumer and the breed will pay in the end.

I dont believe in rounding up the wagons and preventing people from owning the breed. I think we must be more discriminating to those who get the breed.

Their are countless good potential owners out there which will provide a good working home, companionship and care to the breed. They are good ambassadors for the breed and if we dont allow them to own the breed. We are doing the breed a disservice. Again I believe it is the selection process just as in anything else.

Leo Hinojosa
www.malinoisdesdomaineduhinojosa.com

Type of dogs owned: Belgian Malinois

Leo,
Your correct IMO. I also do bite prevention demos for kids and schools. The way I always introduce my demo dog is by letting the kids come up a few at at time and pet him and get licks and stuff. So the kids have no idea what their going to see after I'm done yackying my jaws a bit. They are suprised to see him turned on and then turn off. I show them that to explain that even a nice dog can become protective (which looks mean to kids) over items they feel the need to protect, IE.. yards, the dogs kennel space and dog house, the dogs toys. Because kids tend to think well I play with little jonny's dog all the time so I'll just go into his backyard and get my ball back, and are shocked when the dog attacks and then the story is that dog was unpredictable, no he is not he was put in that situation by a non-pack member coming into his den when the alpha wasn't there. All this I explain, But when the news will only give you 15-20 seconds of air time, it's not worth it because the TV audiance won't get the half hour juicy info leading up to the dog working. The vast majority of non-PP dog people think only police have dogs trained like this. Some freak out when they think a citizen has a "killer police dog" as if the civilian isn't qualified to own such. Of course that is just unknowingly to them almost all Police dogs come from civilians and on a ratio basis IMO civilians are more qualified than most K9 officers to handle and train these dogs, but the problem is trying to fit all of this and more in a 20sec clip. You could be filming for 2hours but you won't be in the editing room and you won't know what of that 2hrs will be condeced into 20sec. I am all for bite prevention demos, it's the news coverage I see a problem with. If someone sees it on TV and has questions about safty or whatever, who are they going to ask? they will be left to draw conclusions, in a class setting you can take time to make that person understand, again on TV you have 20sec.

As for protecting the Malinois. a couple of times I have been training at a park and had some unsavoury characters see the training and was in AWWW. I over heard them saying aww man, I got to get me some sh-it like that , that mutha f'er bad. They asked me before I left what kinda dog was that I smiled and said a GSD. You can hear them saying, yeah man I knew thats what that was. Even when doing bite prevention classes I never comment on the breed I'm using, but when asked I do say GSD I never say the word Malinois around non-dog people.

Type of dogs owned: Malinuts

Chris, let's try to help the GSD too. GSD's has enough of this already. For the sake of the GSD tell them it's a mixed breed. If they don't know what a Mal is then they'll believe you. See ya in Ga.
Jerry L. Lyda
Quality K9 Concepts

Type of dogs owned: GSD