September 26, 2022 • 27 mins
Julia joins us to talk about her one year old Belgian Malinois/Border Collie mix, Kilo.
She shares her training journey- getting a mix of two incredibly high energy, high drive working breeds. Breaking stereotypes about the breeds and training in a way that matched her values and works for her dog!
He's not a reactive boy. But with experience with reactive dogs and from hearing about others to the dog community. It has affected the way that they train and live their everyday life (in a good way).
He is one handsome and wonderful boy, and his account has been growing steadily in popularity. But things aren't always as glamorous as they look.
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/malinois_kilo
www.instagram.com/spicydogmama
www.instagram.com/mylittlepibble
Read it on the blog!
www.reesesnpieces.com
Email me: spicydogmama@gmail.com
Join our community on Facebook! Balancing Reactivity Canadian Dogs
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1107741093406927
A safe, supportive, and encouraging environment to share our stories, our wins and ask questions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cassidy (00:00):
Hello, hello and welcome to the Spicy Dog Mama
(00:03):
podcast. I'm your host, Cass,and I'm so happy to have you
here to hear mine and otherstories about raising puppies,
rescuing dogs, dealing withreactivity, or just going
through the journey of owning adog. We all can learn from each
other, whether that's from whatwe've done right or where we've
messed up. I'm always going tobe open and honest about what
I've been through and where I'vemade mistakes. Owning a dog is
(00:24):
both challenging and rewarding.
So let's talk about all of it,no sugarcoating. I'm not a
trainer, and I'm certainly noexpert. I'm just one spicy dog
mama, who had my fear aggressiverescue Reese, raised a puppy,
Rey, who was dog reactive andselective and work with my
golden boy Riley, who washyperactive and a resource
guarder. So today on episode 10,the final episode of season one,
we have Julia joining us to talkabout her one year old Belgian
(00:48):
Malinois/Border Collie mix,Kilo. Now if you're not familiar
with either of those breeds,pause this episode and Google
them now. These are twohigh-energy, high-drive, super
athletic, working breeds.
Absolutely incredible dogs. Igot to know Julia and Kilo
through Instagram but we'venever met. She has become a
(01:09):
wonderful friend of mine andI've loved watching her work
with Kilo and see them both growover the last few months. She
will admit that her life withKilo isn't for everyone because
he is such a high energy dog.
They spend so much time trainingevery single day and doing
activities to fulfill his needs.
It's not always as glamorous asit looks. So let's hear her
(01:30):
story.
Easiest thing to do, jump rightinto it. So tell me about
yourself. Tell everybody elsewho you are.
Julia (01:52):
My name is Julia. I think that like I don't have much to
say about myself. I have Kilo.
He's my one year old BelgianMalinois Border Collie cross. I
am a full time nurse. I actuallyjust got a permanent position
there. But I'm a cat mom ofthree.
Cassidy (02:12):
Yeah, yeah, word on the street is you're more of a cat
person than a dog person.
Julia (02:16):
That might be true
Cassidy (02:18):
We will except you anyways. Yes, we love kilo. He's
amazing. I was trying to findout when we started following
each other on Instagram, becauseit was only this year.
Julia (02:31):
I think you were one of the first accounts that I was
like, Oh, I'm gonna follow thisperson, and then actually make a
connection with which is reallyawesome.
Cassidy (02:40):
Is kilo, your first dog?
Julia (02:44):
He is, I guess, technically like my first dog.
But when I was growing up, weadopted a German Shepherd cross.
(03:04):
I think it was in like theeighth grade. And that was our
family dog. And then a little...
probably about five years ago,Josh adopted a Blue Tick Hound.
So I guess he was our dog. ButKilo's like my first ever, like,
just mine.
Cassidy (03:24):
So a German Shepherd and the Blue Tick Hound. And now
Malinois. So it sounds like youlike you're working breeds.
Julia (03:31):
I do like the working breeds, for sure. They're fun to
work with. I find like they'reso smart. And they catch on to
things so quickly. But they'realso incredibly active.
Cassidy (03:45):
So a Malinois and a border collie. Two pretty
high-energy, high-drive dogs.
Julia (03:52):
I don't know who decided that it was a great combination.
But Kilo's turned out reallywell.
Cassidy (04:00):
And look at him. He's so cute. He's so handsome.
Julia (04:04):
He doesn't look much like a border collie either. Like he
looks like he got a lot of theMalinois gene for sure. But no,
I think like the two high energybreeds together they could be a
nightmare or you could work withtheir strenghts and it's like
anawesome wonder dog which Ithink we are well on the way to.
Cassidy (04:26):
No, I'd say so. And like two very smart dogs. So
yeah, it could go very poorly inthe wrong hands, but also having
a dog who's so smart and like soeager to learn it's so fun when
you actually do put the work inand train them so it's been just
watching you guys like he's sogood. I just love it. Rey just
(04:48):
doesn't train the same way orlike doesn't have the same drive
like the Frisbee for example,working with him and doing all
of that, Rey would like to playfetch, but it's a completely
different... they're twocompletely different breeds.
Julia (04:59):
Yeah. I feel like with him because he zones in so much
and his drive is so high likefor his frisbee for instance, I
find treats he's not like superdriven for, balls kind of but
whenever his frisbees out, it'slike this intense like,
fixation. Oh, he's ready. So Iuse that as a training tool a
(05:21):
lot, actually.
Cassidy (05:23):
Yeah, it's good to know what works with them.
Julia (05:26):
Yeah. Oh, for sure. But no, like regular dogs. Like when
you bring out a Frisbee, they'relike, Oh, this is fun. This is
great. Kilos like, this is myjob.
Cassidy (05:36):
When you were looking for a puppy, like, Were you
looking for a Malinois, or aborder collie? Like did you come
across him? Or, how did thathappen?
Julia (05:43):
So I've always been fascinated by the Malinois
breed. I know that they're avery, like, intense dog. A lot
of people say like, do not getone as your first dog. They can
be unpredictable and crazy. ButI like a challenge. And I was
looking specifically for theMalinois, I was okay, I have
(06:07):
wanted to get a shepherd but Iknow that sometimes they do have
a lot of health problems. So wefound that the Malinois was, but
kind of similar to the shepherdbreed, but smaller. And it was
about, I want to say like sevenmonths after our blue tick hound
passed away. So we were in theright space to get a dog and I
(06:28):
found his litter. And I reachedout to this breeder, and she was
talking about how awesome likehis mom is, which was the
Belgian Malinois and then hisdad, which was the Border
Collie. Yeah, the first thingthat I looked for was for them
to have a really good offswitch, because I knew that I
wanted to have eventually afamily dog and one that would be
(06:50):
really good around other people.
Like the high drive malinois. Iwanted to find like a good
balance. So that was reallyimportant in picking him. Yeah,
that's kind of like, how wefound him. And then speaking
with the breeder, she wastalking about how wonderful her
dog was, said that, like hismom, whose name is Cinder? She
(07:12):
would work for anybody. She wasgreat around kids. The puppies
were raised around kids and acat. So it kind of all pieced
together.
Cassidy (07:23):
Yeah, yeah. Did you get to meet the parents?
Julia (07:26):
I got to meet his mom.
She was there when we went topick him up. And then we went to
first see him. And her like,drive and everything was like
exactly what I was like, This isgreat for malinois, super
connected to her owner. But insaying that, I thought that Kilo
(07:51):
would have a little bit more ofthat, like, fixation on us and
like desire to work for us. Butwhen we're out and about, he's
kind of like in lala land. Likehe would rather be sniffing the
grass than listening to everysingle command that we have.
Cassidy (08:08):
Do you take like a Frisbee with you to try to get
that attention back?
Julia (08:12):
Sometimes I do. Um, usually I bring like, treats
with me just because it'seasier. But that being said,
like he doesn't have that, like,desire to have treats when he's
fixated on something else whenwe're out and about, he just
thinks that the whole world ishere to see him. So it's like,
this is my social time. Like I'mgoing out to meet people and see
(08:35):
people.
Cassidy (08:36):
Yeah, making sure that he's good with people and dogs.
Julia (08:39):
No, it's awesome. Because he's, he's pretty good around
other dogs. And he loves people.
But I think a big part of us,like raising him was trying to
get him to love everybody andlove everything. Because our
like, my family's dog isincredibly reactive. Like she...
you can go out like when she wasyounger, you could go on a walk
with her and she'd be so fixatedon other dogs. And she'd be
(09:02):
like, like whining, and she'sreally antsy and you couldn't do
anything to get her attentionaway. And she had gotten into a
few altercations with dogs, too.
But at the same time, she wasn'tcomfortable with it. She gave
her warning signs. And I don'tthink we saw that clearly. Our
(09:22):
Blue Tick was also a rescue. Andhe had I don't think he ever met
more than just one other dogthat he had kind of grown up
with. So he didn't know how toact around other dogs, he was
very reactive. He hadn't gonefor many walks in this lifetime
until we got him. And that was ahuge challenge too. So I think
(09:43):
like our past experiences droveus to try to create this like
super social friendly dog and Ithink that's really similar to
like with Rey. It kind of turnsaround and bites you in the
butt, I think it either turnsinto like them being reactive in
a way that they want to like,see other dogs and they don't
(10:05):
want to focus on you, or itcould turn around and it could
be a whole other, like with Rey.
Like she saw other altercations.
And now she gets super anxious.
Cassidy (10:17):
Yeah. So she still loves dogs. And she's still so
excited to see them. And thenshe gets right nervous at the
same time, like she getsanxious, and especially if she
sees them. Like this morning, wewere walking with our neighbor
and his dog, and she loves thisother dog. But then when another
dog on the street went to say hito Coco, our neighbor, Rey got
really anxious. And I just hadto give space because she, I
(10:40):
think she just always assumesthe worst. Like, what if a fight
happens? I want to take care ofthe dog. So that's been hard.
But yeah, like I over socializedher. And then she just saw the
wrong scenarios. But in thebeginning, it was like I had the
reactive dog. I want to doeverything to make sure that she
loves people and loves dogs. Andfor the longest time, it was
going great. Yeah. Until itwasn't.
Julia (11:01):
We kind of line up in that sense too. There's a limit
on it, definitely.
Cassidy (11:08):
Yeah, and it's learning and trial and error and figure
things out as you go makingthose mistakes and learning from
them. And then learning fromother people's mistakes is super
helpful. Yeah. So hopefully lesspeople have to make the
mistakes. But sometimes you justdo, or it's so different for
every dog, that me doingsomething that I've considered a
mistake, you could do the exactsame thing and it could go
(11:30):
perfectly fine.
Julia (11:32):
So I think that was our experience, like our friends all
had dogs that were like a yearolder than kilo, and a lot of
them go to dog parks. So webrought him once, which I was
very weary of. He did reallywell. But I think too like in
the same sense, it was kind ofharmful for him because he has
dogs like run up and rush him.
And now he kind of was like, Ohmy gosh, like when other dogs
(11:53):
are coming like into my space,and then he puts up a little
guard and he puts his hackles upand 'I'm a big dog, I can do
this'. And I'm worried that itwill turn into something else.
But I think we have a prettygood handle on that.
Cassidy (12:11):
Yeah, yeah, no, keep going on it like you are.
So when you got him and you saidthat he wasn't as fixated on you
and like going for walks, he'smore interested in other things.
Has the training process beengoing the way you thought it
(12:33):
would?
Julia (12:33):
I think I set a lot of really high expectations for him
and myself. And I kind of justthought that, oh yeah, this is a
puppy. But he knows things! Likehe should be acting this way, he
should be doing this. I had totake into account that 'No, he's
still a baby'. And there's timeswe're like, he's not going to
(12:54):
understand the situation, I'mgoing to have to help him
through it. But like, I firstwould bring him into the
backyard tire him out with around of fetch. And then we
would go on a walk. But he wouldstill like he's just so like,
like flustered. You could tellif people were walking by he'd
be jumping up at them and likestand on his back legs and
(13:16):
actually got somebody commentingonce we were going for a walk
and they're like, "oh, good luckwith that one". And like, I just
feel defeated right now.
Cassidy (13:25):
That's just not nice.
Julia (13:28):
It was really unkind for sure. But I thought it was
really frustrating the fact thatlike, I couldn't get him to
focus on me when we were out andabout because he was so focused
on other things. And I wouldactually just go on trail walks
with him, like I would drivesomewhere to trail and avoid
like the busier areas, becauseit would frustrate me so much.
(13:50):
And then when I would try goingaround to, on our like
neighborhood streets. You know,I just felt like giving up. So I
would come home early, and wewould go for a shorter walk. But
he was like doing typical dogthings he was playing right. He
didn't understand like leashpressure. When other dogs are
coming here, he'd get reallyanxious and like, Yeah, I think
(14:13):
just like those typical dogthings that they do, especially
when he was a baby. And we werelike welcoming people to come
and say hi to him and bring yourdog. And so I think he kind of
expected that.
Cassidy (14:27):
For so long, he's allowed to say hi to everybody.
And then all of a sudden, oh,wait, I can't.
Julia (14:31):
Yeah, so it's like finding times that we do like
focused walks and then we'llhave a break in it.
Cassidy (14:40):
Yeah, training a malinois, like figuring out what
like drives him. And you know, Ijust want to hear your
experience with it too.
Julia (14:47):
Yeah, I joined a few Malinois Facebook groups before
getting him and bringing himhome and a lot of them are using
training tools. That's somethingthat my trainer, who's my
cousin, and then she is forcedfree, positive reinforcement. So
we went along with that, which Ihadn't seen many people do with
(15:10):
the Malinois breed before sothey can do it 100%, he's great
for that. Um, but there wastimes where I was like, oh,
like, should I use a trainingtool? Like, is this something
that I should use? Becauseeverybody else is using them for
his breed? But no, it's a very,like, he's a very high drive
(15:30):
dog. But he has a lot of reallyamazing qualities too. Like if
you met him in person, you wouldbe like, what this is a
Malinois? Like he's so like,chill and goofy. And he's not
like that super intense kind of,he's a pretty like, easy chill,
dude.
Cassidy (15:50):
Well, that's the thing is like when you're trying to
figure out how to train yourdog, you want to look at their
breed and their makeup and trainaccordingly. But he's also just,
they're their own dogs at thesame time, too. So you have to
look at the dog that you'reworking with. And you know, if
what you're doing is working forhim.
Julia (16:06):
He will respond really well to the positive
reinforcement. He's super smart,super quick learner, like
willing to work. Because he'snot like a super reactive, dude.
I don't really know if I canspeak to that as much.
Cassidy (16:20):
But like, that's the thing too. Like, I want to hear
other experiences. It's not likea reactive only podcast. It's
just like, is it the spicy dog?
Mama? Are we the spicy dog-Mama,is like you can be spicy and
don't have a reactive dog. So Ijust like hearing about
different experiences, right? Sothe dog community, the dog world
(16:40):
is a spicy place.
Julia (16:45):
I was gonna say I feel like a lot of people can, like
connect to having a reactive dogand to having a more like,
mellow dude, or like, problemsof being interested in them in
case something comes up. I thinkthat's why I'm so like,
intrigued with like, I don'tknow, is that the wrong word?
Intrigued with like the reactivedogs? I am. Because I'm like,
(17:08):
oh, like, if something like thatever happened with us? I would
know how to respond. And yeah, Ithink prior to because there's a
lot of people that talk aboutdogs being off leash and running
up to other dogs. Before likeseeing the reactive side of
Instagram. And people were likerunning into those scenarios.
Both Josh and I were kind oflike, Oh, whatever. Like if that
(17:29):
happens, it's not a huge deal.
And even like with letting Kilooff leash, he does not have a
reliable recall at all- I guessthat's one of our big things
with him. Ya know, likelistening to like, dogs being
charged by off-leash dogs. Likeoh, Kilo runs up to another dog.
He's great. Yeah, he's friendly.
(17:49):
He's a friendly guy. And then Iheard about that. I'm like, Oh
my gosh, like, what if he wasthe one that was to get
seriously injured by running toanother dog? Right. And then I
think going to the dog park tohaving like, six dogs run at
him. I'm like, Oh my gosh, like,I wouldn't like have six people
(18:09):
ran up at me. So.
Cassidy (18:13):
Yeah, exactly. I think that there's so much that
reactive dog owners can learnfrom non reactive dog owners and
vice versa. Just like your dogbeing super friendly running off
leash, you might not have everconsidered it before. But that's
why we're trying to tell peoplelike okay, this is what could go
wrong. And your dog is also atrisk. And I also do think too,
(18:33):
there's so much pressure to havea dog that can be off leash and
have like, perfect recall. But Ithink too, like so what if your
dog has to be on a long line onadventures? It's okay to have a
dog on a long line like doesn'tmean that you're any less of a
handler that your dog is anyless of a dog.
Julia (18:53):
Yeah, and I think that was a big thing for us too. Our
friends, their dogs are all offleash and they're amazing. So I
feel like we have a little bitmore pressure to like be able to
do that with Kilo but he's justnot the right dog for that at
least not right now. I've had alot of like pressure on myself
too and like oh, he should beable to do this. I was gonna say
I think it's kind of cool like,having a Malinois that is like,
(19:18):
super friendly and he likedefies all of the stereotypes of
the Mals he's so friendly, he'slike he's pretty good with other
dogs. There's a few times wherehe's kind of gotten scarred off
with them. He is such a goodfamily dog. He will do anything
for anyone; he loves people. Ieven had the vet when we first
(19:38):
got him they were like oh youneed to get him neutered right
away because he's gonna bevicious and like we won't be
able to take care of him. If hecomes into the to the clinic and
like you do not know my dog likesure you know, the stereotype of
the Mals but he is not that it.
He' sleep all day on the couchif he could.
Cassidy (20:00):
Did you watch the movie with? Was it with Channing Tatum
and there was a Malinois on it?
Julia (20:05):
I did. And there was a few parts of it that I'm like,
okay, yeah, like Mals could belike that. And I know there's a
lot of people who after thatwere buying Malinois without any
experience, which is reallyscary. There's a lot of people
that breed them with all oflike, terrible traits.
Cassidy (20:27):
They want them to be the really intense working
breed, but are they going tomake sure that they go to the
homes that are going to trainthem.
Julia (20:32):
That's like a really scary thing, because these
people are gonna have these dogswho, you know, they think are
like, yes, they can be reallyloyal, but cool. They are
unpredictable sometimes. But no,I think it'd be really neat to
like, our account is growinglike, quite drastically. And
it's kind of neat for people tosee them all in a different
(20:54):
light, like going for theseadventures and getting dressed
up in cute little bow ties.
Yeah. No, I think it'll be kindof neat for people to see like,
you can have a Mal that doesn'tdo bite work, that does like
cool sports, like agility.
Cassidy (21:12):
You're gonna fulfill his needs, because he is a
working breed. And he does needto, you know, have a job, but
you're gonna fulfill him indifferent ways.
Julia (21:20):
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, like, put that energy onto
something else.
Cassidy (21:24):
Do you wish that you had have done anything
differently with him?
Julia (21:28):
Ah, there's a few things I could think of. Number one
being not greeting everybodyevery time we went on a walk.
Yeah. Number two, every time wewould get home when he was a
puppy, we would get up in hisface and give him love and let
him kiss us. And now that he'solder, he wants to see everybody
(21:49):
he can, he jumps up when peoplecome into our house because he
just wants to be so close totheir faces. Aside from that,
probably practicing recall more.
Cassidy (22:03):
Just general, puppy things that you learn on the way
because what's cute when they'rea puppy? Get to think about
okay, is this going to be cutewhen they're maybe 80 pounds? I
know he's not 80 pounds, is he50?
Julia (22:15):
He's 50, just a small little guy.
Cassidy (22:18):
Yeah, he is.
Julia (22:20):
Um, I think because we had like the idea of like, this
being like a super high driveMalinois, that's super intense.
We nipped a lot of things in thebud right away. So like, touch
us with his teeth or bite us. Wewould like right away be like no
(22:40):
way that's not happening. Wewere playing with him if he made
contact with our hands, which Imean, worked out really well for
us. Yeah. And another thing thatI wish we did, I wanted to get a
dog for my own mental healthtoo, and to get me out of the
house and being more active. AndI love being in quiet spots. So
(23:03):
a lot of like trail walks andthat kind of stuff. As a puppy,
I wish that we brought him tobusier areas, because we can go
downtown in our little town.
It's like, I don't even I thinkwe have like, oh, no, I can't
even speak to how many peoplelive here. Three traffic lights,
I don't know if that puts itinto perspective. But if you go
along to like the main drag, heshuts down a little bit because
(23:27):
he hears all those fast carsgoing by. And that's really kind
of like, I don't know what todo. So he walks perfectly, which
is nice. But you can tell thathe's just super shut down. So
I've exposed him to that alittle bit more.
Cassidy (23:44):
Yeah, it's hard when I moved to the city last year with
Rey. And she isn't fearful ofpeople or cars. Like none of
that bothers her. But then wewere walking by a construction
site. And I didn't even thinkanything of it. But yeah, she
had never seen a constructionsite with all that noise. And
she was very, like, I don't wantto be anywhere near this. So we
(24:05):
didn't go into the city everwith her when she was a puppy.
And then we're just living here.
It's like, okay, we have tofigure this out very quickly. So
a lot of exposure now.
Julia (24:16):
It's tough tpo especially like for him being out on a walk
and not really engaging with usa lot like he does more. So now
we've been working on it a lot.
But like going to those bigspaces where he didn't feel
comfortable around all thosecars and everything but at the
same time he was like, Whatshould I look at? What should I
do and getting him to realize weare here for you, it's on us
(24:36):
we'll guide us through this. Sothat was a learning curve. We're
still working on it, but I wouldrather go on a trail walk. Yeah.
Cassidy (24:46):
Yeah, me too.
Julia (24:48):
We went to like a big pet expo thing in London, Ontario.
And there were so many dogsaround so many vendors, so many
people and he did so well, whichwas a big training win. But no
Yeah. I think those are like themain things that I would have
(25:09):
worked on a little bit more as apuppy- more exposure in busy
areas. Recall. That's prettymuch it.
Cassidy (25:20):
So starting a podcast and having almost no clue what
to do, using brand new software,sometimes you lose the remainder
of your hour and a halfconversation. Thank you Julia
for talking with me, we at leaststill had some good talk in this
little piece. And that justmeans you'll have to be back
later to talk about the rest andsee where your journey has taken
both you and Kilo. Julia isdoing amazing work. Kilo is
(25:44):
turning into such an incredibleand handsome boy. I am so glad
that I know them and can watchthem both and hopefully actually
be able to meet someday. Reywould love it, that's for sure.
You can follow their adventureson Instagram @malinois_kilo, you
just have to see his sweet faceand their amazing adventures and
training. He's not a reactiveboy. But with experience with
(26:06):
reactive dogs and from hearingabout others in the dog
community. It has affected theway that they train and live
their everyday life (in a goodway). That's why I love sharing
all sides and stories andjourneys. So we can all continue
to learn. As I mentionedearlier, this is the end of
season one. I'm going to takesome time off for myself so that
I don't get burnt out. Iabsolutely love what this has
(26:27):
turned into. I'm making so manyconnections, having incredible
conversations and learning somuch. The last thing that I want
is for this to feel like achore. I will be active on
social media @spicydogmama, Reywill be posting all of her
selfies @mylittlepibble so youcan find us there. If you
enjoyed this episode and thisentire season of 10 episodes.
(26:50):
Please please please let meknow. Like rate review follow
subscribe, share with yourfriends reach out, I want to
hear your thoughts and getconnected with you. You can
email me atspicydogmama@gmail.com And if
you have a story that you wantto tell, I would love to hear
it. If you want to be a guest onthe show in the next season.
Let's do it. We can talk forfive minutes or for an hour.
(27:11):
Let's share your story. Enjoythe next few weeks without
hearing my voice. I love you.
You're doing amazing.
Hello, hello and welcome to the Spicy Dog Mama
(00:03):
podcast. I'm your host, Cass,and I'm so happy to have you
here to hear mine and otherstories about raising puppies,
rescuing dogs, dealing withreactivity, or just going
through the journey of owning adog. We all can learn from each
other, whether that's from whatwe've done right or where we've
messed up. I'm always going tobe open and honest about what
I've been through and where I'vemade mistakes. Owning a dog is
(00:24):
both challenging and rewarding.
So let's talk about all of it,no sugarcoating. I'm not a
trainer, and I'm certainly noexpert. I'm just one spicy dog
mama, who had my fear aggressiverescue Reese, raised a puppy,
Rey, who was dog reactive andselective and work with my
golden boy Riley, who washyperactive and a resource
guarder. So today on episode 10,the final episode of season one,
we have Julia joining us to talkabout her one year old Belgian
(00:48):
Malinois/Border Collie mix,Kilo. Now if you're not familiar
with either of those breeds,pause this episode and Google
them now. These are twohigh-energy, high-drive, super
athletic, working breeds.
Absolutely incredible dogs. Igot to know Julia and Kilo
through Instagram but we'venever met. She has become a
(01:09):
wonderful friend of mine andI've loved watching her work
with Kilo and see them both growover the last few months. She
will admit that her life withKilo isn't for everyone because
he is such a high energy dog.
They spend so much time trainingevery single day and doing
activities to fulfill his needs.
It's not always as glamorous asit looks. So let's hear her
(01:30):
story.
Easiest thing to do, jump rightinto it. So tell me about
yourself. Tell everybody elsewho you are.
Julia (01:52):
My name is Julia. I think that like I don't have much to
say about myself. I have Kilo.
He's my one year old BelgianMalinois Border Collie cross. I
am a full time nurse. I actuallyjust got a permanent position
there. But I'm a cat mom ofthree.
Cassidy (02:12):
Yeah, yeah, word on the street is you're more of a cat
person than a dog person.
Julia (02:16):
That might be true
Cassidy (02:18):
We will except you anyways. Yes, we love kilo. He's
amazing. I was trying to findout when we started following
each other on Instagram, becauseit was only this year.
Julia (02:31):
I think you were one of the first accounts that I was
like, Oh, I'm gonna follow thisperson, and then actually make a
connection with which is reallyawesome.
Cassidy (02:40):
Is kilo, your first dog?
Julia (02:44):
He is, I guess, technically like my first dog.
But when I was growing up, weadopted a German Shepherd cross.
(03:04):
I think it was in like theeighth grade. And that was our
family dog. And then a little...
probably about five years ago,Josh adopted a Blue Tick Hound.
So I guess he was our dog. ButKilo's like my first ever, like,
just mine.
Cassidy (03:24):
So a German Shepherd and the Blue Tick Hound. And now
Malinois. So it sounds like youlike you're working breeds.
Julia (03:31):
I do like the working breeds, for sure. They're fun to
work with. I find like they'reso smart. And they catch on to
things so quickly. But they'realso incredibly active.
Cassidy (03:45):
So a Malinois and a border collie. Two pretty
high-energy, high-drive dogs.
Julia (03:52):
I don't know who decided that it was a great combination.
But Kilo's turned out reallywell.
Cassidy (04:00):
And look at him. He's so cute. He's so handsome.
Julia (04:04):
He doesn't look much like a border collie either. Like he
looks like he got a lot of theMalinois gene for sure. But no,
I think like the two high energybreeds together they could be a
nightmare or you could work withtheir strenghts and it's like
anawesome wonder dog which Ithink we are well on the way to.
Cassidy (04:26):
No, I'd say so. And like two very smart dogs. So
yeah, it could go very poorly inthe wrong hands, but also having
a dog who's so smart and like soeager to learn it's so fun when
you actually do put the work inand train them so it's been just
watching you guys like he's sogood. I just love it. Rey just
(04:48):
doesn't train the same way orlike doesn't have the same drive
like the Frisbee for example,working with him and doing all
of that, Rey would like to playfetch, but it's a completely
different... they're twocompletely different breeds.
Julia (04:59):
Yeah. I feel like with him because he zones in so much
and his drive is so high likefor his frisbee for instance, I
find treats he's not like superdriven for, balls kind of but
whenever his frisbees out, it'slike this intense like,
fixation. Oh, he's ready. So Iuse that as a training tool a
(05:21):
lot, actually.
Cassidy (05:23):
Yeah, it's good to know what works with them.
Julia (05:26):
Yeah. Oh, for sure. But no, like regular dogs. Like when
you bring out a Frisbee, they'relike, Oh, this is fun. This is
great. Kilos like, this is myjob.
Cassidy (05:36):
When you were looking for a puppy, like, Were you
looking for a Malinois, or aborder collie? Like did you come
across him? Or, how did thathappen?
Julia (05:43):
So I've always been fascinated by the Malinois
breed. I know that they're avery, like, intense dog. A lot
of people say like, do not getone as your first dog. They can
be unpredictable and crazy. ButI like a challenge. And I was
looking specifically for theMalinois, I was okay, I have
(06:07):
wanted to get a shepherd but Iknow that sometimes they do have
a lot of health problems. So wefound that the Malinois was, but
kind of similar to the shepherdbreed, but smaller. And it was
about, I want to say like sevenmonths after our blue tick hound
passed away. So we were in theright space to get a dog and I
(06:28):
found his litter. And I reachedout to this breeder, and she was
talking about how awesome likehis mom is, which was the
Belgian Malinois and then hisdad, which was the Border
Collie. Yeah, the first thingthat I looked for was for them
to have a really good offswitch, because I knew that I
wanted to have eventually afamily dog and one that would be
(06:50):
really good around other people.
Like the high drive malinois. Iwanted to find like a good
balance. So that was reallyimportant in picking him. Yeah,
that's kind of like, how wefound him. And then speaking
with the breeder, she wastalking about how wonderful her
dog was, said that, like hismom, whose name is Cinder? She
(07:12):
would work for anybody. She wasgreat around kids. The puppies
were raised around kids and acat. So it kind of all pieced
together.
Cassidy (07:23):
Yeah, yeah. Did you get to meet the parents?
Julia (07:26):
I got to meet his mom.
She was there when we went topick him up. And then we went to
first see him. And her like,drive and everything was like
exactly what I was like, This isgreat for malinois, super
connected to her owner. But insaying that, I thought that Kilo
(07:51):
would have a little bit more ofthat, like, fixation on us and
like desire to work for us. Butwhen we're out and about, he's
kind of like in lala land. Likehe would rather be sniffing the
grass than listening to everysingle command that we have.
Cassidy (08:08):
Do you take like a Frisbee with you to try to get
that attention back?
Julia (08:12):
Sometimes I do. Um, usually I bring like, treats
with me just because it'seasier. But that being said,
like he doesn't have that, like,desire to have treats when he's
fixated on something else whenwe're out and about, he just
thinks that the whole world ishere to see him. So it's like,
this is my social time. Like I'mgoing out to meet people and see
(08:35):
people.
Cassidy (08:36):
Yeah, making sure that he's good with people and dogs.
Julia (08:39):
No, it's awesome. Because he's, he's pretty good around
other dogs. And he loves people.
But I think a big part of us,like raising him was trying to
get him to love everybody andlove everything. Because our
like, my family's dog isincredibly reactive. Like she...
you can go out like when she wasyounger, you could go on a walk
with her and she'd be so fixatedon other dogs. And she'd be
(09:02):
like, like whining, and she'sreally antsy and you couldn't do
anything to get her attentionaway. And she had gotten into a
few altercations with dogs, too.
But at the same time, she wasn'tcomfortable with it. She gave
her warning signs. And I don'tthink we saw that clearly. Our
(09:22):
Blue Tick was also a rescue. Andhe had I don't think he ever met
more than just one other dogthat he had kind of grown up
with. So he didn't know how toact around other dogs, he was
very reactive. He hadn't gonefor many walks in this lifetime
until we got him. And that was ahuge challenge too. So I think
(09:43):
like our past experiences droveus to try to create this like
super social friendly dog and Ithink that's really similar to
like with Rey. It kind of turnsaround and bites you in the
butt, I think it either turnsinto like them being reactive in
a way that they want to like,see other dogs and they don't
(10:05):
want to focus on you, or itcould turn around and it could
be a whole other, like with Rey.
Like she saw other altercations.
And now she gets super anxious.
Cassidy (10:17):
Yeah. So she still loves dogs. And she's still so
excited to see them. And thenshe gets right nervous at the
same time, like she getsanxious, and especially if she
sees them. Like this morning, wewere walking with our neighbor
and his dog, and she loves thisother dog. But then when another
dog on the street went to say hito Coco, our neighbor, Rey got
really anxious. And I just hadto give space because she, I
(10:40):
think she just always assumesthe worst. Like, what if a fight
happens? I want to take care ofthe dog. So that's been hard.
But yeah, like I over socializedher. And then she just saw the
wrong scenarios. But in thebeginning, it was like I had the
reactive dog. I want to doeverything to make sure that she
loves people and loves dogs. Andfor the longest time, it was
going great. Yeah. Until itwasn't.
Julia (11:01):
We kind of line up in that sense too. There's a limit
on it, definitely.
Cassidy (11:08):
Yeah, and it's learning and trial and error and figure
things out as you go makingthose mistakes and learning from
them. And then learning fromother people's mistakes is super
helpful. Yeah. So hopefully lesspeople have to make the
mistakes. But sometimes you justdo, or it's so different for
every dog, that me doingsomething that I've considered a
mistake, you could do the exactsame thing and it could go
(11:30):
perfectly fine.
Julia (11:32):
So I think that was our experience, like our friends all
had dogs that were like a yearolder than kilo, and a lot of
them go to dog parks. So webrought him once, which I was
very weary of. He did reallywell. But I think too like in
the same sense, it was kind ofharmful for him because he has
dogs like run up and rush him.
And now he kind of was like, Ohmy gosh, like when other dogs
(11:53):
are coming like into my space,and then he puts up a little
guard and he puts his hackles upand 'I'm a big dog, I can do
this'. And I'm worried that itwill turn into something else.
But I think we have a prettygood handle on that.
Cassidy (12:11):
Yeah, yeah, no, keep going on it like you are.
So when you got him and you saidthat he wasn't as fixated on you
and like going for walks, he'smore interested in other things.
Has the training process beengoing the way you thought it
(12:33):
would?
Julia (12:33):
I think I set a lot of really high expectations for him
and myself. And I kind of justthought that, oh yeah, this is a
puppy. But he knows things! Likehe should be acting this way, he
should be doing this. I had totake into account that 'No, he's
still a baby'. And there's timeswe're like, he's not going to
(12:54):
understand the situation, I'mgoing to have to help him
through it. But like, I firstwould bring him into the
backyard tire him out with around of fetch. And then we
would go on a walk. But he wouldstill like he's just so like,
like flustered. You could tellif people were walking by he'd
be jumping up at them and likestand on his back legs and
(13:16):
actually got somebody commentingonce we were going for a walk
and they're like, "oh, good luckwith that one". And like, I just
feel defeated right now.
Cassidy (13:25):
That's just not nice.
Julia (13:28):
It was really unkind for sure. But I thought it was
really frustrating the fact thatlike, I couldn't get him to
focus on me when we were out andabout because he was so focused
on other things. And I wouldactually just go on trail walks
with him, like I would drivesomewhere to trail and avoid
like the busier areas, becauseit would frustrate me so much.
(13:50):
And then when I would try goingaround to, on our like
neighborhood streets. You know,I just felt like giving up. So I
would come home early, and wewould go for a shorter walk. But
he was like doing typical dogthings he was playing right. He
didn't understand like leashpressure. When other dogs are
coming here, he'd get reallyanxious and like, Yeah, I think
(14:13):
just like those typical dogthings that they do, especially
when he was a baby. And we werelike welcoming people to come
and say hi to him and bring yourdog. And so I think he kind of
expected that.
Cassidy (14:27):
For so long, he's allowed to say hi to everybody.
And then all of a sudden, oh,wait, I can't.
Julia (14:31):
Yeah, so it's like finding times that we do like
focused walks and then we'llhave a break in it.
Cassidy (14:40):
Yeah, training a malinois, like figuring out what
like drives him. And you know, Ijust want to hear your
experience with it too.
Julia (14:47):
Yeah, I joined a few Malinois Facebook groups before
getting him and bringing himhome and a lot of them are using
training tools. That's somethingthat my trainer, who's my
cousin, and then she is forcedfree, positive reinforcement. So
we went along with that, which Ihadn't seen many people do with
(15:10):
the Malinois breed before sothey can do it 100%, he's great
for that. Um, but there wastimes where I was like, oh,
like, should I use a trainingtool? Like, is this something
that I should use? Becauseeverybody else is using them for
his breed? But no, it's a very,like, he's a very high drive
(15:30):
dog. But he has a lot of reallyamazing qualities too. Like if
you met him in person, you wouldbe like, what this is a
Malinois? Like he's so like,chill and goofy. And he's not
like that super intense kind of,he's a pretty like, easy chill,
dude.
Cassidy (15:50):
Well, that's the thing is like when you're trying to
figure out how to train yourdog, you want to look at their
breed and their makeup and trainaccordingly. But he's also just,
they're their own dogs at thesame time, too. So you have to
look at the dog that you'reworking with. And you know, if
what you're doing is working forhim.
Julia (16:06):
He will respond really well to the positive
reinforcement. He's super smart,super quick learner, like
willing to work. Because he'snot like a super reactive, dude.
I don't really know if I canspeak to that as much.
Cassidy (16:20):
But like, that's the thing too. Like, I want to hear
other experiences. It's not likea reactive only podcast. It's
just like, is it the spicy dog?
Mama? Are we the spicy dog-Mama,is like you can be spicy and
don't have a reactive dog. So Ijust like hearing about
different experiences, right? Sothe dog community, the dog world
(16:40):
is a spicy place.
Julia (16:45):
I was gonna say I feel like a lot of people can, like
connect to having a reactive dogand to having a more like,
mellow dude, or like, problemsof being interested in them in
case something comes up. I thinkthat's why I'm so like,
intrigued with like, I don'tknow, is that the wrong word?
Intrigued with like the reactivedogs? I am. Because I'm like,
(17:08):
oh, like, if something like thatever happened with us? I would
know how to respond. And yeah, Ithink prior to because there's a
lot of people that talk aboutdogs being off leash and running
up to other dogs. Before likeseeing the reactive side of
Instagram. And people were likerunning into those scenarios.
Both Josh and I were kind oflike, Oh, whatever. Like if that
(17:29):
happens, it's not a huge deal.
And even like with letting Kilooff leash, he does not have a
reliable recall at all- I guessthat's one of our big things
with him. Ya know, likelistening to like, dogs being
charged by off-leash dogs. Likeoh, Kilo runs up to another dog.
He's great. Yeah, he's friendly.
(17:49):
He's a friendly guy. And then Iheard about that. I'm like, Oh
my gosh, like, what if he wasthe one that was to get
seriously injured by running toanother dog? Right. And then I
think going to the dog park tohaving like, six dogs run at
him. I'm like, Oh my gosh, like,I wouldn't like have six people
(18:09):
ran up at me. So.
Cassidy (18:13):
Yeah, exactly. I think that there's so much that
reactive dog owners can learnfrom non reactive dog owners and
vice versa. Just like your dogbeing super friendly running off
leash, you might not have everconsidered it before. But that's
why we're trying to tell peoplelike okay, this is what could go
wrong. And your dog is also atrisk. And I also do think too,
(18:33):
there's so much pressure to havea dog that can be off leash and
have like, perfect recall. But Ithink too, like so what if your
dog has to be on a long line onadventures? It's okay to have a
dog on a long line like doesn'tmean that you're any less of a
handler that your dog is anyless of a dog.
Julia (18:53):
Yeah, and I think that was a big thing for us too. Our
friends, their dogs are all offleash and they're amazing. So I
feel like we have a little bitmore pressure to like be able to
do that with Kilo but he's justnot the right dog for that at
least not right now. I've had alot of like pressure on myself
too and like oh, he should beable to do this. I was gonna say
I think it's kind of cool like,having a Malinois that is like,
(19:18):
super friendly and he likedefies all of the stereotypes of
the Mals he's so friendly, he'slike he's pretty good with other
dogs. There's a few times wherehe's kind of gotten scarred off
with them. He is such a goodfamily dog. He will do anything
for anyone; he loves people. Ieven had the vet when we first
(19:38):
got him they were like oh youneed to get him neutered right
away because he's gonna bevicious and like we won't be
able to take care of him. If hecomes into the to the clinic and
like you do not know my dog likesure you know, the stereotype of
the Mals but he is not that it.
He' sleep all day on the couchif he could.
Cassidy (20:00):
Did you watch the movie with? Was it with Channing Tatum
and there was a Malinois on it?
Julia (20:05):
I did. And there was a few parts of it that I'm like,
okay, yeah, like Mals could belike that. And I know there's a
lot of people who after thatwere buying Malinois without any
experience, which is reallyscary. There's a lot of people
that breed them with all oflike, terrible traits.
Cassidy (20:27):
They want them to be the really intense working
breed, but are they going tomake sure that they go to the
homes that are going to trainthem.
Julia (20:32):
That's like a really scary thing, because these
people are gonna have these dogswho, you know, they think are
like, yes, they can be reallyloyal, but cool. They are
unpredictable sometimes. But no,I think it'd be really neat to
like, our account is growinglike, quite drastically. And
it's kind of neat for people tosee them all in a different
(20:54):
light, like going for theseadventures and getting dressed
up in cute little bow ties.
Yeah. No, I think it'll be kindof neat for people to see like,
you can have a Mal that doesn'tdo bite work, that does like
cool sports, like agility.
Cassidy (21:12):
You're gonna fulfill his needs, because he is a
working breed. And he does needto, you know, have a job, but
you're gonna fulfill him indifferent ways.
Julia (21:20):
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, like, put that energy onto
something else.
Cassidy (21:24):
Do you wish that you had have done anything
differently with him?
Julia (21:28):
Ah, there's a few things I could think of. Number one
being not greeting everybodyevery time we went on a walk.
Yeah. Number two, every time wewould get home when he was a
puppy, we would get up in hisface and give him love and let
him kiss us. And now that he'solder, he wants to see everybody
(21:49):
he can, he jumps up when peoplecome into our house because he
just wants to be so close totheir faces. Aside from that,
probably practicing recall more.
Cassidy (22:03):
Just general, puppy things that you learn on the way
because what's cute when they'rea puppy? Get to think about
okay, is this going to be cutewhen they're maybe 80 pounds? I
know he's not 80 pounds, is he50?
Julia (22:15):
He's 50, just a small little guy.
Cassidy (22:18):
Yeah, he is.
Julia (22:20):
Um, I think because we had like the idea of like, this
being like a super high driveMalinois, that's super intense.
We nipped a lot of things in thebud right away. So like, touch
us with his teeth or bite us. Wewould like right away be like no
(22:40):
way that's not happening. Wewere playing with him if he made
contact with our hands, which Imean, worked out really well for
us. Yeah. And another thing thatI wish we did, I wanted to get a
dog for my own mental healthtoo, and to get me out of the
house and being more active. AndI love being in quiet spots. So
(23:03):
a lot of like trail walks andthat kind of stuff. As a puppy,
I wish that we brought him tobusier areas, because we can go
downtown in our little town.
It's like, I don't even I thinkwe have like, oh, no, I can't
even speak to how many peoplelive here. Three traffic lights,
I don't know if that puts itinto perspective. But if you go
along to like the main drag, heshuts down a little bit because
(23:27):
he hears all those fast carsgoing by. And that's really kind
of like, I don't know what todo. So he walks perfectly, which
is nice. But you can tell thathe's just super shut down. So
I've exposed him to that alittle bit more.
Cassidy (23:44):
Yeah, it's hard when I moved to the city last year with
Rey. And she isn't fearful ofpeople or cars. Like none of
that bothers her. But then wewere walking by a construction
site. And I didn't even thinkanything of it. But yeah, she
had never seen a constructionsite with all that noise. And
she was very, like, I don't wantto be anywhere near this. So we
(24:05):
didn't go into the city everwith her when she was a puppy.
And then we're just living here.
It's like, okay, we have tofigure this out very quickly. So
a lot of exposure now.
Julia (24:16):
It's tough tpo especially like for him being out on a walk
and not really engaging with usa lot like he does more. So now
we've been working on it a lot.
But like going to those bigspaces where he didn't feel
comfortable around all thosecars and everything but at the
same time he was like, Whatshould I look at? What should I
do and getting him to realize weare here for you, it's on us
(24:36):
we'll guide us through this. Sothat was a learning curve. We're
still working on it, but I wouldrather go on a trail walk. Yeah.
Cassidy (24:46):
Yeah, me too.
Julia (24:48):
We went to like a big pet expo thing in London, Ontario.
And there were so many dogsaround so many vendors, so many
people and he did so well, whichwas a big training win. But no
Yeah. I think those are like themain things that I would have
(25:09):
worked on a little bit more as apuppy- more exposure in busy
areas. Recall. That's prettymuch it.
Cassidy (25:20):
So starting a podcast and having almost no clue what
to do, using brand new software,sometimes you lose the remainder
of your hour and a halfconversation. Thank you Julia
for talking with me, we at leaststill had some good talk in this
little piece. And that justmeans you'll have to be back
later to talk about the rest andsee where your journey has taken
both you and Kilo. Julia isdoing amazing work. Kilo is
(25:44):
turning into such an incredibleand handsome boy. I am so glad
that I know them and can watchthem both and hopefully actually
be able to meet someday. Reywould love it, that's for sure.
You can follow their adventureson Instagram @malinois_kilo, you
just have to see his sweet faceand their amazing adventures and
training. He's not a reactiveboy. But with experience with
(26:06):
reactive dogs and from hearingabout others in the dog
community. It has affected theway that they train and live
their everyday life (in a goodway). That's why I love sharing
all sides and stories andjourneys. So we can all continue
to learn. As I mentionedearlier, this is the end of
season one. I'm going to takesome time off for myself so that
I don't get burnt out. Iabsolutely love what this has
(26:27):
turned into. I'm making so manyconnections, having incredible
conversations and learning somuch. The last thing that I want
is for this to feel like achore. I will be active on
social media @spicydogmama, Reywill be posting all of her
selfies @mylittlepibble so youcan find us there. If you
enjoyed this episode and thisentire season of 10 episodes.
(26:50):
Please please please let meknow. Like rate review follow
subscribe, share with yourfriends reach out, I want to
hear your thoughts and getconnected with you. You can
email me atspicydogmama@gmail.com And if
you have a story that you wantto tell, I would love to hear
it. If you want to be a guest onthe show in the next season.
Let's do it. We can talk forfive minutes or for an hour.
(27:11):
Let's share your story. Enjoythe next few weeks without
hearing my voice. I love you.
You're doing amazing.
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