Training Log: Two Belgian Malinois Sisters/Litter-Mates From Puppy to One Year

I'm only trying to promote best practices and whats possible with training, time and trust. I worked with shelter/rescue dogs and I am passionate about helping anyone who asks what has worked for me with these and previous dogs. Offering everything for free, volunteering at a shelter is highly encouraged to learn by playing, walking and helping is a win-win for everyone!

I have two Belgian Malinois puppies, end of April 2025 and end of May 2025 (respectively) and a rescue cat which is two years with me. They turned one year old March '26.

Lure (hand-feeding), Capture (rewarding nature behaviors), and Shaping (gradual small steps to task competence) are the pillars of training for me. Learning about body language, animal behavior and positive reinforcement psychology [please seek out peer-reviewed articles and scholarly journals] has been integral.

People often ask about specific issues i.e. potty, leash, reactive/fear, my approach is more slow burn and holistic, minutes through the day as part of routine that includes exposure to as many different places, scents, sounds and sights to build their confidence. Around the house I'll let them smell the things I'm working on so they're involved in the training process with me and not a top-down focus on rote repetition but channeling their working drive, curiosity and intrinsic motivation.

There are about 18-20 videos on my profile and I plan on uploading more from the past and as we training in the future. I'd highly recommend recording training sessions, I record them and lay in bed at night reviewing them (while dogs lay sleeping next to me). In the future I'll try to put together something more formal in writing but I tired to upload one video of each day this past week. There's also a nail trimming video, if you only clip two nails, clip two more the next day, keep it a positive experience and end on a high note.

The training I knew but didn't realize the technical terms aside from luring which while I've worked with dogs haven't heard of but trying to spread the method because it will make training so much faster, easier and opens so many possibilities for more complex training in the future, my dogs still prefer eating from my hand to eating from their bowls.