The Ling Dogs

11/08/2024

While this is mainly my dog account, we do have several cats! We’ve done a lot of work to make sure Hades can safely interact with and be loose around them. Hades is our Belgian Mal and has the highest drive in our house, so we wanted to make absolutely sure he understood that the cats are not to be eaten. While most of the time we are inside with the dogs, I do trust Hades to be alone with the cats for a couple hours.
Training: We’ve had cats before we got Hades, so while in the house as a puppy he was leashed, crated, or closed in the room we were in but still around them. I also took baby steps to having him off leash next to me with a treat or toy while we watched the cats play and dart around without engaging them. When his prey drive began to develop, and he had a foundation of not chasing the cats, we let him get closer to our more docile cats. We corrected roughness in any form, and focusing or staring too intently, and praised gentler interactions. At the final stage, we added in an ecollar, bomb proofed his ‘leave it’ command, and these pictures are the product. I trust my dog, BUT we still keep an eye on him and correct him for any fixating or play that’s a little too rough. It took me, as the advocate for both my high drive dog, AND the cats, at least a year and a half of WORK to build this trust. So please, enjoy the culmination of what happens when a great dog, patience, and training come together.

DISCLAIMER: some dogs will take years to get to a safe place around small animals. Some may never be able to coexist. Please research the breed you’re getting, the types of drives they might possess, how much drive you should expect (even if it’s not exact, knowing whether you’re getting a couch potato or an energizer bunny will better prepare you) and be honest with both your breeders and rescues if you have or live close to small animals and children. Even if you don’t pay for training, connect with other trainers and working dog groups to help prevent any issues or tragedies.

10/20/2024

Introducing baby Athena! My husband decided he wanted his own shepherd so after a little searching, we found a female German shepherd that was 5 months old. The first picture is the second visit, but to be honest we knew she picked my husband the first time we met her! She’s settled in nicely with Hades and Apollo. She and Hades are best friends and Apollo is enjoying not having to babysit Hades! She’s sharp as a tack and it’s been interesting to watch all the dogs learn from each other both in training and naturally in their environment. Hopefully we’ll have some training videos soon for what we’ve been up to with all three of them! She is now 9 months old and getting bigger every day!

12/17/2023

🎄🦝🌲

12/09/2023

Hades v the cats! This bomb ass dog amazes me every time we train. We did this a few days ago and again today. The only other training he’s had with the cats is being led to and from his crate by his collar while being told to leave it when he fixated on the cats. Swipe to see how much he used to hate the cats (to be fair the one in the video egged him on). Always such fun to see how brilliant he is!

11/27/2023

⚠️ HARD TRUTH:

🗣️ "𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗴𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗻."

11/26/2023

It’s been a while so here’s a reintroduction post! Hi! My name is Lindsey, and I love learning about dog training, body language, and communication between humans and animals through training and daily life. My goal is to share some of the things I’ve learned to help everyday pet parents manage life with their dogs for happy teams! I am mostly self taught and I’ll make mistakes. I started with Apollo, a white German shepherd who is now 6.5 years old. He’s a brilliant, forgiving dog and has allowed us both to continuously learn through our mistakes. Last year, I moved in with my now husband, Ashton, and his 7 yr old Pomeranian, Max. We then got my next dream dog, a Belgian Malinois. Hades is now a year old and we’re working his obedience until I can send him to be protection trained. While some of his everyday training will be different from pets, I’ll largely be using him as a demo dog so you can see real problems, correction both for myself and him, and progress. Feel free to ask questions or leave us comments!

11/24/2023

My dream dog🥰🥰 Hades, 1 yr old Belgian malinois

11/21/2023

“The eyes are a window to the soul”
Mals- no, no, it’s definitely the teeth.

03/22/2023

Todays training blooper. Chaotic Malinios probs.🥴😂 Hades-57,642 Me-0

02/22/2023

Oh, my boy. I can’t believe you’ll be 7 this year. You’ve been with me through everything. From apartment to apartment, different cities, many friends made and lost both 2- and 4- legged, from lows to highs, you’ve been right beside me. You are my first, my heart dog, and you taught me so much through our mistakes and victories. I hope you live forever, and I’ll celebrate your 7th birthday with happiness but watching you sleep right now I feel time pulling at us and had to capture all we’ve been through and how much I love you. Thank you and even though we’ve added many more furry siblings, don’t worry, my heart just grows bigger. You’ll never lose your spot, my love. To many more years with you, Apollo.

01/15/2023

Finally getting settled down enough to start daily walks! I’ve definitely let Apollo get sloppy with his leash manners but he didn’t totally forget everything. Hades actually did really well and I was super impressed with his attention on me throughout the walk even with all the new smells and sights!

01/09/2023

The way he looks at meeeeee🥰🥰🥰🥰

12/19/2022

12/19/2022

We’ve been renovating every part of the house since we moved so I haven’t taken a lot of videos of working with Hades. But we’re learning together. Tonight we’re working on house rules and chilling out with us. Cats are still a work in progress though😅😅

11/10/2022

Alright! It’s time for the reveal! After what feels like a lifetime of waiting, I was able to get my dream puppy. Hades is a 3 month old Belgian Malinois who will grow up to be my personal protection dog! We’ll be posting plenty of new training videos very soon so you can follow along with our journey! Apollo has done really well with moving to a new house and adding 4 new animals and a boyfriend to his daily routine! We’re still only letting him out with everyone under heavy supervision to make sure his size doesn’t get any of the babies hurt. He’s also learning about my boyfriends 7 yr old Pomeranian, Max, and the other 2 new babies are 3 month old kittens, Artemis and Helios!

10/30/2022

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here and we’ve been through a lot of changes. And many more to come! We’re about 5-6 days out from more big changes but until the reveal, here’s a sweet moment while I groom him. I’ve been brushing and blow drying apollo since he was a puppy so he knows the drill and it makes for some sweet bonding time with my boy🥰🥰 Also I’m not choking or restraining him, I’m just holding his skin to flatten it and loosen the undercoat with less pulling and effort on the brush.

01/27/2022

Getting some exercise with bae. While I despise the cold, Apollo loves it. Did a little bit of moving obedience during our cool down. I’m ashamed to say I’ve let life get in the way, and we’ve barely done any training lately. But here’s to getting back out there!

10/13/2021