Beto, aka Burton LDS, participated ob. Belgian Sociable Test Saturday. The Belgians take their events quite seriously! He got two medals and a card to put in his workbook. All dogs that participate in any competition in Belgium must have passed this first. There were 5 groups of 7 per group! Then we ate a fancy lunch!!

Hopefully not his last medal, but we had fun!!

I did this in Belgium, on Saturday. In order to participate in any event in Belgium, the dogs here must pass a sociability test.  It is basically the equivalent of a BH, without the obedience portion. Chips are read, then dogs go individually through a group of people, then group closes in like in a BH.  Dog is then taken out of group, left on a sit and called into the group by handler. All designed to demonstrate that the dog can be around people safely.  As in a BH, dog is tied out and two other dogs are walked by at a reasonable distance. Looking for dog aggression issues.  When all have finished this (there were 35), the whole group goes to the road to check traffic sureness. Jogger, bicycle, car. That’s it.

Now, with the card I was issued, Beto is able to go on public transportation without a muzzle.  All dogs without the card must have a muzzle either on, or available.

The fun part of this is that Beto did not start out overly social, shall we say.  Now, using the amazing drive that he has, he has become quite a social butterfly. As I say with regularity……forget early puppy tests!  Especially with malinois!!!!

Thanks Michael. I love this dog!!!

Ann