I need legitimate reasons why a Belgian is not a good idea
TL;DR My local shelter has another Belgian up for adoption. I have experience with Australian Shepherds, Australian Cattle Dogs, and German Shepherds. Im looking for reasons why I should NOT look at getting this dog. Please be kind, respectful and seriously educate me. If your here to drop off "gatekeeping" comments, please just skip my post ;)
Backstory: I have two kids, ages 3 and 1. Two cats, one senior one about a year and a half old very much a jerk cat. Lost my Aussie yesterday evening to an unforeseen medical crisis. He was 13 and was a very good dog. I owned his sister too but she passed due to a very different very traumatic medical complication. I was a horse trainer for a number of years and worked with some fairly high strung, hot headed, and quite frankly dangerous horses. I was a dog groomer for a number of years after that. My specialty was aggressive dogs and all types of shepherds. Ive also worked animal control and was the go to for aggressive dogs, shepherds, and dogs that were EXTREMELY dangerous. I am VERY confident in my ability to read dogs, situations, and behaviors that are the "warning signs". I jokingly call them "I wouldn't do that if I were you" looks. I owned two very high energy Australian shepherds. Both were literally insane in their early years. I very quickly learned how to work them mentally and was able to teach them an "off" button. My male, the one who just passed, was very food aggressive in the beginning. Were talking savaged me at just 10 weeks old. Both the dogs were turned into model citizens and just amazing dogs. Both were amazing dogs with my kids, cats, you name it. Please keep in mind, I never fully trusted or trust any dog around my children. My kids are FULLY supervised around other dogs and my own two dogs when they were still alive. I am also very aware cats are prey animals in situations with dogs. I live in apartment, yes Im aware im legit retarded rn but bare with me 💀, I live in the mountains of lower Arizona. I have hiking galore out here. Like right out of my doorstep hiking. My husband has a mountain bike and goes biking every weekday when he gets home. My best friend has one very high energy but very social dog and a large backyard. She would be another resource I would tap into for engaging play and mental stimulation. I am a SAHM with nothing but time on my hands. My kids go everywhere and the dog would go to about 70% of all functions/car rides/store visits/and playground trips. Both my Aussies were service animals that I paid for training. I did parallel training with them an learned quite a bit. Please drop me a blurb on why this is a HORRIBLE IDEA and please kindly tell me im an idiot. Im an idiot right? Please dont drop the whole "gatekeeping" this breed. I am well aware this breed is literally a crackhead with zero braincells, only must bite everything braincells.
Posted Jul 30, 2026, 2:07 PM UTC