Malis and Dutch herders are very, very 'drivey' dogs and really not to be taken on unless you know what to do with that drive and/or are prepared to put in all the work and training. A recent film has resulted in my trainer (who is a professional dog handler and works an IGP3 Mali in competition) gain a lot of new customers' dogs for residential training when they realise what they've got on their hands. I've been privileged enough to watch and sometimes assist him work with some of these dogs; they come in dangerously chaotic and need fine tuning to be manageable, 'nice' dogs. Pure agility or obedience is boring for them and my trainer tells me they are not popular among the KC working trials set as they are viewed as too driven, too 'hard' for that, where they like border collies, labs and less physical GSDs. In short, working line Malis and Dutch herders live to work and they don't do well as 'part timers'. I love my trainer's Mali and he (luckily) loves me too; he's very sociable and gives excellent hugs, is amazing to watch in action and I really wish he was mine. And then I really don't! I know how much work my trainer still has to put in with him every single day, several times a day and then I look at my sleeping beast who has run about for an hour today, done a bit of training and been comatose ever since.