I was just wondering how many folk here actually own,breed or in the past owned a Malinios /German shepherd crosses. What are your experiences,observation & opinion about the overall charter? Did the cross meet up too your expectations, Having the best of both worlds? I would love too see photos. as for I have been experimenting a bit myself lately & actually I still see Malinios with a slight difference in structure like most KNPV mals.

the one's that i saw at this years KNPV championships just looked like short haired, straight backed GSD's. two i remember had a very defined saddles.

there is another that is in our training group and he looks like a short haired sable GSD. another in a county just north of me has one and it looks more like a long haired mal. the appearances very quite a bit.

I have seen one once that looked like a GSD with Mal colouring. (It had the long back and more angled hind legs). It was about 5 months old. It was a very hard puppy with definite working drives.

Why would anyone want to 'Cross' in the first place two such fine breeds of Dogs is beyond me, Both are excellent at the job they do if trained by the right person, so what is the gain by messing about with genitices even more than it is done in the animal world now, and mostly not to the advantage of the animals, Leave a good thing alone thats my view. it makes me sad to read that some people are tampering with things which is in no way a possible benifit to the dogs

 Quote: Steve Patrick

Why would anyone want to 'Cross' in the first place two such fine breeds of Dogs is beyond me, Both are excellent at the job they do if trained by the right person, so what is the gain by messing about with genitices even more than it is done in the animal world now, and mostly not to the advantage of the animals, Leave a good thing alone thats my view. it makes me sad to read that some people are tampering with things which is in no way a possible benifit to the dogs

If people in the late 1800's / early 1900's had that view we wouldn't have the GSD as we know it, and I dare say the mal as well though I don't know about the history behind mals!

John

So, why then mess about with two Breeds of Dog which are competent in the work they already can perform at
Its a known fact, man messes around with Mother Nature,and you can go so far and then she rebels and says enough
If you have a good thing leave it alone

Steve,

I agree, I don't like the mixing of breeds on purpose (this from someone who has never owned a purebred) but sometimes you get an oopsie.

I remember once at a large event, they had an explosive-detection dog that was a 1/2 Malinois and 1/2 Rottweiller. It looked like a Malinois-coloured Rottweiller. The handler said he was an "accident" from one of the dogs getting out, but I had to give the agency kudos for not culling or selling the litter and still using them as working dogs!

 Quote: steve patrick

So, why then mess about with two Breeds of Dog which are competent in the work they already can perform at
Its a known fact, man messes around with Mother Nature, and you can go so far and then she rebels and says enough
If you have a good thing leave it alone

I hate to burst your bubble...well, not really. Man has been messing with mother nature for a long time, if he hadn't we would be trying to train wolves, coyotes, and foxes as PPD and PSD. We have the good things (GSD, Mal, Rott, Boxer, Corgi, Beagle, and any other breed you want to name) ONLY because people were not satisfied with what they had available. That is human nature. Most people aren't driving Model T Fords, working their fields with horses, using outhouses, or wearing the same styles of clothes their grandparents wore, either.

There are responsible breeders who are trying to improve the working abilities of already established breeds. There are also breeders taking those same breeds and selecting for traits that the founders of those breeds would be appalled at (work vs. show breeders). The same would also apply to people who breed companion animals.

I believe that ALL matings should be well thought out so that the resulting offspring can fulfill it's intended purpose, be that a mating within an established breed or matings between different breeds.

I'm sure everyone (myself included) can think of dog breeds that they think shouldn't exist, but there are people who love those same breeds and work to keep them in existence and "improve" them.
I might also point out that many pure-bred, as well as cross-bred dogs, are living in cities with their white collar owners and are in no way doing any sort of work that the breed was created to do, and are now working as companion animals, yes that is a job.

I'm sure in another hundred years that people will be defending their established breeds (that by then have been around for 100 years or so) and they will be saying that there should be no more new breeds. That is human nature.

I can't make the rules on which breeds to keep or create or eliminate, and neither can anyone else unless that person is an all-powerful dictator. That's probably not going to happen and there is only one person who would be happy if it did, the dictator.

If the ultimate control freaks (the Animal Rights Activists) had their way none of us would have dogs, cats, birds, or livestock and we would all be living in isolation from any animals, AND we wouldn't be having any discussions about breeding anything.

In a perfect world everyone would be happy all time, THAT is not going to happen. We will just have to be content with arguing amongst ourselves about dog breeds.

Ultimately we need to be balanced and responsible in all our dealings with dogs.

When in Baltimore recently, in Penn Station, I met a mal/GSD working dog and his handler. The dog had been purhased for her by the department and was being trained for explosives detection. He looked more or less like a dark sable, but very slight, with a darker mask, if I remember correctly. He had a lot of drive.

I don't really care for intentional crossing, but its common in KNPV with good results. In fact, one of the hardest hitting dogs I've ever worked is a GSD/Mal cross police dog. Looks like a GSD, flies like a Mal.