I realize that there are primarily GSD lovers/owners/breeders/handlers/enthusiasts....(and the list goes on and on)......out there, but I am curious to know the thoughts of all of you out there regarding the Malinois breed....as a pet, as a service animal, as a PPD, as a MWD, and as a PSD.

This topic stems from the conversation regarding Dobes being less aggressive than GSDs. The Mal was mentioned a few times so I thought I would dig some.

I have only ever known Mals.....limited exposure makes me uneducated to a certain level, so I am curious how others feel about the Mals, their traits, their abilities, their drives, the pros of owning one, the cons of owning one, what types of personalities go well with Mals, handler attributes & desirables.....and so on.

Any thoughts and/or comments are appreciated.....and VC remember you own a Malinois (if I remember correctly)... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> so you have to play nice.

Though primarily a GSD enthusiast as it pertains to my hobbies, I train a large number of malinois in service and sport work.
The mal is a mal. I hate comparisons with other breeds just because it does nothing to explain an individual dog's behaviors or even the behaviors of a particular lineage.
Some things are pretty up front though. The Mal exceeds the number of GSD's as police dogs in most places these days even in Germany.
The other observation I would make that the Malinois, as a whole population, is all over the board as far as character and drive. They represent a large number of dogs within divergent sports and little to hold them together other than performance (not necessarily a bad thing) in their given sport. though the genetic pool is pretty small they seem to be easy to fit into a variety of circumstances through relatively few generations such as KNPV, Ring, and IPO/SchH.
As a whole the Mal doesn't represent a bunch of hip or elbow problems another reason for their increasingly common appearance in police work. They are also cheaper (although this is changing rapidly).

Kevin, this is a bit off topic, but what are your opinions regarding crossing the Malinois with the GSD. Either as an infusion into the general working population as a whole, or as in individual breeding programs such as those seen in a lot of Dutch kennels.


For health or working ability do you think it may be a good idea to do so?

 Quote:

Originally posted by VanCamp Robert:
Kevin, this is a bit off topic, but what are your opinions regarding crossing the Malinois with the GSD. Either as an infusion into the general working population as a whole, or as in individual breeding programs such as those seen in a lot of Dutch kennels.


For health or working ability do you think it may be a good idea to do so?

I've worked with several dutch dogs of....shall we say non-discript origins.
First, I don't think that there are a LOT of dutch doing this, at least not a GSD to a MH. There are quite a few dogs that are crosses that occured several generations in the past and their offspring are linebred on such dogs.
You also have to look at the fact that M. Stephanitz in his travels notes the Dutch Shepherd and the Malinois as seperate critters. The photos in his text show a heavier dog in the Dutch Shepherd vs. the shorter eared, finer boned Malinois of Belgium and France. So, at some point breeding of these dogs together produced "crosses". Today there is somewhat of a distinction between the St. Hubert Malinois and the NVBK (unrecognized registry) malinois (a situation that propagated much of the pedigree falsification we know has occured frequently in the breed).
An influx of GSD blood into the unpedigreed dogs has certainly occured. Is it better for the Malinois???? I couldn't tell you. But, there ceertainly is a tendency to see pedigreed Mals being smaller in stature than the crosses we see. It could be that size was factor.
One very notable MalxGSD I had in my K-9 Program, a dog named "Keven" (he can be seen in Ed's video on building search) was one of the very most spectacular police dogs I've ever worked with. I swear he was born with a badge on his chest! I do wish I could get 100 more just like him. When I purchased him I was told of the breeder in Holland that had crossed GSD's with MH's back in the 70's and that he had produced super high drive dogs many of which were very hard to train in KNPV (control was the issue) and the kennel had almost ceased to exist but for demand abroad for dogs picking up in the 80's and early 90's. No crossing of his stock had occured since the 70's.
The others I have seen have been nice but I often attribute that to the attitude that if you're gonna sell me a mutt it best be spectacular!
I know that NRW was breeding their remaining brood bitches (GSD's) to the Mals they had produced as an experiment. I haven't had the chance to see how it turned out. But, I am curious.
I have a couple of oooops litters myself wiht a MalXDS bitch bred to GSD's. This has produced some pretty nice pups and i x-rayed a whole litter and all of them looked great. A second litter is still too young to x-ray but several are looking like nice working dogs.
I will speculate that if you have a great female and a great male with excellent working pedigrees you will see some very nice pups. Their offspring would be questionable.

Hi Drew,
Have a look at the following site:
http://www.belgianmalinois.co.uk
It'll give you an idea of the British interest in Malinois...
Regards,
Gnar

hey! i own a few Mals and 2 are protection trained! for me they are the best companions anyone can have. they are very cool dogs! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Kevin, Thanks for all the great info....I am having a hard time finding much info on this wonderful breed.

Jason, Have to agree with you that Mals are just the coolest of dogs! I have two Mal bitches that live in the house. Two totally different personalities, temperaments and drives. Both are fairly handler sensitive but one will "sass-back" and move on, while the other is upset for a while after a correction and will shut down if pushed. The less sensitive one is like an adolesent smarty pants, kinda sticks her tongue out, but knows she has to mind.

I currently own 2 GSD's and 1 malinois. My heart is with the GSD, I had them as pets as a kid - my first PSD was a GSD and my 2nd (in-training) is a GSD. I have recently obtained a young BM female, why ??? I liked her for her and not her breed. I expect a lot from this little female. I have trained with many friends who handle the malinois - many good ones - some with severe personality problems.

I guess I'm kinda old fashioned - I still like the .357 cal (long proven round) over the .40 cal.(new kid on the block) the GSD has been a long time solid proven PSD - the BM is the new kid on the block. I like the big Cadillac convertible over the Corvette convertible. My personal opinion only.

They both have earned their place in service work, judge the dog / not the breed.

Debbie,

i can totally relate with you because i have an almost 3 year old Mal who's more laid back and an 11 month old Mal who is a puppy in a dog's body! i bring them to the office as often as i can and that's when you see my office turned inside out! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I want my next patrol dog to be a mal, but since my wife got bit in the face by one 6 months ago I believe she would string me up if I brought one home. I love their incorruptable energy and willingness to work. Fast metabolism, just like me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />