I've had and worked with both.

The working shepherds are nuts. I thought mals were pretty loaded but where I work we have a working line bitch and she is just nutty. Not in a good way. The working shepherds seem to go into high drive states and you can't break their attention out of it (spinning or running circles....drives me nuts!). I think the mals are easier to communicate with. Their also healthier than a GSD overall (skin, ears, hips).

Another positive attribute of Mals is that they have a long lifespan. They don't usually have maturity issues (0-sch3 by 2 years) and they can work to a later age.

Now all that being said....have you ever considered a Rottweiler <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I love my Rotts for sure .... but their so hard to find a good working one, so my next dog will be a Mal. And never again a Shepherd!

Since you have show line my other recommendation would be to get a good german show line. Pretty dog and if you get the right one, you can raise it to do good club level competition. We have a one or two that bite like monstors ... its a good intermediate before you committ to something off the wall like a Mali or working Shep.

I'll keep that in mind, I grew up with a Rott when I was a kid and my aunT has one that she says she doesn''t want. The only thing is that she claims that it has AKC paper but I've never seen them and it really isn't trained so I don't want to put Abi in danger.

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The working shepherds seem to go into high drive states and you can't break their attention out of it (spinning or running circles....drives me nuts!).

Wouldn't generalize like this. People say the same about Mals. My Shepherd goes in-drive out-drive without the whininess. I think bloodlines are overall more important than breed. It's not in the best interests of any to put down a certain breed because of a few bad specimens you've seen.

I didn't intend it as a bad thing or as a put down to the breed, I just stated my opinion. Its not my type of dog. I've seen several like this, working and show line. Maybe the people that own them...maybe the dogs themselves ... whatever. Just some more personal experience that the original poster should consider. The dogs themselves were not "bad" .... actually they are fantastic working dogs. But as far as in the kennel, running the yard, etc; I don't like the drive state they are in.

Mals are super intense as well but in a different way. From my perspective, it seems like these GSDs go into drive and seem to get ADD whereas a Mal goes into drive and gets tunnel vision. If that makes sense. Neither is right or wrong, just how they seem to deal with their drives.

And Rotts, well, my Rotts at least, are very clear in the head but you don't get that super high drive, intensity or willingness to work. I've met a few that are pretty awesome.... but its rare.

Glad you cleared that up. Now I understand what you mean. I've heard as well of working line shepherds that can't seem to shut down. (But there's one behind me right now licking my ear <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ). So from my understanding, there's such a big difference in lines, even within just the working lines themselves, that it's better to research into those than the seperate breeds.

After going to the Eukanuba dog show and 'Meet the Breeds', I fell in love with the Malinois. There were two beautiful, well trained Mals there. Then when I snapped back into reality I knew I wouldn't get one because my GSD is dog aggressive (we are working on that).
I just wanted to say something about the GSD shedding. Before I changed my dog's kibble, he was shedding really bad. I stopped feeding him IAMS and switched to Nutro Ultra for large breeds. He doesn't shed near as much and his coat looks much prettier. I also brush him several times a week.
I give him raw bones and add raw chicken pieces parts to his food also. Because most of his food is digested he doesn't have to eat as much and there's less poop. He really only eats once in the evening but that's his choice because I leave kibble in his crate bowl during the day when I'm gone. He rarely eats it. If I could afford the BARF food I would feed him that and if I didn't have to work for a living I would stay in the kitchen and prepare an entire raw diet for him but I just don't have that kind of time. I know it's best for dogs and maybe when I hit the lottery I will hire a dog chef!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

What I am typically seeing is that GSD's have alot more variation in the lines than Mal's... finding a good GSD that meets your ideal temprement requirements is difficult because of this. Mal's aren't as thinly spread, so if you go to a good breeder that knows what they're doing, you're gonna get a "typical Mal", whatever that may be. Whereas if you go to the wrong GSD breeder, even though the dogs are working lines and perhaps good working dogs, you stand a chance that the dogs "personality" isn't in-line with what you might expect from a typical GSD. You can see this clearly from an appearance standpoint too, I'm not saying that appearance dictates personality/behavior!! But what I am saying is that, if there are some 30+ different "looks" for a GSD, then there's going to clearly be multiple types of personalities and temprements too. Big boned dogs, longer hair, shorthair, black, bi-color, smaller framed sable, medium build with a big head all black... hundreds of overall combinations of physical appearance exist, which is all genetic, the pups will take after traits in their lines, so if there's so many different appearances, then there are an equal number of different lines, and each line will vary in chracter from mild to extreme. Whereas Mal's are pretty uniform overall, there's little differences in appearance, and a quality Mal will have less variation in temprement and working ability... not saying all Mal's are the same, certainly not, it's just less spread out than the GSD's are. A good example is looking at the "General" line classifications... DDR, Czech etc... there's a structural and tempremental difference between those lines, then within those lines there are more lines that have all been bred and bred over the years in different locations by different people with different goals and ideals.

So overall for someone to say " THIS is the GSD personality " is impossible, because there are many different GSD personalities. Everyone talks based on their own personal experiences with their dog, so if you like what someone says about their GSD, find out where they got the dog and start there. I've seen GSD's that are every bit as intense as a Mal, and I've seen Mal's that are pretty mellow and, in a way, a somewhat disappointing example of the breeds drive potential.