Belgian Malinois vs German Sheopard

[mille806]

As far as home defense and loyalty which would you prefer? also which does your deparment prefer/use?

[1911su16b870]

I love the German Shepherds (after owning 3)...but have nothing but nothing but praise for the Malinois that I've seen.

[chsk9]

I have worked 2 Shepherds and love them. I have worked with Mals- intense & driven working dogs. For home defense I would choose neither- unless you are home constantly. These guys want to be with you 24/7 and will show you how thrilled they are to be left home alone 14+ hours a day!
A high quality (read import) Rottweiler is more independent and certainly capable with looks alone of letting the dirt bags know it is time to move on. They are more difficult to train, but they all require a huge amount of training and bonding. I was with mine almost 24/7 for over a decade. Check with local LEO K-9 for trainers who can lead you to breeders. Lots of time and $$, but they are worth it. YMMV

[retired]

I believe my former dept. still uses GS for certain specific details, but the patrol K9 handlers use the Malinois pretty much.

When I first started in the mid 1970s, it was the GS. I don't know the exact date, but I believe it was sometime in either the late 1980s or early 1990s they switched over. We have some members here who are active member of the dept. and they will probably jump in. Ron-Solo just retired in March after 32yrs., so he may know also.

I used to have a GS as a pet and he never destroyed stuff when we were gone. He was a great dog. A buddy of mine on the dept. worked K9 and I had an opportunity to work with his Belgian. After the search for the possible 459 suspect was over (false alarm) we did a debrief. He said as a reward, they usually put the fake arm over their arm and let the dog go at it. He asked for volunteers. I knew he was blowing smoke up our you know what, but I also knew he wouldn't let any of us get hurt, so I volunteered.

I put the sleeve on (sort of like a real strong cast) and he let the dog go with a command to attack. He grabbed onto the "arm" and began yanking. I thought my whole arm was going to come off at the shoulder! It was actually fun and gave me a little gloating time over my partners who were chicken to do it.

[TRICKSTER]

Home defense and loyalty = Anatolian Shepherd
Not good for Police Work but if you want a loyal dog that will protect you and your family, you can't go wrong with an Anatolian.

[Uhhlexxxis]

boxer... I've had boxers since childhood and they are incredibly loyal.

Dept uses German Shepard.

[BigDogatPlay]

I've owned three of the four varieties of Belgian dog, and have both a Malinois and a Tervuren now. I've also worked with several German Shepherds over the years and for my money, the Belgians win. Of the agencies in my area the Malinois are nearly universal.

Belgians are driven, incredibly energetic dogs. They need something to do, every day. If you can't realistically commit to that, then don't get a Belgian. They are very smart and very imaginative and without mental and physical stimulation daily they can and often will become destructive. Generally speaking a laid back and quiet Belgian is the opposite of the breed. They will follow you everywhere in the house, sometimes to the point of annoyance. But that's part of what they've been bred to do... be at your side, and ready for your command.

Belgians are exceptionally agile, and are lightning fast. They take well to whatever training you want to throw at them. I am familiar with Belgians doing Schutzhund, narcotics, tracking, agility, SAR, cadaver location and herding. About the only thing I wouldn't try with them is EOD, as often they get too amped when they work and the best bomb dogs tend to be quiet dogs.

As home and family dogs Belgians actually are quite good, keeping in mind the caveat above about keeping them busy. They are more loyal than any breed I know of, and are great with kids. My nephew and his family were traveling through recently and stopped by. Neither of my dogs had ever laid eyes on his kids, 8 and 12, before. But they let the kids hang all over them like they were old friends and soaked up the love and attention.

I heartily recommend Belgians, but not for anyone getting their first dog. And not for anyone who is going to leave the dog at home alone in a run for hours on end.

[K9paulc]

I've trained and handled most working breeds over the years, and it's my opinion that the Malinois can be trained for work and hit the street alot quicker than most breeds.

Although they do not make ideal pets for the family, they learn really fast, and can handle the pressures of training at an earlier age without drives being squashed, where as other working breeds such as the GSD & Rott typically need more time to mature before an intensive training is begun.

Do to the extremely high drives in dogs such as the Malinois and also the Dutch Shpherd, some LEO agency's choose to use the GSD over the malinois for liability reasons. It's believed that the German Shepherd Dog is more of a thinking working dog that can be more easily directed/controlled than the Malinois who is mostly regarded as a phsyco nutcase, with extreme drives that refuses to quit or let go of a bite when commaned to do so, wich can lead to bad PR with the public and on the street, and wich is why when you see a working Malinois most of the time they have an Electric collar on.

Anyone contemplating the purchase of a working dog needs to understand that training is an ongoing thing and is an essential part of a working dogs routine. If a dog such as these that we are dicussing is purchased with the intent on being made into a family pet, I suggest implementing a training program early on to get a handle on things. It's not just the dog that needs training, both the handler and dog will grow together with the proper helper.

If you dont train them, don't blame them. An intense dog with high drive left in the backyard with no attention, is no different than an unattended loaded firearm. An accident will occur if an outlet is not given.

[fullrearview]

In my viewing experience, BM are super active like it was said above... I have seen them chase their tail's for an entire shift. They have too much energy for me.

I have had two GSD's (not as K9's, and BTW I'm not a handler... Only wish) over the years, and let me tell ya, they were smarter than most people. When I was 10, I got in trouble for eating all the cans of chili in the house... Only thing was, I didn't eat it... Thor did. He literally got on top of the counter, opened the cabinet, neatly pushed the veggies to the side, got the chili, opened the cans, ate every drop and disposed of the evidence in the trash.

It wasn't until we found the tooth marked mangled cans that we realized what had happened... That and Thor's apocalyptic crop dust that lasted for 3 days!

[negolien]

The BM are a more agile and a little more high strung but excellent canines. They are very intelligent so be prepared to put in alot of time to properly stimulate the animal. There's a reason a majority of departments and other units have gone to BM's though.

[Eat Dirt]

I agree 100 % to all the above about the Belgian Malinois

Most Loyal dog I have Ever had / Fast Learner / Want's to be with you 24 /7


Last year ours saved my wife from getting bit from a Rattler
My wife didn't see it and the dog jumped in between her and the snake without a second of fear to Protect

We still have the dog
The snake is no longer with us ................

[mille806]

Thank you for all your replies. German shepherd sounds like it would suit me better then the belgian

[nick]

You people... I wish I could get a dog.

[ccmc]

In my viewing experience, BM are super active like it was said above... I have seen them chase their tail's for an entire shift. They have too much energy for me.

I have had two GSD's (not as K9's, and BTW I'm not a handler... Only wish) over the years, and let me tell ya, they were smarter than most people. When I was 10, I got in trouble for eating all the cans of chili in the house... Only thing was, I didn't eat it... Thor did. He literally got on top of the counter, opened the cabinet, neatly pushed the veggies to the side, got the chili, opened the cans, ate every drop and disposed of the evidence in the trash.

It wasn't until we found the tooth marked mangled cans that we realized what had happened... That and Thor's apocalyptic crop dust that lasted for 3 days!

That's a pretty funny anecdote. Dogs are a lot smarter than we give them credit for.

BTW where do dobermans fit into the GD mix?

[veeklog]

Never was a handler, but I have seen a BM "up and personal" during a search of a PAL. I thought that dog was going to take my head off because he was snarling and drooling like no tomorrow. Talk about "get some."

But as a past and current owner of GS, they are by far my favorite dogs. Extremely intelligent and loyal, my dog never leaves my side and has unconditional love for the family. However, sometimes my GS is too smart for his own good (lol)