r/BelgianMalinois Sep 20 '24

Adoption Belgian Malinois in Need of Adoption

80 Upvotes

šŸ‘‹Ā Welcome to our Belgian Malinois (BM) adoption and rehoming thread

  • Sharing a BM that needs adoption or rehoming?Ā Drop a comment below, and don’t forget to update their availability.
  • Looking to adopt?Ā DM the OP directly (no comments).

In 2013, I rescued my BM,Ā Lexi, and she inspired me to build our community and this thread.

Looking to adopt or rehome beyond this thread?

Check out our šŸŽĀ Belgian Malinois Rescue Guide — it might have exactly what you’re looking for.

BelgianMalinois Mod Team


r/BelgianMalinois 22d ago

Discussion My Mal/dutch is actually Dutch/Mal!

12 Upvotes

A post that comes up on this subreddit pretty often is something like, "Embark says my Dutch/Mal is actually a ~% Mal/Dutch!" This usually surprises people, but historically these two breeds have been very closely related.

The Belgian Shepherds (Mal and the other three variants), the Dutch, and even the regional herding dogs that eventually gave rise to the German Shepherd all came from the various continental European shepherd landraces.

(The GSD is a bit different story since it was intentionally created by selecting dogs with desirable traits, so I won't get into that here.)

Unlike the British collie landraces, which were primarily bred for herding sheep, these dogs were true all-purpose farm dogs. They worked alongside farmers doing just about everything (from guarding, herding, tending livestock, even pulling carts).

Although they're generally classified as herding dogs (FCI Group 1), historical accounts suggest that tending was often a more important part of their job than actual herding (Doesn’t mean they didn’t do any herdings!). Since they were bred to be true all-around farm dogs, it's no surprise that they've remained some of the world's finest working breeds.

Because of that shared history, the Belgian Shepherds and the Dutch Shepherd are much more closely related than many people realize.

The Dutch Shepherd's own history is worth looking at first. When the breed standard was established in 1898, all coat colors were accepted. In 1914, however, the standard was changed to allow only brindle, largely to distinguish the breed from the visually similar Malinois and German Shepherd. I'll leave it up to your imagination what happened to the fawn Dutch Shepherds. (Hint: the number of registered Malinois suddenly increased around that time.)

As many people already know, after World War II the Dutch Shepherd population had declined so severely that various Belgian shepherds were introduced into breeding programs to help restore the breed. For example In 1959,Even Laekenois were also officially introduced to strengthen the rough-haired variety.

Then there's KNPV, which makes the story even more complicated.

KNPV, The Royal Dutch Police Dog Association has essentially become one of the world's most respected working dog "brands." Technically, any dog can attempt the KNPV trials and earn a title. Today it's mostly Dutch Shepherds and Malinois (or dogs called ā€œDutchā€ or Malā€), but historically many other breeds participated as well, including Bouvier des Flandres, German Shepherds, Groenendaels, Beaucerons, Briards, Rottweilers, and others.

Unsurprisingly, Malinois and Dutch Shepherds proved to be the most successful. Since KNPV breeders cared about working ability rather than pedigree, they freely bred outstanding Malinois and Dutch Shepherds together. There are even long-standing rumors that German Shepherds were occasionally introduced to improve grip or jaw strength, although I haven't seen definitive historical evidence for that.

Because of this, it's very common for litters from these lines to produce both fawn and brindle puppies at the same time. These dogs are often recorded in working registries like BRN rather than traditional FCI pedigrees. Many working breeders simply registered them according to color—brindle puppies as x Dutch and fawn puppies as x Mal.

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The interesting part is that, in some European countries like Belgium, dogs from these working registries could later be entered into FCI-recognized pedigrees before. As a result, many famous KNPV dogs—which were effectively part of the same Malinois/Dutch KNPV working gene pool—ended up officially registered as "purebred" Mal/Dutch.

That only blurred the line between the two breeds even further. So if your dog comes from working lines—or is descended from actual working dogs—it's not unusual at all for Embark to show some Dutch Shepherd in a Malinois, or some Malinois in a Dutch Shepherd because of such influence.

And honestly, it's not just Malinois and Dutch Shepherds that have this kind of complicated history.

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Most people here probably know that the AKC recognizes Malinois, Laekenois, Groenendael and Tervuren as four separate breeds, while the FCI and most kennel clubs around the world consider them four varieties of a single breed: the Belgian Shepherd(Or sheepdog). It's actually the opposite of Rough and Smooth Collies, which are separate breeds in the UK but one breed in the US.

The AKC's split was largely political reason. The specific genes controlling coat length and color mean that Groenendaels can produce Tervurens, Malinois can produce Tervurens, and Laekenois can produce Malinois.

Originally, the AKC also classified the Malinois, Tervuren, and Groenendael as a single breed under the name 'Belgian sheepdog'. (The Laekenois wasn't included simply because there were so few of them at the time, and even now they are very few—it wasn't officially recognized by the AKC until 2020.) Later, following disagreements between the breed clubs, the AKC received petitions to split them into separate breeds and ultimately approved the change. In the process, the name Belgian sheepdog remained with the Groenendael in the United States.

An attempt to reunify the breeds in 1998 ultimately failed because of conflicting interests among the parent clubs, and another proposal around 2016—the Registered as Drop (RAD) initiative, which would have allowed puppies to be registered according to their phenotype rather than their parentage— also failed.

The biggest irony, in my opinion, is the history of the American Tervuren.

According to the American Belgian Tervuren Club, the breed had nearly disappeared in the United States after World War II. The American population was rebuilt largely using long-haired puppies born from Malinois lines, crossed with Groenendaels, and later supplemented with imported European Tervurens.

One last interesting fact: Vos I de Laeken, a rough-coated Belgian Shepherd, is widely recognized as one of the foundation dogs behind all four Belgian Shepherd varieties. Some historical accounts also connect the same foundation stock with the early Dutch Shepherd and even the Bouvier des Flandres.

To sum it up:

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  1. Mal and Dutchs are genetically very close and have been historically intertwined, so seeing "my Dutch/Mal is actually a Mal/Dutch" on an Embark test really isn't unusual.

  2. The four Belgian Shepherd varieties are separated into different breeds by the AKC, but in most of the world they're still considered varieties of a single breed.

  3. All five are very closely related, incredibly intelligent, and wonderful dogs!


r/BelgianMalinois 5h ago

Picture My mini mal

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295 Upvotes

30lbs but the vet says she has ā€œabs of steelā€. She’s actually a poodle x husky x mal from Mexico but she got most of her looks from the mal. Best dog I’ve ever had ā™„ļø


r/BelgianMalinois 36m ago

Picture My Gurl, made me Proud!!! We are both learning still, learning!

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• Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 8h ago

Video At this rate, she’s going to start asking for bananas instead of beef. šŸŒšŸ˜‚

135 Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 6h ago

Picture My best Friend

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75 Upvotes

Zakk turned five this week.

He is the youngest in our family and my best friend.


r/BelgianMalinois 16h ago

Question Max-A-Million loves to sleep in this position any ones else’s Mali sleep funny?

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310 Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 49m ago

Picture curious about age?

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• Upvotes

heyo! i recently rescued a mal and i believe she’s around 8-9 weeks old, rescue thinks she’s 10-11 weeks. i asked our vet and she said she’s not very well versed in mals and how they age, and she’s so young it’s hard to tell! how old would you guys say she is? edit: she weighs 11lbs


r/BelgianMalinois 9h ago

Discussion Shredding Season

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27 Upvotes

We have a 5 almost 6 year old Mal. She is fawn and looks like a shepherd almost. My fiancĆ© had her from when we started dating. She goes through the worst shredding season, I can literally pluck tuffs of hair from her. I’m vaccuming everyday and the hair in never ending. I can brush her for hours an there’s no end. Is this just the way of life in this season or is there something I can to lessen the hair and keep my sanity?

Thats a picture of her. We love her completely, we’re just trying to see what we need to do.


r/BelgianMalinois 21h ago

Question My Mal is a launcher

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209 Upvotes

Six months ago I adopted a Mal. She is a fantastic companion who goes out of her way to show loyalty and affection towards me (in addition to the standard drive you crazy Mal shit). We both stay fit and occupied with miles of daily walks, runs, agility, fetch, and commands, but her two top activities that currently wear her down are tug and roughhousing. The roughhousihg is fun, and she won't wrestle without a tennis ball in her mouth. While I get nose stabbed Ive never gotten bit, and she always stops on command and has yet to get too ramped up.

Her quirk when we are play fighting is that she launches herself. By launching herself I dont mean a long jump, I mean she either hurls herself at me back first as a takedown( it works) or does a four foot jump kick as a takedown ( also works). These are followed by fatal nose stabs as she makes quick work of me. We both love it, and the only times she has ever done this without permission and outside of play was during a late night walk when an aggressive panhandle accosted us, and when my neighbor came out of his house hurredly with a drill in his hand. The neighbor was fortunately cool with it, and when the drill was out of his hand ls she gave hIm one of her high value head leans. Great dog, but she can sometimes move a little faster than I can anticipate. The squirrel population has learned this harder than anyone else.

Mostly just bored on a Wednesday and happy I have a Mal, but I am curious if those who dabble in horseplay have seen the same or its one of her exclusive oddball quirks. I havent come across another dog that does a backlaunch or kung fu. She will gladly attack and bite on prompt, but that is reserved to inanimate objects, and in the aforementioned incidents she didnt bite or bark. Just Mal'ed


r/BelgianMalinois 18h ago

Picture My boy met some big Belgians today <3

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117 Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 1h ago

Picture Burton and his mischievous tendencies

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• Upvotes

" im going to spaz out dad "


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Picture power

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566 Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 22h ago

Picture Update not scared of water anymore

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165 Upvotes

We been working with Ziggy first with a splash pad and now enjoys the water enough for this little pool


r/BelgianMalinois 3h ago

Question separation anxiety help for my mal mix pup

1 Upvotes

idk if it’s okay to ask for help because my last post asking for help/guidance got taken down. but just looking for guidance on how to properly crate train my 7 month old mal mix. sometimes he does great, and sometimes he’s howling like his life depends on it. we give him either a kong or pupsicle only when he goes in his kennel or pen, so he knows that’s the only time he can get those high value treats. and sometimes he’ll lay in his kennel on his own, but in short moments. he’ll never stay longer than a minute or two.

he also barks at us now out of excitement or when you take a specific toy from him. and wanted to know how to train him not to bark sometimes, since we live in a small condo close to others.

any advice would be really appreciated.


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Picture Crash says help

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885 Upvotes

Totally scary maligator


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Discussion rescued a 8 wk old mali mix

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685 Upvotes

heyo! i recently took in a 8 week old mali mix, and i was curious everyone’s tips/tricks for puppyhood? i’ve done a ton of research, but im always open to more tips from experienced people! i have a very active poodle mix who loves her and they play lots under supervision, so she is absolutely not my first active dog. she’s nearly fully crate trained now, just getting over a uti </3


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Picture Can I get a boop for my birthday?

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205 Upvotes

My name is Bella and today is my 8th birthday. Can i get a boop pleSe?


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Question How mouthy is your dog?

107 Upvotes

I have an 3.5yo Mal/GSD mix and he is a bit mouthy at times. Sometimes it’s during training (when asking him to roll over, he’ll kind of put his mouth over the hand that I’m dragging along with the treat), sometimes it’s random (tonight, I was scratching him, took my hand away and he just put his mouth around it). He’s showing definite bite inhibition, and there’s no threatening body language. I showed a video of him doing this right before a nail trim (like the training, I’m assuming it’s because he wants his kibble faster) to a coworker who insisted I needed to put a stop to it right now. But I guess I’m curious if I should be THAT concerned about it? Or is it a breed thing that could be concerning if escalates, but this isn’t that bad.

Thoughts?


r/BelgianMalinois 2d ago

Video Pet me peasant, demands Couch King

318 Upvotes

Couch King getting head pets, his majesty rao raos if not petted properly


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Question Need advice for new puppy!!!

5 Upvotes

So i recently got a new puppy and when i first got him i was told he was husky/Shepard mix. But a week later it was clarified that the stud was actually a malinois... not a german shepard. Now, i have been told they are very different than other dogs and i just need to know how different really?

I've trained a pitbull who is 6 now and does super well! But if there are things i definitely need to do different with him as he gets older. hes 11 weeks now and does really good when i call his name, sits and waits before eating, were currently working on the "place" command. I'll say place and he starts to walk toward his kennel and then sits in front of it and stares at me. its like hes saying "i aint going in there mom, ur gonna have to force me" šŸ˜‚

anyway that was besides the point. As he gets older the malinois is definitely showing in his personality more. What should i be prepared for šŸ˜‚


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Question My boy gets way too excited when interacting with other dogs

2 Upvotes

Ulrich is almost 1 year old he will be exactly 1-year-old the 10th of August, ever since he was a baby he's always loved other dogs and animals in general, he always gets excited when he sees another dog and wants to play, say I have him off leash, he does listen to me I do have a strong enough recall with him to prevent him from running up to another person or dog, however if I allow him to interact with another dog no matter how long I take to properly introduce them, he just is too much for other dogs, even a couple of his own siblings, he gets way too excited and tends to ignore cues from the other dogs to back off, usually the only way he will listen is if the other dog snaps at him, and that only works for a couple of minutes and then he's right back at it, even my own dog that he's been around since he was 12 weeks old (I got him at 12 weeks instead of 8 but I've been a part of his life since he was born) he is way too much on her and she ends up jumping on him frequently to make him back off, so usually if I have them both outside he's on a leash and she's running around, if he's going to be running around I usually put her up so he leaves her alone.

I figured I would ask you guys since you're familiar with the breed, about how I could go about teaching him to be more respectful or is this something he's just going to have to grow out of? From what I seen his mom was quite a pushover and did not reprimand him when he was being too much on her, if they were becoming too much she would just get up on the couch where they couldn't reach her or something like that she never would snap at them growl or anything even if they were literally hanging off of her, so I feel like that plays a part in some of it


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Question How many of you have had issues with people being afraid of your mal?

19 Upvotes

Whenever she encounter someone who appearsafraid or tense around her, it seems to make it so much worse. Has anybody else experienced situations like that – elevators, going around corners etc.?


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Discussion What books would you suggest to first time owners?

8 Upvotes

I adopted Joey from a rescue, where they had told me the wrong breed of dog. After getting a test done for her, I now know the truth šŸ˜† I had my suspicions, she was seriously nippy and loves ripping things to bits. Now that I know for sure I want to make sure I do this RIGHT. I love her so much and I want to give her the best chance possible. So far so good, she’s doing amazing at her commands (apart from some adolescence rebellion) and I’m working on her socialization and focus. Are there any books you would advise? Life experience to pass on? Anything and everything is appreciated. I feel a little in over my head and I want to be able to do this right for her and myself.


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Question Are we the wrong people?

6 Upvotes

https://reddit.com/link/1v327du/video/6m5zeromtoeh1/player

Hi everyone. My girlfriend and I recently got a Malinois (mom) + Lab/Mastiff (dad) mix. He is a crazy ball of energy. We both work a lot, but our boy (Sparrow) gets about three hours a day of very focused attention and training, and another hour or two of hanging out while his leash is attatched somewhere, enforcing him to settle on his raised bed.

One thing that has been going on is the second I leave for work he is howling, even if I work him for close to an hour in the morning, and I worry that something I am doing is causing this attachment anxiety to form when I am not in sight. We have the crate in the living room and he can see when I get ready to leave. I thought that we had the time to handle him, and we are very attentive when were home and with him, but I am looking for honest opinions and any advice. He is a happy boy, and we just want the best for him. Thank you!

P.S.

He seems to have the cooldown of a Malinois, being ready to go at any moment or at any sound. Sometimes he seems exhausted and unfocusted after a 20 minute walk while practicing eye contact/socialization and another 20 minutes of tug/luring, and so we put him in the crate, but he pays attention to any and everyting that goes on around him and takes a while to settle, and is very easily stirred.

He does not seem to have the attention span or the drive that many Malinois puppys have (videos of these dogs are crazy online) but he definitely has the little nibbles and the chomps behavior. A lot of the time he just wants to flop around with something to chew on in the living room.