Dutch Shepherds in comparison to GSD and Malinois? - Page 2

Agree, the Dutchie should be a great choice for what you want to do.

As for male GSD's, the breed standard is not 70-95lbs.
95 pound GSD's make me want to puke!
I have only seen one in my life that I would consider owning, and, oh the horror of it all, it came from Kraftwerk.
The breed standard for males is 66-88lbs.

95 pound GSD's make me want to puke!
 
So does that include the ones that your own dog has produced?  

I like both Dutchie and Mals, but don't know enough about them to really say anything.  However, I wanted to recommend another breed that might suit you; Australian Cattle Dogs.  Lots of people call them Blue Heelers.  They're smaller (30-40lbs usually) and are usually VERY active.  Just seemed like it might match up with what you described.
Haley

A friend of mine has a dutchie. Super active dog and not for the inexperienced. Luckily for him, my friend is very dog knowledable. He challanges her just about every day. I know not all dutchies are this way but I personally think they are not the best "family dogs" There are far better dogs better suited for this than a dutchie. I know someone recommended an austrailian cattle dog and although they are tenacious stock dogs, not a dog I would consider. Alot of them end up at the shelter because they are cute puppies but when they start showing their stubborn side (what makes them good at cattle work) they are given up. I am VERY familiar with cattle dogs as I was raised around them.

 Alot of them end up at the shelter because they are cute puppies but when they start showing their stubborn side (what makes them good at cattle work) they are given up. 



That kind of applies to any dog breed. Lol....

Anyways, watching the dutchie at our club is great. The owner says he is a handful at home though. :)

The extent of my experiences with dutch shepherds is:  great workers, but kind of off the wall.  This may or may not just be the few that I've personally met. 
For malinois:  good workers, very owner oriented, and most are good in the home. 

Cattle Dogs:  I agree that they can have stubborn streaks, they can sometimes be aggressive towards the same sex as well, but so can any breed. 
Of the cattle dogs I've owned they've all been stubborn, but usually only about wanting to play or 'work' more.  They're like energizer bunnies I swear.  They just keep going and going.  They've been very driven, but with the correct outlet's they are great.  From my experience, they really want to please their owners.  They just need to be taught obedience and that you are boss.  My current one will do literally anything I ask her to.  So far though, she is the most willing to please dogs I've owned.  She's amazing in the house; the only one of my dogs I actually trust being left out of a kennel or offleash and she's only two years old.  Also, she absolutly LOVES my cats, although I think that might just be a personal quirk of hers. 
I truly think that, just like any breed, if you get the right one and do the correct training and bonding that it will be a great dog, especially for the purposes you want (hiking/camping/companion).  The most sound advice I can give you for any breed is to find a good breeder, let them know what you want and don't want, and trust their judgement as to which puppy/dog would be best suited towards you.  I hope this helped.   

We've had two Dutchies in our family. We fostered one for two years and we got one for our daughter as well. They had more energy and drive than the GSDs I've had, but they both definitely had off switches. They were both great dogs, with very stable and trustworthy temperaments and loved to please. They were super athletic too. Our daughter was and still is an avid runner, camper and hiker and she took her Dutchie everywhere with her. After getting her Dutchie she got married, had two children and moved three times and the dog adapted extremely well. Sadly, he died from bone cancer at age 8. The one we fostered lived to 13 years of age.

what line of gsd do you have now ? Dutch shepherd are in the middle when it comes to drive. Belgian malinois is the most and gsd is the least driven out of the three shepherds. I would say, go for working line gsd most probably Czech line gsd. Well one more thing, a dutch shepherd can be a little stubborn sometimes.

@ Hellix You told us your experiences about Dutch shepherd , for Malinois but you did not tell anything for German shepherds Q. Do you think Australian Cattle dog is good/better for protection work or at par with gsd, malinois & dutch when it comes to protection work ?

My cousin owns 2 Dutch Shepherds and competes with them (only at club level though) in Schutzhund, Obedience, tracking, Agility etc. At home with family, friends, relatives etc they are the most loving dogs anyone could wish to meet. Outside of the home they can be a little skiddish at times although they do tend to feed off each other in that respect.
Once they are out onthe field though and knwo that they are working/training/competing, the ONLY person who can handle them is my cousin and if someone inadvertently gets in the way, stands in the wrong place and lifts their arms, for example, at the wrong time, they WILL get bitten.
My cousin has also owned a Malinois who IMO seemed a little highly strung. He did manage to contain this charateristic of the dog and managed her very well, focussing her energy properly. He also competed in a few disciplines with her too.

For me personally, I have only ever owned GSDs (of the shepherd breeds). Of the 3 GSDs I have now, I have 2 showline make GSDs and 1 WL female. Although all 3 are partaking in Schutzhund there is a clear difference in the level of drive between the SL and WL dogs. In the future I wuld also like a Dutch Shepherd but not until my Son (who is just 7 years old) is an adult and any GSDs I have will certainly be WL as opposed the SL. The reason for this is that SL GSDs are not always suitable to do certain activities that I may wish to get involved with whereas WL GSDs have the necessary drive for certain activities but can just as easily be fantastic family pets during the evening when at home etc.

Jsut for info - my oldest GSD, Zane will be 4 years old at the end of this year. He measures 104cm atw and weighs 58Kg. Yes he is very oversized but there isn't an ounce of fat on him. his ribs can be seen when he turns slightly and can easily be felt through his coat at any time. He is able to do anything I ask of him physically and is on the ball mentally when it comes to training and either learning new things or reinforcing what he's already learned. Why on earth a dog of his size (unless grossly overweight which my dogs isn't) would "make someone puke" is beyond me.