Could she be a Malinois? - Page 1

We took in a stray dog a few months ago. We noticed immedietly that she looked like no other dog we had seen before. We began searching online to try to find out what breed she is. She resembled several breeds, GSD for example, but she looks closest to a Belgian Malinois. Noone in my general area has one that I know of, so if she were a Malinois, I don't know how she would have ended up here.
However she could just be some sort of GSD mix, because a few of her facial features aren't exactly the same as those of an average Malinois. Her head seems to be wider, almost as large as that of a Boxer and she behaves just like a boxer. 

  There are a few terrible people in my area that occasionally drop their abused and starving pets out in front of the homes of my family, because we are known to take in strays on occasion. However for this dog, I don't see how this could be the case. She had already had some sort of training, as she already knew several basic commands and had amazing manners. It was as though she had been well taken care of, but had somehow gotten away from her owners, rather than being abandoned. Plus the dogs/cats we usually see around here appear to be in-bred and aren't intelligent enough to last too long after being set out. However this dog had apparently survived alone for several weeks. For the first few weeks she always wanted to eat grass, so we thought that maybe she had survived by eating it during her time as a stray. Neighbors had  been seeing her off and on for a long time. They thought she was a baby deer because of her coloration and body shape. 

When she arrived, she was emaciated with her ribs showing, but she was extremely friendly and you could just sense that she was different. She sat outside our door whining until we eventually let her him momentarily. She made herself at home and has been a member of the family ever since. We have never owned a dog as intellegent and caring as her. I hear that Malinois are like no other dogs, so that is another one of the reasons why I believe she might be one. We took her to the vet within the first day or so, only to discover that she was free of any parasites or serious illnesses. She was back up to her proper weight within a month or so.

She is now 10-12 months old and weighing around 50 pounds (She was 5-7 months old and only weighed 14 pounds when she came in).

Here is a short video of her waking up from a nap. Note that her ears are normally fully erect, they only relax and fold backwards when she has calmed down significantly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oArx-IWroI4

Here is a small gallery of photos of here:
http://weyard.deviantart.com/gallery/27249737

Do you think she might be a Malinois? Or something else? My main reason for asking is that we want to try to find another dog of the same breed, in hopes that it have her values or at least be as intelligent as her.The nearest vet capable of doing dna testing is 3+ hours so that is out of the question at this time. But I hear that dna tests aren't really reliable anyway, so would that be pointless?

Looks a lot like a pit bull type dog malinois mix. I've seen them on other dog forums.

No one in my area has a pitbull either, as far as I know. However I know someone living a  few homes up the road from here whom has two Spanish Bulldogs (Alanos) and a white German Shepherd. For some time we thought she might have came from there, but we still don't know.  He's associated with the Police in some way, so he probably could have a Malinois as well. Not that it matters where she came from, because whoever lost her is not getting her back.

As you can see here, Spanish Alanos look very close to her as well, but I can't find a picture of one without clipped ears for a more accurate comparison.  http://www.gotpetsonline.com/pictures-gallery/dog-pictures-breeders-puppies-rescue/alano-espanol-pictures-breeders-puppies-rescue/pictures/alano-espanol-0007.jpg
http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/images/alano-espaol-dogs-1.jpg
http://static.gotpetsonline.com/pictures-gallery/dog-pictures-breeders-puppies-rescue/alano-espanol-pictures-breeders-puppies-rescue/pictures/alano-espanol-0001.jpg

If a person didn't know what that dog was, they'd definitely assume it was a pit bull cross, at least. I know several people who'd swear it was full blooded (but then again, they're kind of dog dumb to begin with). I'd say she's got some of that kind of bulldog in her, maybe shepherd.

But the good news is, if you want another like her one day, there are many pet quality mals looking for good homes!

Personally, I don't see any Malinois in her at all.

I don't see how you can't see it. Unless you only looked at the video. She has the exact Malinois coloration and body shape. The only thing that looks off is her head width and possibly the size of her eyes. Here are a few more photos.


These are pictures of her are a kinda old, but they show her profile better. The first one is from the week that we took her in. 
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2640/100025900.jpg
http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/197/1000293.jpg
http://img547.imageshack.us/img547/8867/1000521e.jpg
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/8169/1000532d.jpg
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/59/34275420.jpg

She looks dramatically different when her ears are up and she's excited. I'll try to get a quick video of her when she looks like that. When she's playing she looks just like a Malinois, but when she calms down and puts her ears back she just looks so different for some reason.

Edit: Just realized that some of those pictures are huge. I apologize.

I just stumbled upon a Malinois Dutch Shepherd cross that looks just like her when she's excited. http://www.trouwehond.com/dogsforsale.htm
The first one there.

I think I'll look into that mix a little and see if that could explain the differing head shape. 

here is a foto of a Mal x PB (50/50)
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/dmd27749/reddogIa-1.jpg

here is his grandson (75/25)
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/dmd27749/stillskip002a1.jpg

That's 2nd dog is one of the closest things I've saw to her yet. Her nose and snout in general is alot thinner though, it's one of the things that makes her look so weird in the face. The body is the exact same though. 


I'm pretty certain that she is Mal and some sort of bull mix now. I'm still leaning more toward Spanish Bulldog, because someone in this area appears to have 2 of them and he might also have a Mal.

Edit:

I found a Mal/Corgi mix that looks just like her as well. http://www.dogster.com/dogs/1133578

Apparently any Mal mix can end up looking like this. It's going to be impossible to figure out exactly what she is. This topic has probably helped all it is going to. Thank you for the replies.

I think she may have some mal in her but her eye shape is not malinois. she still looks good, good luck