All Black, Malinois or German Shepherd? - Page 1

My dog (Gojira or Goji) is about 7 years old now and for years I believed she was an all black German Shepherd.  Recently my vet suggested she may be Malinois based on look and temperment.  Apparently her mother behaved and looked exactly like her, and if the owner of the parents is to be believed, the father (whom I saw but can't confirm was the father) was a pretty run of the mill german shepherd.

The thing is, she has all the characteristics of a Malinois, and my vet says behaviourly she's spot on.

So my question to Malinois owners is, does she look/seem like a Malinois?

Behaviour:

- She is extremely territorial (not dangerous by any means, but vocal!)
- She is very vocal in general.  She whines relentlessly if she wants something, but in her defence it's usually a need (e.g. water bowl is empty) or she feels separated (more on that below).
- She is VERY body conscious, which is to say, if she's touched she reacts immediately.  Not violently, but she'll turn if you touch her back.  It doesn't seem to bother her at all, but she doesn't ignore it.
- She is BIG if she's a German Shepherd.  She is 90lbs and in pretty good shape.  
- Her mother lived to over 15 years old, which is pretty unheard of for German Shepherds.
- She has a HUGE barrel chest and no slope to her back to speak of.
- She has serious separation anxiety, so she whines if she's left out of a room where people are.  Even as a pup, she could not be crate trained.  She destroyed a cargo carrier to get out of it.  The kind that you use to transport on a plane.  Extremely sturdy.

Now her separation anxiety may not be related at all.  I got her when she was WAY too young.  The owner of her parents insisted I take her right away and she was only 4 and 1/2 weeks old.  That being said, she was quite mature.  I soaked her food for maybe a week and then she was able to eat solid food.

So if you know a lot about Malinois dogs, please have a look at the pictures and tell me what you think.

Thanks!!

Here's a better look at her face . . . 

german shepherd.

Looks like a German Shepherd to me.  I also wouldn't attribute many, if any, of the behaviors you listed to a Malinois.  GSD tend to be "talkers" more than Malinois.  They are also larger and heavier boned in general.  A female over 60 pounds is a large female for a Malinois, I've met some 80-90 pound males, but I'm not sure if I've ever met a female that big, most were in their 50's.   The separation anxiety is not a Malinois trait, but it's not unusual in a pup taken from the litter at 4.5 weeks, regardless of the breed.

Thanks guys!

The reason my vet thought Malinois was primarily because of her behaviour regarding body reactiveness.  He said that, generally speaking, Malinois are much more reactive to touch than German Shepherds.

As for her size, good to know.  According to the AKC male German Shepherds are supposed to top out at about 90lbs too.  Not sure what makes her so big . . . The father was (at my best guess) a 50 - 60lb skinny little guy.  One other thing that had me wondering was the longevity of her mother.  It seems Malinois live an average of 3 years longer than German Shepherds.  In all honesty (as you no doubt guessed by the 4 and 1/2 weeks thing), the guy I got her from was a bit of an idiot.  To put it into perspective, the reason I know the mother lived to 15 or 16 is that she was 15 when she had the litter that included Goji.  Apparently she had yet another litter after that.  I consider that pretty irresponsoble of her owner, but maybe I'm wrong.  Either way, strong dog.

Maybe the mother really was Malinois and the father was German Shepherd.  I guess like all dogs without papers, there's really no definitive answer.  That being said, if you guys who have Malinois say no, then she definitely is NOT Malinois, or at least not entirely.  We all know the dogs we spend time around.  if Goji was a breed I could certainly look at another dog and say "That's no Goji!"

By the way, she is a GREAT dog.  I felt bad for leaving that out in the first post, hahaha

Thanks again!!