LEO says why Mali's are better than GSD's - Page 1

Ok I went to an event today called Woofstock which was sort of a half day dog event with vendors, demonstrations and all. People brought there pets and was a awesome time. Well , the Chandler, AZ PD put on a demo. The Sgt says that they have been exclusively using Mali's for over 10+ years. He mentioned that while GSD's are nice, Mali's have a lower HD risk (20% and lower) while GSD's HD rate is (40-50%). He also mentioned that Mali's are more tenacious and bring the fight more than GSD's do. Being that I know nothing of Mali's is this correct or was this guy telling a crowd of spectators a bunch of b.s.?

Oh and he mentioned that they pay roughly $10 grand for their dogs and they all come from KPMV (sp?) In holland.

The lines you are reffering to are KNPV. These dogs are the best of the best. German Shepherds do compete but not near as common as Malis and Dutchies. Most GSDs dont have what it takes. Look up KNPV on youtube you will find many videos showing how extreme these dogs are. More Police Departments need to use these lines.

He shouldnt have onlybeen talking about Malis....as the KNPV regularing combine Malis and Dutchies. They do not breed for looks or pedigree. Solely for working abilities. Thats what makes them so great. When they combine the two, depending on the color of the pup ( brindle or fawn) they will label them either Malinois or Dutch Shepherd.

A Basset Hound would make a better police dog than any of those other breeds. 

Sting,

What breeds are you refering to?

Mals and Dutchies are very impressive on a Sport Field, a PSD is in a totally different category.

While GSDs do not generally have the speed of the Mal/Dutchie, GSD  have greater strenght for the takedown.

Watch some actual Police videos with a bad guy walking away with a Mal on his arm, for the most part
they do not make good apprehension dogs.

Their high Prey Drive is best suited for Detection work

 I have spent time in Holland and Belgium and have bought,  trained, and sold both breeds  to police depts, military, customs and for personal protection. The people in these European countries normally take a puppy and raise and train it all the way through the KNPV title. Then they sell the dog and start over with another puppy. They are in my opinion, some of the best trainers in the world. They go to work each day , come home,  switch clothes and head to their training club almost every day.  They don't care about the color of the dog or the confirmation. They are just concerned that the dog is structurally correct and have the drives for the work.

They prefer the Malinois for its athletic ability, speed and high drives, which are necessary to compete at these high KNPV levels. it is also common to see these Malinois crossed with the German Shepherd, Dutch Shepherd and other breeds. Back in th eearly 90s most police depts especially in the North East wouldnt take a Malinois, we almost had to beg the departments to buy them. They were concerned back then with handler aggression issues. I think mostly beacuse they didn't understand how to train these types of dogs. You cant just throw a choke chain around their necks and start jerking them around, especially without a bond with the dog. They wil let you know they dont like it!

In Europe I never saw these handler aggression issues when the trainers were working their dogs and there were times when they put  some hard corrections on them.  Again I think they know much more about how to train these dogs than we do. 

When a PD says they only buy KNPV dogs they are for the most part buying a fully trained dog. It already know things like on and off leash obedience, scaling a 6 ft straight wall, long jumps over dug out pits, guarding an article, searching for the bad guy in the forest, hold and bark, bite out, biting high and hard on the suit, retrieving small metal articles like coins and bullet shells and returning them to the handler. The hard work is already been done. 

Some of our police dog trainers would truly benefit by going over there and trainiing with these people.

My own opinion is that the Malinois is an awsome breed with high drives and when trained with proper techniques are willing and can to do just about anything. With that said I think the GSD has better nerves, and more of a thinker. Again that is just my honest opinion.  it is true that the Malinois will have fewer hip problems and other genetic deseases mostly because they are not so tightly line bred like the GSD.

If I can have a choice between the GSD and the Mal everything else being considered equal like hips , drives etc...I would take the GSD every time. Again only my opinion. 

Kelly I was referring to mals, DS and GSD's.  Although maybe we could include dobes, rotts, boxers, and other euro work breeds.  The Basset hound is king of working dogs.  Can smell a man from 23 million light years away and can rip a man's arm off at the shoulder.  Of course it never comes to that because they just stare the baddie down with their "if looks could kill" evil eye.