Your thoughts on malinois vs german schepherd - Page 3

Back to it depends on what you want to do with the dog. If high level sport and high level sport only is the main focus, a mal may be better. If a high level sport competitor plus a family dog, hands down the GSD. Our club has quite a few mals. Fun to watch as they really are so quick. Not one there I would consider a family dog. We have a couple very nice (okay yes I'm biased) GSD's, flashy yes, not quite as quick, granted. However they can be in the house and safe around the public and family members too. Apples and oranges agreed. Give me my GSD's any day. JMO Tina

Tina, Whole heartedly agree. There are some Mals that can chill out in the house but not many. They are

I really like my malinois in the house. he is so responsive that a simple "no" ,when he is having one of his malinois moments, is all he generally needs. as for my gsd sometimes i need a brick to get my message through.(i really do not use a brick)many of my friends with mals have similar experiences.

...shit I have to stop doing that. Malinios are not easy to live with. Every girlfriend and neighbor I ever had HATED my dog. Chrissy, If your Mal puppy pouts when she gets corrected, be careful. Mals do two things with a missed timed or what they deem an unfair correction. They shut down or come up the lead. Your sounds like she will be the type to say "OK then F%@K IT." Don't ever let this dog quit. If she starts doing that, throw the ball a couple times and put her up. Handler timing has to be very good with a Mal. They are so quick to respond and quick to react. This is the most common thing I see with GSD people when they switch or get there first Mal. Timing, timing, timing. Fairness, Fairness, Fairness. If a Mal doesn't think their handler is being fair they won't work for them. They will continue to work for themselves though. Oh yeah, If someone is used to hiting or kicking(not saying anyone here I just see it alot at Sch clubs) that shit doesn't cut it with a Mal.

I love the Mal. I have a pup now and her courage is out of this world. Nothing like a GSD or Cattle Dog for that matter. Last Morning a group of 9 horseman and all our dogs went up the Pipeline Scouting, all the other dogs traveled ahead or behind, my Mal stayed with the group of horses regardless of speed around spirited horses. This was her first drive on the pipeline and she was remarkable. She made sure she was between two horses no matter how tight the squeeze. I love her.

Get A Real Dog, you are correct about timing and fairness with the mals as a whole. IMO this is why the police are going back to the gsd. they are generally poor handlers. in the house if you start from a puppy and never play with them in the house never allow them on the couch use tie downs and give them something to do that is calm (like chew on a bone, not a human bone lol) they can learn to be calm in the house. just teach them that play happens outside.

The suggestion that top sport is more demanding than law enforcement is entirely false when discussing a good cross trained law enforcement dog. The primary reason being is that in sport the dog is in a controlled situation and becomes pattern trained. While a law enforcement dog must be able to Id the situation and resond to the unexpected. I agree the mals drive is extreme and go in head first but as mentioned they do not "think' and reason as a gsd. other breeds that have been tried and failed are the rottie's and dobe's. To be in LE you must have the whole package which none are as good as the gsd. If you are wanting just drive then why won't a PITbull work? We all know why as he won't reason.

Get a real dog, the folks whose decision it is to use gsd's have been training dogs since I was in grade school and are damn knowledgable people, so to say the *facility* doesnt work well with them was an ignorant assumption. A few folks have hit the nail on the head by saying the GSD is more handler-friendly. And you can't tell me you haven't seen some working line GSD's than in personality are almost malinois-like. I think many "trainers" deeply misread the GSD, especially showlines. I'll say it before, I'll say it again: Hyperactivity does NOT equal drive. DesertRangers, bravo. You took the words out of my mouth. In fact, get a real dog saying a mals response to "what they deem unfair correction" is to "shut down or come up the lead" illustrates your point perfectly. I guess the bottom line is, different strokes for different folks.

Well now, to say a trainer or facility does not work well with a particular breed is not disrespectful. The fact that you said you have only seen 1 good Mal as a working K9 just means you have not had enough exposure and experience with them. The point you make about trainers working for many years but don't like Mals is not uncommon. You can't train a Mal the same way you train a GSD. Doesn't work. Long time trainers are usually accostomed to what works for them and don't like to change or evolve. Not knocking anyone. If it ain't broke don't fix it. This is one of the reasons many LE agencies are going back to the Shepherd. The training is not there, handlers get tired of getting bit by there own dogs, and they get too many lawsuits. I will bet it is safe to say the LE and military of countries such as France, Belguim, and Holland think there dogs do just fine. I don't quite know what to say about a statement like "why wont a Pit Bull work".I have worked a number of VERY good Pit Bulls that would rival ANY GSD or Mal for that matter. Too make a statement like just demonstrates a lack of exposure. If that was refering to LE, there are a number of Pit Bulls used as detection dogs. Pit Bulls are not patrol dogs because they can't do it. It is purely about pubic image. I would go to battle with a good Pit Bull, any day of the week. Malinios completely dominate every bite work dog sport. Additionally there are thousands of them in the world working the mean steets every day. I am not saying this based on a preference it is a fact. A good dog, is a good dog, is a good dog; whatever the breed, but let's not live in fantasy land. I love a good orange, but nothing beats a real good apple.

wow, there is some completely different views of what i see in the mals. first is my experience with the mals is that they are more intelligent then the gsd. they problem solve better. second they are way more handler oriented. third they can be calm and make nice house pets (it can be a lot of work). now this is my experience with the three i have owned compared to the six gsd's i have owned. this is also the experience of other people i know. the malinois has been selected for far more demanding sports over the last 40 years like french ring, mondeo ring, belgian ring, knpv, ect. these sports are not as rigid in there patterns as sch. the judge will often change the patterns the day of the trial. these sports all have a very important exercise called the object guard. this exercise is designed to test the dogs problem solving abilities. the decoys job is to try and get the object from the dog without the handler present. the dog must think and react to what he thinks the decoy is going to do. its a chest match. the agility in these sports is also very important and carries a lot of points. the gsd has been primarily selected for sch. in schutzhund there is a set pattern it doesn’t very. if you have a dog that thinks to much in schutzhund you could lose points (out of control). what this has created is a dog that lacks problem solving skills. (i'm sure i'll get murdered for that statement) but a very good dog for following a handler and great at memorizing patterns. i do believe the gsd is changing. i see more gsd's today that seem to have better problem solving skills then even five years ago. some are very similar to malinois, smaller, faster and very active in the work. the reason we are seeing more and more gsd's that act like mals is people are selecting more for malinois traits because the training is evolving to more positive motivation based training. this type of training requires a active intelligent dog in order perform well.