Is my dog a Mal or a Mal x? - Page 1

I adopted my dog, Jetta, when she was 3 months old from a rescue organization. They told me she was a GSD x Collie, but as she grew it became apparent that she was neither of those. I think she is almost all Mal, but I'm not sure. Her coat is a bit longer than I think it should be for a Mal.

She is currently about 8 months old and is about 40 lbs. She is a really awesome dog... very smart, active, and very good with our toddler.

Do you guys think she is a Mal?

Here she is the day we adopted her:

I don't really see Malinois in her at all.  I could believe the GSDxCollie that you were told, my sister had a GSDxCollie many years ago who looked a LOT like your dog, except with more white markings.   The white on the tail tip is neither a Malinois or GSD thing, but is a Collie thing.  The ear and head shape could be a bit Malinoisish, but could also be other breeds.  The masking isn't Malinois, more typical of a GSD mix.

Did you ask the rescue why they said GSD X Collie.  Many times they actually know one or both parents on a litter of pups, they usually have the mom there with the pups.  Dad may be more of a mystery.

 I see what you're saying, but I don't see any other Collie traits in her besides the white tip on her tail. I think that might be why the rescue organization thought she was a Collie mix. I got her from a rescue organization in Florida. They brought her down from a shelter in Nashville after they had all that bad flooding early this year. I don't think they had her parents in the shelter, but Jetta's brother and sister were both in the shelter as well.

I always billed her as a GSD x until a friend of mine who works at a dog shelter mentioned the possibility that she may be Mal x. I wasn't really sure, but did find a photo of a Mal that looked strikingly similar to Jetta. I'm attaching the photo below.

It doesn't really matter either way, I was just really curious about her true lineage and thought you guys might be able to offer some insight.

Here is the photo of the Mal that looks like Jetta:

 Hmm, that photo was larger than I thought and caused the text to be cut off. Here is the text from the above message:

I see what you're saying, but I don't see any other Collie traits in her besides the white tip on her tail. I think that might be why the rescue organization thought she was a Collie mix. I got her from a rescue organization in Florida. They brought her down from a shelter in Nashville after they had all that bad flooding early this year. I don't think they had her parents in the shelter, but Jetta's brother and sister were both in the shelter as well.

I always billed her as a GSD x until a friend of mine who works at a dog shelter mentioned the possibility that she may be Mal x. I wasn't really sure, but did find a photo of a Mal that looked strikingly similar to Jetta. I'm attaching the photo below.

It doesn't really matter either way, I was just really curious about her true lineage and thought you guys might be able to offer some insight.

Did you see Jetta's siblings?  Maybe they came up with the possible mix based on traits they saw in the siblings and her combined.  IE one sibling was more Collie-like, had the white collar, a blaze, etc. 

Without knowing the dog in the photo you posted I'm going to guess that it's a Dutch/KNPV "Malinois".  Most of which are actually mixes.  Mainly Malinois, but with some GSD, DS, and who knows what else thrown in, which can result in some interesting colors and markings.  It is also possible that the dog in the photo you posted is a pure Malinois, odd colors do crop up on occasion, but it's not a typical coloring for a Malinois.  It is a very typical coloring for a GSD mix though, which is why I say the chances of your dog being a GSD mix are much higher then her being a Malinois or Malinos mix.  Not to mention there are simply way more GSD mixes in the US then Malinois mixes, because there are WAY more GSDs.

Whatever she is, it sounds like she's a cool dog.  And being a mix of some combination of herders, wether it's GSD, Collie, Malinois or something else she should be fun.  Smart, driven, quick and athletic.

Her sister was already adopted, but I did see her brother. He was a lighter color and was a bit bigger than Jetta from what I remember. I didn't see any obvious Collie markings on him. He was almost all brown. I don't recall any white on him at all.

I never heard of Dutch/KNPV Malinois. Thanks for the info. I will look into that.

I did find the site where I got the photo of that other "Mal." It is right here: http://www.cck9.com/blog/?p=884

A cursory glance at the blog leads me to believe that the people who run it actually breed Mals and that the one pictured was one of theirs. I don't know if they are well-known breeders, though.

Jetta is definitely a herder. She herds my toddler all over the place and even tries to herd me if I run beside her. She keeps life interesting around here.

Based on their website, CC K9 is breeding mixed breeds.  On their website the key comments are

* All of our Elite Family Estate Protection Dogs are KNPV Title.
* CCK9 is a KNPV German Shepherd Breeder

KNPV is the Dutch national protection sport.  The dogs are about 98% unregistered, they breed what works to what works, with the goal being producing police dogs.  Some breed mainly one breed, and will have a pedigree full of dogs of the same color, others simply combine whatever works together.   The dogs are called what they look like, ie if it's fawn with a black mask (or close to it) then it's called a Malinois X, if it's Brindle it's a Dutch Shepherd X and if it's got a black saddle then it's a German Shepherd X.  When the dogs fly over the ocean to the US though the X is usually dropped, and the dog is simply called a Malinois, DS, or GSD.   There are quite a few breeders here in the US that breed using the same model, although it's mainly the "Malinois" and "Dutch Shepherd" and not GSD, unregistered GSD are not looked on as favorably here as the unregistered "Malinois" and "DS" are.  But they do a breeding, and based on the color of the pup, that's the breed it's advertised as.

Thank you so much for the information. Just having Jetta has made me very interested in learning more about Mals and other shepherds. I'm going to keep reading up on the various breeds.

I guess I'm no closer to figuring out what she is, so I'm just going to go with "Mystery Shepherd."

 thanks for the info, malndobe! :)

For $45 you can send in hairs to one of the genetics laboratories and they will tell you what mix your dog is.  Can buy packet thru magazines, your vet, petsmart or from the labs themselves.  Just let your fingers do the walking over your keyboard.