GSD vs Mali - Page 1

so a trainer tells my wife a few mintues ago "GSD's are stupid, Mali's are so much smarter"
Im a GSD guy, dont really care, they are plenty smart enough for me
WHAT DO U THINK

There are many nice working Malinois and like every other breed many that are not so great.  Just like the GSD, some great working dogs and some that are not capable.  I'm a GSD guy deep down but I do appreciate the working ability of a "good" Malinois.  Unfortunately, it is easier to find a decent Malinois at a good price and deal with it's issues than find a decent GSD at the same price.    

IMO the really smart dogs find a way out of your yard to do what they want to until they get hit by a car. I think most folks confuse smart with high trainability.

im sure he ment trainability, i just wanted to quote what he said

Each breed has it's own strengths, these two breeds think differently.  It's not an issue of intelligence.  Mals tend to be faster to respond to command, GSDs tend to be think a bit more...not because they're confused, but because they are considering the best way to do something, or an alternative altogether, GSDs are better at self-preservation than Mals are.   Mals can be better for extreme police/military situations because they respond to command in a nano-second without consideration for their personal safety.   Both traits have their ups and downs.  

I personally encourage my dogs to think independently, to solve puzzles on their own.  If I tell them to do some odd thing, without instruction on how to do it, I really enjoy watching them think it out and choose the most logical method, which isn't always the most straight-forward easiest choice.  
Example, throwing their ball beyond a thorny briar patch, the typical GSD is going to find the best way around that briar patch and save their skin, the mal on the other hand is more likely to just take the most direct route straight through that briar patch to get the ball.  
I much prefer my dogs going around the thorns, but some situations may call for a dog that will go straight through the thorns.  

That's a good explanation, Euro.  I've had GSD's who sometimes failed to show consideration for their personal safety as well; it gets expensive pretty quickly.

I know a trainer that loves the GSDs from Eastern Europe.  He recently had a Mal who he said was the best dog he ever owned.  I know another trainer who loves mals but got a GSD to train for rally and took it to nationals - it was the number 1 rated GSD that year.

In other words, it depends on the dog.

I was told that a good Mal is the best dog ever, but a bad one.......

very interesting @ EURO, especially since my wife was @ work, and she works on the same post that the military dogs for this region. it was a mil trainer who told her that

by EuroShepherd on 09 January 2013 - 17:01
h breed has it's own strengths, these two breeds think differently.  It's not an issue of intelligence.  Mals tend to be faster to respond to command, GSDs tend to be think a bit more...not because they're confused, but because they are considering the best way to do something, or an alternative altogether, GSDs are better at self-preservation than Mals are.   Mals can be better for extreme police/military situations because they respond to command in a nano-second without consideration for their personal safety.   Both traits have their ups and downs.   I personally encourage my dogs to think independently, to solve puzzles on their own.  If I tell them to do some odd thing, without instruction on how to do it, I really enjoy watching them think it out and choose the most logical method, which isn't always the most straight-forward easiest choice.   Example, throwing their ball beyond a thorny briar patch, the typical GSD is going to find the best way around that briar patch and save their skin, the mal on the other hand is more likely to just take the most direct route straight through that briar patch to get the ball.   I much prefer my dogs going around the thorns, but some situations may call for a dog that will go straight through the thorns.

Exactly