My old shepherd is getting tired.
I am considering a new German or a Belgian...
Anyone that has a Malinous,,? Are they family dogs like Germans?
How much work?

High energy, way smarter than most people...think of them like a German Shepherd on steroids...

Belgian shepherds are a lot of work.
They never stop, and they are very choleric and can become neurotic/hysterical/aggressive unless you keep them very busy constantly. I know someone who has a malinois and they say it's more of a fox than a dog. Very demanding and exhausting. Plus it's a very popuar breed so it's full of issues that stem from this fact.

Consider getting an East European Shepherd. They are basically purebred German shepherds, but stopped in time around 1940-50's. They are big, well-built, healthy dogs with straight backs, no dysplasia issues, and they are much calmer and manageable and better family dogs overall than moden GSD's, but they are still excellent service dogs. I've known a few and they were very intelligent yet gentle. One was a retired police dog trained to find illegal guns and she was one of the sweetest dogs I've known (but she still sat down in the middle of a lawn, barked and refused to move when her owners took her to visit their friends once, turned out they had a bunch of guns buried under the grass there, that had been lost in a boat accident... and she was senile and nearly blind when it happened)
They're different from the modern working lineages of the GSD though, those are similar the malinois in their high drive.

Go on You Tube and view some Malinator videos.

The trainer and breeders we spoke with were telling us the east German lines have become very watered down at this point and it's more of a marketing tactic than anything at least here in the states but even with the imports.

Is that not your experience? From our reading east german dogs were exactly what we wanted but the searching and research coupled with trying to get involved with the good old boy clubs that do bite work we backed off and went a different direction.
My daughter got a Koolie to train for tricks for now. Ita maybe 4 or 5 months and she is allready talking about back to looking for her next protection dog pup planning for 4 years or so. Breedes blood lines ect. . If I get to where im not working I will have one well trained constant companion/protection dog with me at all times. I cant now since in not home enough to take care of it properly. So I get my dog fix with my wife and daughters dogs when im home.

I cant box with the boys at all if my daughters German shepherd is out. He always steps in and will gently grab anyone that looks like a threat to me. I suspect if its is not a house hold member he would be as gents as he was on the coon and ground hog he killed last week. I think geting a tast of the blood from that coon flipped a switch in him, that ground hog a day later never had a chance. He tracked it in the high grass and shredded it when it bolted out into the open.

If you know of good east German lines not watered down and staying true to breed for the job I would love to know. We will be in the market again in 2 to 4 years maybe sooner


Op whats some videos of Malinous. They are cool but are like a German shepherd on meth. Guided missile
with teeth. They have not been messed up as bad as most dogs by people not breeding for function but for looks like a lot of other breeds have. But they look like to high energy for me. I think a good shepherd cross would be good maybe 25/75%

I didn't mean the East German lines of the German shepherd. I meant our Soviet breed that's essentially a conserved version of the early to mid-XX century German shepherd, adapted to be used primarily as service dogs in rough conditions. In the USSR, one couldn't just own a pedigree dog of a service breed without being a member of a cynology club, which included mandatory participation in training/testing, and they were mostly bred in government-run kennels for the needs of the army, police, border patrol, etc., so the working qualities of the breed were consistently high. Even after the collapse of the USSR, the East European shepherd remained mostly a working breed, so it's not plagued by "show genes" like the much more popular GSD (especially when big international dog shows became a thing, and breeders began to focus on visual attractiveness, i.e. the trademark oval body shape, long thick coat, vivid reddish-brown color, etc, which ruined the breed).

I think there are quite a few breeders in North America now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_European_Shepherd

here, I googled up a thread about them. One of the people there mentions that these dogs need a job, and that theirs used to carry a grocery basket. We had neighbors whose EES also always carried the bag with groceries home, and another one always carried a milk carton, back when milk came in pyramid-shaped cartons, or anything the owners entrusted it with (sometimes just a stick).

https://www.reddit.com/r/germanshep...e_know_about_east_european_shepherdsveo/

Sounds absolutely perfect except it may be to hot in summer for them in southern Indiana. Then again the heat is not great for me anymore either. But I will keep the heat in mind for the dogs than I do for myself forcing me by default to also watch out for myself. The Bigger l than a German shepherd would be nice to double as a stability aid when im having days MS is making me wobbly.

Im Sr
Ending your link to my daughter to do more research on. Thanks!!!

Remember they were bred for harsh climates, not just cold climates. They used to be the main border patrol dog breed and most of the southern border of what used to be the USSR goes through places with extremely hot desert climates (the USSR shared borders with Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Mongolia, etc.). They participated in the Afghan war, too. Plus like many other oldschool breeds, they still have the normal winter/summer coat difference, and their summer coat is lighter.

I will not use the standard of choosing the AKC line.
AKC is garbage.
I have the opportunity for a private sale within a group.
,
Can they sit in a truck for two hours without making iT look like mine already does?
I have had different options. Sounds like training.....

We agree on akc they have been more been much more negative than positive on working breeds

How about a Chesapeake? I`ve had 33 years worth of them and I`m more convinced as time goes by. Easily one of the best, most underrated dogs on the planet.

Lol… sounds like yes sir….. cowboy up…..

Y not an old hound .......like you .....with u

I know a couple of guys with Belgian Malinois, they need to work a lot, and attention, I would not get one for an easy going lap dog.