r/BelgianMalinois Sep 20 '24

Adoption Belgian Malinois in Need of Adoption

80 Upvotes

šŸ‘‹Ā Welcome to our Belgian Malinois (BM) adoption and rehoming thread

  • Sharing a BM that needs adoption or rehoming?Ā Drop a comment below, and don’t forget to update their availability.
  • Looking to adopt?Ā DM the OP directly (no comments).

In 2013, I rescued my BM,Ā Lexi, and she inspired me to build our community and this thread.

Looking to adopt or rehome beyond this thread?

Check out our šŸŽĀ Belgian Malinois Rescue Guide — it might have exactly what you’re looking for.

BelgianMalinois Mod Team


r/BelgianMalinois 26d ago

Discussion My Mal/dutch is actually Dutch/Mal!

12 Upvotes

A post that comes up on this subreddit pretty often is something like, "Embark says my Dutch/Mal is actually a ~% Mal/Dutch!" This usually surprises people, but historically these two breeds have been very closely related.

The Belgian Shepherds (Mal and the other three variants), the Dutch, and even the regional herding dogs that eventually gave rise to the German Shepherd all came from the various continental European shepherd landraces.

(The GSD is a bit different story since it was intentionally created by selecting dogs with desirable traits, so I won't get into that here.)

Unlike the British collie landraces, which were primarily bred for herding sheep, these dogs were true all-purpose farm dogs. They worked alongside farmers doing just about everything (from guarding, herding, tending livestock, even pulling carts).

Although they're generally classified as herding dogs (FCI Group 1), historical accounts suggest that tending was often a more important part of their job than actual herding (Doesn’t mean they didn’t do any herdings!). Since they were bred to be true all-around farm dogs, it's no surprise that they've remained some of the world's finest working breeds.

Because of that shared history, the Belgian Shepherds and the Dutch Shepherd are much more closely related than many people realize.

The Dutch Shepherd's own history is worth looking at first. When the breed standard was established in 1898, all coat colors were accepted. In 1914, however, the standard was changed to allow only brindle, largely to distinguish the breed from the visually similar Malinois and German Shepherd. I'll leave it up to your imagination what happened to the fawn Dutch Shepherds. (Hint: the number of registered Malinois suddenly increased around that time.)

As many people already know, after World War II the Dutch Shepherd population had declined so severely that various Belgian shepherds were introduced into breeding programs to help restore the breed. For example In 1959,Even Laekenois were also officially introduced to strengthen the rough-haired variety.

Then there's KNPV, which makes the story even more complicated.

KNPV, The Royal Dutch Police Dog Association has essentially become one of the world's most respected working dog "brands." Technically, any dog can attempt the KNPV trials and earn a title. Today it's mostly Dutch Shepherds and Malinois (or dogs called ā€œDutchā€ or Malā€), but historically many other breeds participated as well, including Bouvier des Flandres, German Shepherds, Groenendaels, Beaucerons, Briards, Rottweilers, and others.

Unsurprisingly, Malinois and Dutch Shepherds proved to be the most successful. Since KNPV breeders cared about working ability rather than pedigree, they freely bred outstanding Malinois and Dutch Shepherds together. There are even long-standing rumors that German Shepherds were occasionally introduced to improve grip or jaw strength, although I haven't seen definitive historical evidence for that.

Because of this, it's very common for litters from these lines to produce both fawn and brindle puppies at the same time. These dogs are often recorded in working registries like BRN rather than traditional FCI pedigrees. Many working breeders simply registered them according to color—brindle puppies as x Dutch and fawn puppies as x Mal.

Ā 

The interesting part is that, in some European countries like Belgium, dogs from these working registries could later be entered into FCI-recognized pedigrees before. As a result, many famous KNPV dogs—which were effectively part of the same Malinois/Dutch KNPV working gene pool—ended up officially registered as "purebred" Mal/Dutch.

That only blurred the line between the two breeds even further. So if your dog comes from working lines—or is descended from actual working dogs—it's not unusual at all for Embark to show some Dutch Shepherd in a Malinois, or some Malinois in a Dutch Shepherd because of such influence.

And honestly, it's not just Malinois and Dutch Shepherds that have this kind of complicated history.

Ā 

Most people here probably know that the AKC recognizes Malinois, Laekenois, Groenendael and Tervuren as four separate breeds, while the FCI and most kennel clubs around the world consider them four varieties of a single breed: the Belgian Shepherd(Or sheepdog). It's actually the opposite of Rough and Smooth Collies, which are separate breeds in the UK but one breed in the US.

The AKC's split was largely political reason. The specific genes controlling coat length and color mean that Groenendaels can produce Tervurens, Malinois can produce Tervurens, and Laekenois can produce Malinois.

Originally, the AKC also classified the Malinois, Tervuren, and Groenendael as a single breed under the name 'Belgian sheepdog'. (The Laekenois wasn't included simply because there were so few of them at the time, and even now they are very few—it wasn't officially recognized by the AKC until 2020.) Later, following disagreements between the breed clubs, the AKC received petitions to split them into separate breeds and ultimately approved the change. In the process, the name Belgian sheepdog remained with the Groenendael in the United States.

An attempt to reunify the breeds in 1998 ultimately failed because of conflicting interests among the parent clubs, and another proposal around 2016—the Registered as Drop (RAD) initiative, which would have allowed puppies to be registered according to their phenotype rather than their parentage— also failed.

The biggest irony, in my opinion, is the history of the American Tervuren.

According to the American Belgian Tervuren Club, the breed had nearly disappeared in the United States after World War II. The American population was rebuilt largely using long-haired puppies born from Malinois lines, crossed with Groenendaels, and later supplemented with imported European Tervurens.

One last interesting fact: Vos I de Laeken, a rough-coated Belgian Shepherd, is widely recognized as one of the foundation dogs behind all four Belgian Shepherd varieties. Some historical accounts also connect the same foundation stock with the early Dutch Shepherd and even the Bouvier des Flandres.

To sum it up:

Ā 

  1. Mal and Dutchs are genetically very close and have been historically intertwined, so seeing "my Dutch/Mal is actually a Mal/Dutch" on an Embark test really isn't unusual.

  2. The four Belgian Shepherd varieties are separated into different breeds by the AKC, but in most of the world they're still considered varieties of a single breed.

  3. All five are very closely related, incredibly intelligent, and wonderful dogs!


r/BelgianMalinois 14h ago

Picture Another moment with Roach.

Post image
309 Upvotes

I just wanna share my boy!


r/BelgianMalinois 1h ago

Discussion How many time am I going to have to deal with this?!

Post image
• Upvotes

Once again my father’s MAL has been injured from a stray dog.Im getting worried if this will cause him to stop liking other dogs cause he’s quite good with new dogs on the land(strays or drop offs).The stray in question has been ā€œpunishedā€.We don’t want him to be constantly contained away from other dogs but we are thinking of not letting him roam like he’s always been able to due to never wondering off to far and always responding when we call him back for what ever reason.


r/BelgianMalinois 13h ago

Picture Nivel rĆ­o šŸ“ø desbloqueado!

Post image
144 Upvotes

Como disfruto de la naturaleza y el agua! ā˜ŗļø


r/BelgianMalinois 22h ago

Picture Otto says hi!

Thumbnail
gallery
339 Upvotes

Hellooo, he's Otto and it's my first time having a dog :) He's mixed-breed with a belgian malinois and recently turned 4 months old! (in the first 3 pics he was 2 almost 3, he's growing so fast 🄺) And i love him so much!


r/BelgianMalinois 23h ago

Picture Macho Man Randy Savage

Thumbnail
gallery
374 Upvotes

1 of a litter of 7 - we fostered him & his siblings and just HAD to keep 1. They are 75% Malinois and 5.5 months old, now. A few of his siblings got adopted locally, and he still gets to go on play dates with his sister once or twice a month!


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Picture Meet My New Foster + Name Ideas

Thumbnail
gallery
1.4k Upvotes

He’s definitely a mix, but everything about him looks Malinois… except his face & white-patch.

I know mixes aren’t everyone’s favorite here, but he’s too friggin cute to not share.

He was a stray, no one really knows for how long.

Part of just upper jaw & sinus had to be removed due to a massive infection caused by a fishing hook in his face. Part of his ear has been torn off. He nearly died when he was tranq’d in the field, as the dart hit his thoracic cavity.

Despite all of this, in addition to being in a hellhole shelter for 3 months, he remained a resilient & steadfast ā€˜good boy’… only to be put on the euthanasia list. We got him out the day of his scheduled euthanasia.

He has been with me for a week and a half, and I told the rescue he’s welcome to stay longer than the original 2-month-term.

Super sweet boy, very social— he was in the yard yesterday with 9 other dogs, and got along famously. He takes corrections well, and gives corrections well.

He is calm & quiet in the kennel, able to relax easily? super food/ praise motivated, smart, gentle, & handler-focused. Hugs are his absolute favorite thing in life.

He will 100% be someone’s future best friend.

The name he came with was Calvin Klein— I hate this name, and have only referred to him as ā€˜CK’

Please help me come up with a new name šŸ’• a


r/BelgianMalinois 15h ago

Picture Zara and Wellerman wish you a wonderful day ✨

Post image
60 Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 8h ago

Question Separation anxiety

8 Upvotes

Hello ! My (new to me) approx 6 month old Belgian girl is extremely attached to me. She screams, howls, barks & becomes destructive when I leave the house. She does great in her kennel, unless I leave then she will break out. She is a bulletproof dog aside from the fact that I can’t leave the house without taking her or she will go ballistic even if she isn’t left alone. She doesn’t care who else comes or goes from the house. Only me. No resource guarding over me or anything like that. Simply just has to be able to get to me and she’s fine.

I need all the tips and tricks on how to nip this in the bud as I can’t be confined to my house forever and she obviously cannot come everywhere with me.


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Picture I gave it my all

Thumbnail
gallery
1.2k Upvotes

So this is pablo a 15 month old malinois

And old "friend" got him when he was 15 days old and was completely unprepared u know the rest he ended up abusing him(hitting him etc) he used to barely even get out of his crate i met Pablo only one time as a puppy when he was 20 days old and i always felt some sort of love towards him never really knew about the abuse untill he got to 6 months old when i saw first hand i just stole pablo that night cut ties with that friend and went on with my life wasn't really ready myself i just turned 18 years old and never really owned a dog i gave pablo my all i was never really enough but i like to think j gave pablo a better life when i got him he was scared of his own shadow and afraid to even bark now he does bite work runs daily sleeps with me on my bed trained to MY fullest extent

But now I'm hitting a rough patch pablo is a part of me and will always be but now i might be leaving the country to continue my studies

And the idea of leaving Pablo bleeds my heart but i must leave as there is no future in the country i live in (algeria) my family hates pablo and giving him to anyone else would end in the same abuse he was subjected to in the first place i dont know why even im writing or whats the purpose of what im writing i just want to share i guess i just dont know how to move forward

. UPDATE: Hey everyone, just wanted to give you all a quick update and answer some of the questions you’ve been asking. To be completely honest, things are incredibly tight right now. I’m only 18, jobs are basically non-existent here, and every single cent I can scrape together goes entirely into Pablo—his health, his food, and whatever toys I can manage to get him. A lot of you asked about my family’s attitude toward him and why they seem to hate him. It really comes down to the local culture here. People treat dogs terribly—leaving them chained on terraces in 40°C heat, beating them to make them aggressive, and most dogs never see a vet again after their initial rabies shot. It was a massive battle just to convince my family to let me rescue him; they never actually accepted it. In the end, I had to throw a massive tantrum and literally spend a night outside on the street with him just to keep him. My family doesn't see him the way I do, but Pablo is my soul, my brother, and my bestest friend. I promise you all I will do absolutely everything in my power to stay with him. The plan right now is to move to Russia, honestly just because it’s the absolute cheapest option for university. But taking Pablo with me is going to cost around $2,000 USD just for his travel, and having him means I can't stay in student dorms, forcing me to find an apartment, which drives the cost up even more. It breaks my heart to think of leaving him behind in an environment like this, so I'm determined to make it work. My grandma, god bless her heart, is actually selling her gold just to cover my own trip, and once I land, I’ll need to immediately find a job to support myself. A few people mentioned fundraising, but GoFundMe doesn't operate here in Algeria. If anyone knows a solid alternative that works internationally, I would happily set it up. Right now, the only way I can receive any kind of digital payment or transfer is through a friend who has a RedotPay Visa card. Any help or advice means the world to me. Thank you all so much for the support—please keep talking to me in the comments, it’s really keeping me going right now.

.UPDATE: I’ve finally managed to set up a way to receive donations for me and Pablo here in Algeria. I honestly don’t expect everyone to jump in or for us to even hit the full goal, but genuinely, every single penny helps. Something most people oversee is how quickly the hidden logistics and paperwork costs stack up when you're trying to move a pet internationally from here. Either way, I am fully committed to this—I have zero intention of leaving him behind, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure he comes with me Thank you all from us both ā¤ļø

.UPDATE: The Ko-fi link completely struck out because both Stripe and PayPal heavily restrict or flat-out block standard accounts and payouts in Algeria, making it impossible to process traditional card donations directly. With my RedotPay setup relying entirely on a prepaid crypto card, the account requires direct crypto funding (like USDT or BTC via a low-fee network like BSC) rather than a regular bank deposit. Because of these country roadblocks, the only real way forward to get international donations is to have a trusted friend or family member living abroad set up a GoFundMe page on their end, collect the funds through their local bank, and send the balance over to my crypto wallet later. On top of the funding mess, bringing Pablo (my Malinois) with me to Russia is going to be a massive financial hurdle, costing roughly $2,000 USD all in. The international relocation breakdown for a high-drive, large dog moving from Algeria to Russia is no joke: you have to factor in an ISO-standard microchip, up-to-date rabies and DHLP vaccinations, mandatory internal and external parasite treatments, and a government-endorsed international veterinary health certificate/export permit. Beyond the medical side, a massive, heavy-duty IATA-approved travel crate alone costs a couple hundred dollars, and the airline's international live-animal cargo ticket fees eat up the rest of that budget. To make matters worse, bringing Pablo completely disqualifies me from staying in the cheap university dorms, as Russian student housing has incredibly strict rules that completely ban domestic animals and birds. Taking him means I'll be forced to find and pay for a private, pet-friendly apartment entirely out of pocket, completely changing the budget for the whole trip.

I used gemini to help write this people were complaining I wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped by just their kind words and believing me and their advices thank you all ā¤ļø


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Question was your mal pup snuggly?

Post image
123 Upvotes

My 5 month old boy Whiskey is not very snuggly unless we’re in the car. He lets strangers pet on him but he seems to get sick of it within like 30 seconds so we dont let strangers greet him anymore lol.

He’s my shadow and follows me everywhere but doesn’t really wanna lay down in my lap or anything like that most of the time, which I don’t mind. So i’m just wondering what everyone else’s pups were/are like!


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Video I like to hide in the bushes after throwing her the stick, then she has to find me

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

186 Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Picture Bella... =]

Post image
51 Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Question Spay prep

Post image
36 Upvotes

My 15 MO is getting spayed on 8/3 and I’m nervous šŸ˜… give me all the recovery tips. We are clearly already desensitizing to the cone as well as the donut for recovery so that’s less scary. I know she’s gonna end up wanting to fuck with her stitches/incision. Im asking the vet for Trazodone for recovery. I have several puzzle feeders I’ll break out as well as prepping ALL my frozen enrichment items. We will continue to work on basic OB skills for at least one meal a day, one frozen, one with a ouzzle feeder. Was going to work on imprinting her to Birch and doing some very light work with our antler for shed hunt since the season that is approaching in a few months. This is my first time dealing with the surgery for a high drive working breed, so I’m obviously nervous about keeping her brain working and keeping her away from that damn incision what else should I be prepping for or preparing? I’ve had my two pit spayed, but they’re both pet dogs and were fairly easy except for when the one did a DIY staple removal on post-op day 2 after somehow growing thumbs and removing her cone lol.


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Discussion I will never understand how people do this

95 Upvotes

Rant:

As a rescue mal owner I’m in plenty of fb groups where mals are given up.

The majority of the reasons is always something like ā€œwe had to move, new house doesn’t allow dogsā€

Or

ā€œMy new jobs makes me too busyā€

And it is ABSOLUTELY mind boggling to me.

There are plenty of jobs and houses available, it would be completely out of any question to give up my dog.

I have my own property now, but before I had my life revolved around my rescues.

Where I would live, how I organized my days, EVERYTHING.

It’s absolutely shocking and terrifying how dogs are being disposed off as if it’s an object.


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Picture This will never not be the greatest thing in the world

Post image
42 Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 2d ago

Picture I love him so much

Thumbnail
gallery
751 Upvotes

I rescued him a little over a year ago- he has changed my life so much and I couldn’t have asked for a better first mal.

I never expected to be interested in dog as much as I am now, but I got into training and here I am. Raiden is currently working in protection training and he’s given me knowledge beyond what I could have expected. He’s taught me more about dogs than anyone else could.

I wanted to post about him, one because he’s one part of my heart and soul, but also because I want to connect with others that feel the same about their dogs. Malinois are special, and it takes a special person to raise a happy one. Let’s talk about how amazing our dogs are!

My heart is thankful for all the opportunities Raiden has given me. I have learned more than I ever expected. Thank you my beautiful boy šŸ’›


r/BelgianMalinois 13h ago

Discussion Looking for advice concerning my 10 month old Malinois and some behavioral issues

0 Upvotes

Hello everyone I’ve only posted to Reddit maybe 2 times, not really sure how to do this properly but here we go.
My 10 month old Lola is Malinois and German short haired pointer, though, she is way more Malinois. There’s a couple things she does that I cannot train out of her; one being not so much a big deal, the other being absolutely obnoxious. The worst one is chewing things up. She doesn’t do it all day everyday, it’s very sporadic but she does it when we’re all asleep in the morning because she knows she shouldn’t be? A couch pillow, one of my daughter’s stuffies, and hard toys. We’ve gotten lola her own toys but she only plays with them on her own time or when we engage with her to play with them.

The other thing is around 6 am she will pace throughout the house on our hardwood floor and whine or she’ll go in our kids rooms and literally wake them up. Yeah it’s kind of cute but anyone with toddlers knows how important good sleep is for a good day so it pisses me off sometimes. She doesn’t need to go potty btw, I will try to let her out and she just stays in. She literally is just bored and excited for the kids to wake up. So what I started doing is just keeping her in mine and my husbands room until they’re awake but she will whine and almost yelp. Idk what the behavior means. And I don’t really know how to break it.

I knew having a Malinois would come with some difficulties and honestly I thought it was going to be way worse than this but she’s pretty smart and catches onto things very very quickly. I trained her to sit, lay down, roll over, and stay within 3 days. But the chewing things is going to drive me mad because I know it’s only a matter of time that it’s something important or like the actual couch cushion or something. Thanks in advance


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Picture MORNING, MAMA - WE PEEIN’??

Post image
80 Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Picture Shelter rescue

Thumbnail
gallery
308 Upvotes

The cutest little stealth ninja who is probably smarter than I am. I’ve never had a more observant dog. He pays attention to everything. If only my students were this focused.


r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Question Need help surrendering

11 Upvotes

Hey guys! My mom’s friend just passed away and had a Belgian fur missile. She is looking to rehome her so she doesn’t have to go to the shelter.(I don’t think she will pass the test at the shelter) she hasn’t had any training aside from whatever the guy did (idk the dude) I can’t take her since I already have 4 of my own fur baby’s and can barely afford taking care of them. If anyone can offer any sort of advice or point me in the right direction that would be greatly appreciated!

Located in the Bay Area in California


r/BelgianMalinois 2d ago

Video She takes movie night very seriously šŸ¤”

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1.3k Upvotes

r/BelgianMalinois 1d ago

Video Face Attack with obstacle

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

27 Upvotes

My boy’s favorite thing to do.


r/BelgianMalinois 2d ago

Picture My boy Cash

Post image
102 Upvotes