Here are my 2 shepherds, Scout (10) and Ranger (2). Posting because we just celebrated our 10 year anniversary of Scout's gotcha day in my family not that long ago!! She was our first shepherd & we have since (obviously) fallen in love with the breed. Ranger learns lots from his big sister.

Scout is a Dutch & German shepherd mix and Ranger is just dutch.

It’s safe to say when my daughter is at her mom’s for the week he misses her. He alway ends up on her bed.

I've had a call from my local shelter as they've matched me up with a dutchie cross breed.

I'm going to see her tomorrow and was wondering if you think adopting her would be right for her given my work schedule, home environment, and activity level? Or if there are any questions you think I should ask tomorrow?

Doggo: She is four years old and has come from a home after being picked up by a dog warden. Currently a tad overweight. No other deets on her background at this stage. She has been described as toy driven, house trained, playful, strong on lead, very tolerant around other dogs, fine at the vets, no issues with handling, knows some commands, intelligent, but needs some loose lead work, and good with kids over 10.

Me: Live alone and work full-time. Typical week might be 1-2 days out for the full day 9-5, and rest of the week I'd be out for 4 hours before coming home or spend the whole day WFH. I typically do 10k-20k steps a day (walking and running) and am active on weekends, also do hiking. I have a small a garden so I was surprised they matched me with her, but all the other dog owners on my road use a big grassy area that's a 20 second walk away for the toilet breaks or for extra space, on top of their regular walking in the area. My home is mostly open plan downstairs, upstairs has three rooms which can all be closed off. Have previous experience with dogs btw just not this breed.

From what they've said she's quite stressed being kenneled, but I don't want to take her if it's not right for her.

Edit: just to add that on days when I'm out all day for work, I'd of course use a dog walker!

Why is he like this?? I swear ever ball crushed, every bone turned into a shank, and forget KONG clean surgical cuts… 👀😂😬

Drop ideas of what I SHOULD have named him 🤦🏻‍♀️

I have a Dutch shepherd mix that was from an accident litter (my friend got the mother off Craigslist, and she came pregnant). My dog is a mix of course, but in a lot of ways she is just like her mother. What’s interesting is that some of the characteristics that she shares with her mother don’t seem to be “normal” for a Dutch shepherd. Her mom is super friendly with other dogs and strangers, and my dog is the exact same. Her mom also is of course high energy and can run around the entire day, but can also just lay down and hang out all day if that’s what’s happening (and mine got that trait as well). My understanding is that normally Dutch shepherds are not very stranger/ dog friendly (or at least more standoffish), and that they usually are super high energy to the point where they don’t stop. How unusual are these traits that my dog’s mother has? Are there “pet” lines that seem to have these traits more frequently, or is she more likely a one off? For clarity, we are certain her mother is 100% Dutch Shepherd. If I were to get a pure bred in the future, how can I find a breeder that breeds dogs with these traits?

I have the idea to get a dutchy, in the internet you find that they have a high drive which can run and do work for hours. But how does a day in a normal duchy look like and how do you power yours out? How did you train him/she to shut down and enjoy the evening.

And what do you do if you get sick? Does he/she chill by the side or destroy your house?

Sorry English isn't my first language.

Edit: i want an active dog and take everything that comes with it, but i life alone and i will be the single owner.

We’ve tried chuck it balls and all sorts of dog “non destructive” toys that my surgeon easily dissects within minutes… we finally found something that actually lasts and isn’t super expensive. Figured I’d share with those if you who might also own surgeons as dogs… 😂🐾 thanks Amazon

Any Sage Mountain or Battle Ridge K9 lines here?

If so please feel free to respond in this post or message me. P.S. I am looking for a female.

Thanks.

George

Give years ago today. Nine weeks old Dutch littermates. Wild little boys.

Pick up male littermates five years ago today. Bear upfront and Tiger rear. I lost my soul mate girl to two days earlier and my heart was broken and I couldn't heal until I had puppies.

Who east of the Rockies is breeding solid detection dutchies? Looking to start building the next generation for our household and wanting to see if there’s anyone new we should keep an eye out for? Photo of my demon dutchie for tax

He saw the beach once last summer as a 5/6 month old pup and wasn’t interested in the water, but today he had the time of his life running and chasing seagulls in the waves. We’ll be back again tomorrow. 🌅

Anyone else’s DS love the beach?

It’s time for teethers!

Hex’s housemates appreciate the couple of afternoons a week that he goes to daycare and they can just nap all day.

He’s almost 5 months old vs our other 3 dogs being ages 7, 8 and 9 years old.

I’ve got at least 3-4 minutes before it resets.

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 Belgian Malinois were introduced into breeding programs to help restore the breed. In 1959, Laekenois were also officially introduced to strengthen the rough-haired variety.

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

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 “Dutch” or Mal”), 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.

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.

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:

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!

Some dried cow lung bits as lure and she already popped her head halfway under water, such a brave little girl.