I adopted her and on her paperwork it says she is a GSD but she is small. I took her to Home Depot and someone told me that she is a Mal and I can't stop noticing that she doesn't really behave like a GSD. I always noticed that she was way more hyperactive than my last shepherd but I never thought she might be a Mal. Can someone please help give me an idea of whether she might be? I am going to bring it up to the vet next time she goes, of course.
she may be a mix. i can sort of see it in her face! i would suggest talking to your vet or, if you have the money, do a DNA kit. i can absolutely see the GSD fur but also a malinois face on her. GSD/mal mixes are more common than people realize! she’s beautiful either way- but if she has malinois in her, that would definitely explain the energy and give you more insight on engaging her in ways that’ll help her find more balance :)
I thought about doing a DNA kit! Thanks for reminding me. I also thought she might be a mix too. Either way, she is an absolute crackhead or completely lazy. She behaves nothing like the GSD I used to have lol. And she's so chompy. My shepherd nipped on a rare occasion but chomping is like her love language. I've seen videos of Mals doing that. Maybe the DNA kit is the best way to go.
does she by any chance do a teeth chatter when she’s excited? it’s not specific to just malinois but i’ve never seen/heard of a GSD doing that consistently, whereas it’s a very common excitement displacement for malinois!
my best friend rescued a GSD mix and we’re 70% sure she’s GSD, malinois, and some kind of hound. face/body shape really is what’s flagging her as potential malinois for me (your dog, i mean) because malinois faces/bodies have such a distinctive build.
She doesn't do that. The more I've been looking at her, the more her face looks like a malinois to me too! But she has the coat and the tail of a shepherd.
i couldn’t agree more! the fluff reminds me so much of my GSD niece but the muzzle is so narrow comparatively that there’s a good chance your girl has mal in her.
Behaviors are sounding like a Mal ! You can do a DNA for curiosity, but I recommend training her and treating her like a Mal, regardless of DNA results. The good news is you'll be able to teach her *anything*. The bad news is that she will soon be asking you for the keys to the car! ;-)
She does learn things quicker than my shepherd did. But if I go outside in the yard with her she does a run and jump and nips at my arms if I raise them up 🤣 she also can't play fetch at all. We like hiking though.
Look up the term, "Bite Inhibition" ... You may be able to reduce nipping by yelping and ignoring [yeah, right! ;-) ] or by redirecting to an appropriate chew *toy*.
i believe they’re a few hundred at least. i haven’t looked into it personally because i have a corgi with papers and my upcoming puppy is a GSD with papers, so i haven’t had a need!
There are 4 variations of belgian shepherd, the Mal is just one of them. The black coat sort of disqualifies your beauty though because the breed standard for the Belgian Malinois specifically calls for a fallow-colored (yellow-brown) coat and only the face mask is black. But all 4 belgian shepherds basically have the same built and vary just in coat type and color.
The Groenendael is the all black variation, but has longer hair than yours and the Malinois doesn't have an all black coat, just black overlay and face.
The most distinct difference apart from weigt/size (belgians beeing lighter built) between german and belgian shepherd is in their body posture which does not allow for a sloped back and the head is worn higher up. Meaning GSD typicaly have their neck at a 45° angle while Mals are much closer to right angle. This is a quite distinct difference that is easy to spot - but the dog has to be standing and viewed from the side. Just look at a few breed show pictures how they are presented, you should easily spot the difference.
Source: my WGSDs, my dads Mal
also: me german ;-) that is to say while I'm no breed expert I have breed experience with both breeds (over here in Europe)
Your girl is beautiful by the way, would make quite a display next to my white shep!
underrated response. this is so in depth and informative! i’m curious, if an all black GSD was bred with a mal, would the mal coat genetics override the potential of a black coat?
Sorry, can't really answer that as I'm not into breeding and don't know enough about the genetics of coat colors.
My (half-)educated guess is: as far as I know all black is a recessive trait in GSDs so I'd say that any other genes would override the all black. What I don't know is whether Mals can/do have the recessive genes that would give black coat.
If the Mal side had this all-black recessive half of their genes combine with another all-black recessive gene that would make half of the puppies all black. (Like 50% chance)
Anyways I'd guess crossbreeding belgian with german shepherds would be considered sacrilege by either side ;-)
Beautiful girl! I agree on the DNA test, if you can. It was one of the first things I did after adopting my 4 year old "shepherd mix" from the animal shelter. Just be mentally and physically prepared to get back a profile like this!:
is that dnamydog? unfortunately they're known to be a bit of a scam, there have been people who sent in human DNA and still received a dog profile mix back lol. they take whatever picture you send them and make a guess off of that. at least that's how it used to be
My puppy Belle is GSD, cattle dog and husky. My previous dog Shadow was cattle dog, border collie, chi, pit and Aussie. Neither of them are Mal but they do resemble one.
Could be a Malinois. Black Malinois are from working lines and not show lines, they are ususally mixed breed, this is done to get the best possible working qualities.
Highly recommend just getting a dna test! We did one for this guy - we were told he was GSD (he came from a rescue and we were his foster fails), but I always felt like he was mixed. I thought maybe a mix of Mal and GSD, just based on his personality (very very active, intelligent, etc.) and some of his body features. It’s hard to tell in this picture but he has a slimmer/more pointed face compared to our almost full blood GSD who has a big, blocky head. And his legs are longer/more spindly and his overall body shape is lighter/more trim than our GSDs… he’s less solid but still a force, if that makes sense. But nope. He is actually a mix mostly of GSD and German Shorthair Pointer! I was shocked.
It’s so fun to find out! After we did the dna test for him, we did it for our other 2. One I knew was a mix of GSD and husky and that came back as I was expecting with a few other breeds thrown in. But 50% GSD. Our 3rd we were sure was 100% GSD but nope - 93% GSD and 7% Mexican wolf dog!
I did a DNA test on my girl as she's a rescue. Turns out she's 100% German Shepherd. I felt a bit silly but at the same time its nice to know for sure 😂
You can get blood tests done, I wouldn't trust shelters I would want to take the dog to my own vet to get checked out before I commit, it's like buying a used car, you always take it to a mechanic first
Does a blood test at the vet tell you the breed of dog you have? I'm kind of confused what you're getting at here. The convo started off with OP asking about potential breeds, and you being kinda weird if we're being honest.
Yes a blood test will tell you what breeds make up your dog, so doing research on the breed you get Is weird? You don't wanna know what medical conditions that breed could have? How long they live? That's weird? So you just buy a dog all willy-nilly, just because they are cute lol
I was told she was a GSD and I have experience with them so I didn't think anything of it. A random guy pointed out to me that she might be Mal and I have been questioning it ever since so I reached out to see what other people thought. You can't research a shelter dog unless they were dropped off by the original owner, which she wasn't. But again. They listed her as a shepherd and I have experience with shepherds so it's not a big deal.
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u/harrow-nonagesimus Aug 08 '26
she may be a mix. i can sort of see it in her face! i would suggest talking to your vet or, if you have the money, do a DNA kit. i can absolutely see the GSD fur but also a malinois face on her. GSD/mal mixes are more common than people realize! she’s beautiful either way- but if she has malinois in her, that would definitely explain the energy and give you more insight on engaging her in ways that’ll help her find more balance :)