Ridiculous jumper - can easily clear the 6 foot shadow-box fence when going after a squirrel. Found her on the wrong side more than once.
Posted on 08/23/2011 1:15:51 PM PDT by markomalley
Günther Bonke, a dog expert for the police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), said on Monday the trusty German Shepherd, or Alsatian, was slowly being replaced by the Belgian Shepherd. The breed, also known as the Malinois, is considered more dependable and robust than its German rival.
Bonke said NRW had only 26 German Shepherds still working alongside the police compared to 281 Malinois. He explained that not all German states bred their own dogs, making the often cheaper Belgian Shepherd even more attractive when bought in bulk.
NRW, which borders Belgium, has been breeding the Malinois since 1988. Over the years, the police discovered the dogs were healthier and more courageous than their German counterparts. Belgian Shepherds can also be used as sniffer dogs, unlike German Shepherds, which are largely limited to security details.
The trend to Malinois has also spread to Germany’s federal police, however, they haven’t entirely given up on other breeds like the Alsatian.
“We are not planning exclusively with these dogs for the future,” said a federal police spokesman.
Officials in North Rhine-Westphalia aren’t only betting on the Belgian dogs either. The state's police pack of 350 canines includes Dutch Shepherds, Giant Schnauzers, several mutts, as well as one Boxer and one Rottweiler.
Doggie ping?
Our local police department recently acquired their second K9, also a Belgian Malinois. Apparently, they are less expensive, slightly more alert than the Shepherd, so less expensive to train. At least that’s what the officers told us at a meeting.
Have one sitting at my feet as I type, retired Customs K9, wonderful, smart, 110% loyal...
Hogan's Heroes "LeBeau and the Little Old Lady" (pt 2) 1968 HD
Klink: Why would Major Hochstetter's men find LeBeau before my men?
Hogan: His dogs are smarter. They use Belgian Shepherds. You use German.
Klink: The German Shepherd dog is the smartest dog in the world.
Hogan: They couldn't find the mess hall.
Belgian Malinoit are lighter and smaller than German Shepherds, but tremendously athletic. They can jump amazing heights and distances.
They are great dogs and can be fearless. They seems a little less prone to some of the health problems of German Shepherds (hip displaysia, bloat, etc) which I would attribute to poor breeding practices but which are also the result of the size of the breed.
I believe Malinois are falling out of favor with police on this side of the pond.
They are more aggressive and more difficult to call off a perp than a shepherd. (sounds like a good thing to me but then I think, lawyers.)
Malinoit = Malinois.
Check yer spelling.
Sheesh.
Is the name German Shepard used in Germany?
You. can buy dogs in bulk?
Can a German “shepard” herd sheep?
I have a Malinois mix :-)
I’ve only met one Belgian Malinois “in person” and that was a K9 that an AF handler brought to do bomb investigations to an event where President Bush was appearing in 2004. He was a magnificent animal — just awesome. I never use the word awesome, but it is appropriate in this case. My husband and I were providing civilian “security” for the event. We were there early and had ample time to watch the AF lady and her dog patrol the perimeter.
Oh, what the heck! TTIWWP!
Only if you spell his breed "German Shepherd". ;D
See #11. I misspelled your screen name. **blush**
Ridiculous jumper - can easily clear the 6 foot shadow-box fence when going after a squirrel. Found her on the wrong side more than once.
Maybe Baden-Württemburg can adopt some Rottweilers. Come to think of it they already have a bunch living in that state, but most of them are humans.
≤}B^)
This is not news folks.... This has been going on for years. I am a German Shepherd Dog breeder here in the U.S., and this is a fact of life in Europe and has been for years.
In Europe, service dogs are disposable, dime-a-dozen dogs. Most good, well-bred GSDs are too expensive and too valuable to use as service dogs in Europe. Dogs are essentially an export commodity in Germany, and are big business (think cattle here in the U.S.). They do not consider service dogs a good use of such a valuable commodity. Any GSD that is a service dog in Germany is a dog that has some sort of problem (either conformation, structural, or temperament) eliminating it from being eligible for breeding, and thus has little to no value in the market. (Keep this in mind when you see an imported GSD as a service dog over here...)
We have a good friend who is a GSD breeder and SV Working Judge in Germany, and his day job is to purchase and train dogs (mainly terrorist dogs) for a very large city in southwestern Germany. They get the bulk of their dogs from the Czech Republic, Belgium, etc. They are mostly Malinois and Dutch Shepherds, due to cost, and what they plan to do with them (mainly bite work). They are on a budget like police departments over here, and they need to get the most value out of their expenditures. They can get more suitable dogs for less money by purchasing most anything but a GSD for service work. So, they do. Essentially, GSDs are too expensive and valuable to be in common use as service dogs.
By the way, if you haven’t seen what a terroist trained Malinois can do, it is flat scary. They are silent, quick as a snake, and are trained to go for the throat...
I would think a German Shepherd would be much better at following orders than the Belgian Shepherd.
“By the way, if you haven’t seen what a terroist trained Malinois can do, it is flat scary. They are silent, quick as a snake, and are trained to go for the throat...”
Uh-Oh, according to Janet Napolitano I’M a terrorist.
They visited us as guests at a Kiwanis breakfast meeting a couple months ago. Beautiful dog. But Emilie said we shouldn't touch or move too overtly toward her or another person. "That's something you don't want to do". He's trained for drugs interdiction, but he's also prepared to defend.
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