Belgian Malinois Information & Dog Breed Facts

The Belgian Malinois is one of four Belgian Sheepdog breeds created in the late 1800s in Belgium, that’s where the name derives from.

The Malinois (fawn-mahogany, short coat with black mask), Tervuren (fawn-mahogany, long coat with black mask), Laekenois (fawn, rough coat), and Groenendael (fawn, rough coat) are the four variations (black, long coat). In the United States, the American Kennel Club (AKC) recognizes all four kinds as different breeds, with the exception of the Laekenois.

Ancestry of the four variants

The Laekenois, a rough-coated fawn, was named after the Chateau de Laeken, where Queen Marie-Henriette named them her favorite; the Groenendael, a long-haired black, was named after the Chateau de Groenendael, where the two forefathers of the variety, Piccard d'Uccle and a bitch named Petite, lived; and Piccard and Petite was also The legendary Milsart, the first Tervuren champion, was produced by their black son, Duc du Groenendael, who was mated to a fawn bitch, Miss; the last variety was the Malinois, a short-haired fawn with black mask and points.

The Name

Breeders opted to give each of the Belgian Shepherd Dog variations their unique names. In 1898, the city of Malines established a club dedicated to the promotion of the fawn shorthaired Belgian Shepherd dog.

The Malines club, along with Louis Huyghebaert, an early breeder under the "ter Heide" kennel name, as well as a judge, author, and the "godfather of the Malinois" (and the Bouvier), had done much to popularize these short-hairs, and the name "Malinois" came to be linked with them.

Society Royal St. Hubert

The Belgian Shepherd was classified as a single breed with four variants by the Society Royal St. Hubert in the early 1900s. Societe Royale Saint-Hubert is Belgium's equivalent to the AKC. When World War I broke out in 1914, breeders' efforts and the number of breeding dogs suffered.

Efforts to save the breed from extinction were made. Breeding regulations were linnet, and all puppies of good quality, regardless of color, were acknowledged. All dogs, regardless of coat color or kind, were allowed to breed.

As a result, the litters produced a wide range of puppies. The pups were registered by the Society Royal St. Hubert as the variety they were born with, not the parents' variety. Until now, this has been the preferred method of determining the variety.

Changing times, changing roles

Huyghebaert proposed in 1897, a year before the Malines club was founded, that because there were few sheep left in Belgium, shepherd dogs should compete in field trials to demonstrate their intellect, obedience, and devotion. Dressage trials for shepherd dogs were created as a result of this advice, and they examined a dog's ability to leap and execute other exercises.

Belgian Shepherds have also been used as draught dogs and guard dogs. They were the first Belgian police canines to be deployed. International police dog trials were immensely popular in Europe prior to World War II, and Belgian dogs won a number of awards.

When World War I broke out, the military used several Belgian Shepherd Dogs for a variety of roles, including messenger dogs, Red Cross dogs, ambulance cart dogs, and light machine-gun cart dogs, according to some.

Several exceptional Malinois kennels were founded in Belgium throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Malinois and Groenendael were the most popular Belgian Shepherd dog breeds transported to foreign nations during the early decades of the twentieth century. Many were sent to the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Argentina, and Brazil at the time.

Following World War I, many American veterans returned from Europe with Malinois and other Belgian Shepherd Dogs, and AKC registrations skyrocketed. In 1924, the first Belgian Sheepdog Club of America was founded, and it quickly became a member club of the American Kennel Club (AKC). Walter Mucklow, a Jacksonville, Florida lawyer, popularized the Malinois through AKC Gazette articles he authored in 1924 and 1925. For a brief period, he also bred Malinois under the name Castlehead Kennel.

Belgian Malinois dogs have gotten a lot of press in the previous decade for their work in the military, drug detection agencies, search and rescue operations, and police departments around the country. As a result, a large number of Malinois have been imported into the United States in recent years.

Conan, a Belgian Malinois, was injured in a military operation in 2019 that was aimed at Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Conan was hailed as a hero at The White House after making a full recovery from the mission.