Malinois- size

How big to these things get? I saw a young one, smaller than Ruby at the dog park (brindle actually, so it would be a Dutch Shepherd or mix I guess)

Some sites list 40-60 for females and then 60-80 for males.

The males can be twice the size of the female and there is no size overlap? I know size is valued for Police or military dogs, but 80 seems big.

They vary a lot. I"ve seen a lot that were 40lbs and a lot that were 80 or so, and everything in between.

My pup's dam is around 55lbs and the sire is around 70lbs. Aeri has a half sibling (male) who is 75+lbs. I'm thinking she will hit 50lbs. Lots of variety!

The size of all Belgians can vary quite a bit. Height wise males are ideally 24" - 26" at the shoulder and females are 22" to 24" but when taking into account dogs under and over ideal size, there can be a huge variance between the smallest females and the largest males. Weight wise, my black Belgians are all between 38-56lbs and vary in height from 21 1/2" to 24 1/4". Weight in any of the Belgian breeds could easily go from 35lbs for the smallest females to 80+lbs for the largest males.

All that said, if the dog you saw at the park was brindle it wasn't a Mal or at least not a purebred. There is a lot of mixing that goes on with some of the working lines, so it is possible the dog was sold as a Mal but had a different breeds or breeds in her pedigree.

I agree, it varies so much from line to line, especially when we're talking malinois, where there are SO many different lines. I find alot of working people try to breed them larger than show people (alot of breeders throw some GSDs in the woodpile to accomplish this). Weight depends more on substance than height.

I have a 22.75 inch groen female who is 48 lb, and I have a 24 inch male who is 62 lb (I think he'll mature more between 65-68 lb). His sister is 23.25, expected to mature around 50lb. My dogs aren't tall, but they are substantial and therefore tend to weigh more than the dogs we see who are taller than them. There is another breeder I know personally whose males tend to range anywhere from 26.5-28.5 in, but they are considerably lighter than my dogs because they don't have the bone or chest that my dogs have.

On the other hand, I had a little 21 inch groen female who was never more than 17 or 18 lb at a good weight. She was very fine boned, and though she was only 1.5 inches shorter than my other female I had at the time, she seemed a great deal more petite. She was completely different lines.
My 22.75 inch female is heavier than a 24.5 inch male I had years ago.

So, it really depends on the lines. Females from one line can be alot heavier than males from another line. Some dogs may be very tall, but dogs 4 inches shorter might be heavier. Mals have such a wide gene pool that it varies considerably.

It definitely varies. Riley is 76lbs and 28.5-29" tall at 15 months. He is a freak of nature, I definitely did not expect him to get that tall!!

They seem to vary a lot. Someone told me they are 100lb+ once and I actually snorted milk out my nose.

They vary yes, but they shouldn't get any bigger than 80 lbs and not any smaller than 45, as a rule.

Sloan is 45 lbs and Backup is 50 lbs, they're very small malinois actually. Ideally 60-70 lbs would be a nice weight for speed and man stopping power. Our two are SUPER fast which is awesome but they aren't nearly as good of man stoppers as Quarrel who is already 60 lbs and will probably top out around 65-70 but he's definitely a slower dog than our two. It's a give a take really.

The malinois we had before our two was 35 lbs and much to small but danged if she wasn't adorable.

Oh and Malinois do not carry a brindle gene from what I understand.

Someone recently called an agility facility here and said he had a 120lb Belgian Shepherd. The owner of the place has a Mal and asked if it was a furry black dog. Guy said no. So she asked if he was brown and what sort of coat did it have. Guy said "yeah he's brown and has a short coat". So she told him to bring the dog out because she was intrigued by a 120lb Mal. Dog was an oversized GSD. And when she asked if the dog had papers and if so, what breed was on them. He said "the papers say German Shepherd but when they get to a certain size they're called Belgian Shepherds" LOL Have also had more than one person tell me that long haired German Shepherds are called Belgian Shepherds/Sheepdogs. Not sure where people get these ideas!

He said Belgian, but it was brindle, so Dutch shepherd probably got in there somewhere.

I really like the smaller end of the size scale. They could be the perfect hiking breed, if I could ever live with one the other 99.9% of the time. Mid sized agile, a bit of defensiveness would be fine, I really do not relish the though of coming back to someone breaking into the car at the trailhead.

I need to stop thinking about "Next Dog." At least until I stop changing climates every 5 years

Ah, a mix then not a malinois. They're great hikers, if you can handle the time before and after.

In AKC land, black long haired Belgians are the Belgian Sheepdog.

So you get someone who looks at a book, and sees the long haired Belgian dogs, (can't pronounce Terv) and thinks they look like long haired GSDs. Then they actually see a long haired GSD, and it must be a Belgian.

Now, most long haired GSDs seem to be oversized. So clearly, they are GSDs until they are big and hairy.

my long coat GSD is a whopping 58lbs

She sounds like my perfect size, LOL! Do you have any pictures of her? She sounds really cool.

It was most likely a Dutch Shepherd perhaps a DSx Mal.... the dog should have the brindle body with a black mask on the face... nice dogs, if I do say so myself.... I know of DS breedings that throw the fawn color but depending on the breeder they are often sold as either .... the Mal can throw a brindle but it is considered a DSx. Again breeders might try to call it a DS... I can name one/two breeders that will do so.

80lbs if I am not mistaken is large for the Mal. as it is for the DS. Gwen is a solid 60lbs of muscle.. ugh.. try to take that at top speed running.

Mali's size can depend on whether their lines had Great Dane injected in them or not (this is not very lately; like 10-ish + years ago). The GD was put in to bring down the hyperactivity; and it probably worked; since the only truly FAT Malinois I've ever seen; have been the type that go back to the GD -- I don't do Mals; so I can't tell you which lines. I've seen the 30-40 pd. Malis; they are kinda cool, but small for manwork; but the frenetic attack they bring; would pretty much stop anyone out of a suit. I've seen some nice Shmali's; I'm not sure what colors they end up in; probably whatever from both breeds -- the one's I've seen look like brawnier Mals in color and conformation; head is different. They definitely could bring the size up and still look like a Mal.

There are mixed breeds being sold as Malinois that probably do have Dane behind them, but they aren't Malinois any more than Bandogs and American Bullies are APBTs.

It doesn't even make sense to breed in Great Dane to bring down reactivity. If I wanted to mellow such a trait in a line of Malinois, I'd breed to Malinois that aren't as reactive, or even a dog of another Belgian variety. If I wanted bulk, too, I might consider GSD. Great Dane is a ridiculous choice.

There is no reason that a good Belgian of any variety should be hard to live with if you are providing enough exercise and mental stimulation. There are things about them that make them not the easiest dogs in the world but they really should be able to chill in the house. Of course, not all can but that is a good reason to research lines

You would love Tru's puppies (Black Belgians) Tru is a small bitch (21.5") from one of my litters. She had an accidental litter last summer of 11 puppies which I took and placed at 9 weeks old. They are a year old now and are pretty much all about Tru's size, even the males! I always joke that they are "miniatures". This is Seven from that litter lure coursing last weekend, I think he's about 21" and 35lbs: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/video/video.php?v=10150228665785850&oid=287557245498&comments


He's also in this Flyball class video (first appearance at I think about :30), along with my Whimsy, who is about 22": YouTube - Flyball Beginer Class YABTC


Honestly, I think more mixing goes on with working line Mals than is ever admitted to. I have seen dogs which were supposedly purebred Mals who were obviously not. I'm certainly not saying this is the case with all working line Mals but I think it is not all that uncommon either.

I remember hearing in the 90s about some Mal lines having Dane in them and wondering why anyone would do that. I questioned if it was true or not but during that time, I did see some rather Dane-y looking Mals.

My mostly GSD poofy one is 62lbs.
And I find it sad that the Sibe/GSD mix is smaller (50lbs) than most oversized byb Sibes out there.

Aleron she sounds totally my type - I really tend to like the little ones! I watched Seven's lure coursing video - he seems to be having a blast! And of course I LOVE Whimsy - I frequently show Rally videos of her to my mom, haha.