Variety of Belgian Shepherd

Belgian Malinois

Intense and high-energy, with a big appetite for work.
A Belgian Malinois
Photo: Svenska Mässan from Sweden
Adult male
25–30 kg
55–66 lb
Adult female
20–25 kg
44–55 lb
Lifespan
12 yrs
Class · Working
also Sport, Watchdog

What it's like

In temperament it is intense, quick and highly responsive, devoted to its handler and often reserved with strangers. It has a great deal of energy and a strong appetite for work, suiting it to detection and patrol work. A Malinois named Cairo was widely reported to have gone with the American team on the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Needs daily brain work
Handler demand
Needs an experienced owner
With people
Affection
Likes its own space
Loyalty
Sticks close to its people
Independence
Keen to work with you
Around the home
Sensitivity
Needs a calm, predictable home
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Likely to chase small pets
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
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Living with one

It has a short coat. Most of the shedding comes when the seasons change. Plan on a brush once a week, plus daily brushing through the seasonal moult. It needs plenty of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Belgian Malinois is a medium dog, heavier than a Border Collie and lighter than a Golden Retriever. Males end up clearly heavier than females. It is one of the heaviest medium breeds.

The Malinois is a square, strong but elegant dog with an upright, alert carriage. Its short, dense coat ranges from fawn to mahogany, tipped with black, and is set off by a black mask and erect, triangular, largely black ears. The hair is a little longer around the neck and on the tail and the backs of the thighs.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male Belgian Malinois puppy is already as heavy as a grown Staffordshire Bull Terrier. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
11 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight6
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
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Age
Male
Female
2 months
5.4–6.5 kg 11.9–14.3 lb
4.8–6.0 kg 10.6–13.2 lb
3 months
8.0–9.6 kg 17.6–21.2 lb
6.8–8.5 kg 15.0–18.7 lb
4 months
11.6–14.0 kg 25.6–30.9 lb
9.7–12.2 kg 21.4–26.9 lb
5 months
14.9–17.9 kg 32.8–39.5 lb
12.3–15.4 kg 27.1–34.0 lb
6 months
17.8–21.4 kg 39.2–47.2 lb
14.4–18.1 kg 31.7–39.9 lb
7 months
20.0–24.0 kg 44.1–52.9 lb
16.0–20.0 kg 35.3–44.1 lb
8 months
21.6–25.9 kg 47.6–57.1 lb
17.1–21.4 kg 37.7–47.2 lb
9 months
22.7–27.2 kg 50.0–60.0 lb
17.9–22.4 kg 39.5–49.4 lb
10 months
23.4–28.0 kg 51.6–61.7 lb
18.5–23.1 kg 40.8–50.9 lb
11 months
23.9–28.6 kg 52.7–63.1 lb
18.9–23.6 kg 41.7–52.0 lb
12 months
24.2–29.1 kg 53.4–64.2 lb
19.1–23.9 kg 42.1–52.7 lb
15 months
24.8–29.8 kg 54.7–65.7 lb
19.7–24.7 kg 43.4–54.5 lb

Lifespan

In UK vet records, the typical Belgian Malinois lived to about 12 years, shorter than the typical medium breed.

Where it comes from

The Belgian Malinois is the short-haired variety of the Belgian Shepherd, named after Malines, the city around which it was first bred. Bred for working character rather than fashion, it herded Belgian sheep and cattle before becoming an all-purpose service dog, sought after by police and the military. The FCI and the Kennel Club count it as one of four varieties; the AKC has registered it separately since 19594,8,9.

The Belgian Malinois took shape in the late nineteenth century, when Professor Adolphe Reul of the veterinary school at Cureghem studied the shepherd dogs of Belgium and helped found a club to standardise them. Coat type came to divide the varieties, and breeders around Malines concentrated on the short-coated dogs, selecting them for drive and trainability. That focus suited the breed to the police work and protection sports that grew up in Belgium and the Netherlands in the early twentieth century.

Breed standard

Kennel clubs do not all register this breed the same way.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Belgian Malinois figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a medium-sized breed is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Compare with related

German Shepherd
Sheepdogs & cattledogs · Large
Doberman Pinscher
Pinschers & molossoids · Medium
Rottweiler
Pinschers & molossoids · Giant
Australian Cattle Dog
Sheepdogs & cattledogs · Medium
Or compare the Belgian Malinois with any breed you choose
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Sources

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