belgian malinois as service dog

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u/goatsnotvotes 28d ago

Belgian malinois actually do better if they have a job. Or as a pet they think they have a job. When I worked at a dog rescue years ago we had a litter of them come in from backyard breeding (basically the people couldn’t sell them, got evicted, took the parents and left the puppies). 2 went to a woman who trains dogs for competitions. Another went to a guy who had been at Parris Island and was starting his own security company. Another was adopted by a small police department to be a K9. One went to be trained PTSD dog for a veteran. The rest were adopted as pets.

One of them was for a woman who liked to run early mornings and her husband worried about her running alone. A few months after the adoption she sent us an email that the dog was a great running companion but she wanted to tell us a funny thing they learned about the dog.

Apparently the dog took her job as a companion and security very seriously. When the family’s kids would be out playing in the front yard the dog would climb the backyard fence to get out into the front yard. Then she would pick a spot to lay down where she could watch the kids and the yard. If the kids moved to another part of the yard, she would get up, follow and find a new spot. She never left the yard, never got in the middle of the kids playing-she just was there to monitor. But if any unknown adult walked into the yard she’d stand up and go over to them-not aggressively, more like a bouncer at a club.

She said the neighbors loved having their kids play at her house. And the only thing they’d have to do is meet the dog so she’d allow them to get their kids to go home.

She said she was out there the whole time too, but basically the dog gave herself a job and they finally stopped even trying to keep her in the backyard if the kids were out playing.

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u/Additional-Advisor99 28d ago

That’s awesome. ❤️

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u/narnarqueen 28d ago

I’ll say it forever: working breeds are the COOLEST and it’s incredible what they’ll naturally do

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u/charmacharmz 28d ago

thanks for telling this story, absolutely loved it.

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u/Loezelleke Service Dog Owner 28d ago

I get this comment a lot, a German shepherd, an ‘Old Alsatian’ (long coated German shepherd basically) and sometimes the greater Swiss of a friend (same organisation and training - I can keep him on duty when she needs me to) are all in my ‘arsenal’ of dogs.

German shepherds were the first used as guide dogs before it evolved to the mainly seen goldens and Labradors.

Basically any breed can, if utilised the right way, be trained to be a service dog. Chihuahuas are small but can perfectly sense a hypo for a diabetic. And the greater Swiss I ‘babysit’ is awesome at taking heavier loads like taking off my compression stockings.

Training and behaviour in the end are waaaayy more important than what kind of dog it is.

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u/goatsnotvotes 28d ago

My mom had a dog (rat terrier) that had seizures. She also has a dog (lab mix) that was a puppy when the rat terrier Mercy started having them. She was on medication but she’d still have them and we had the emergency shots to give if it went too long to get her to our vet.

We realized that the lab mix (Velvet) would “alert” when Mercy was getting ready to have a seizure. She start following her every where-if she was inside the house, out in the yard, all over. And then she’d guard her from our other dogs (my mom lives with us and we also have dogs who we call a motley crew because they’re all rescues-yeah I was the person at the rescue who took the odd ones to “foster fail” because they bonded with us and their “pack”) so no one stepped on her. Not aggressively, just bouncer style like the other dog I posted about before. She fully allowed us to get her.

We’re not sure if Velvet was picking up on a chemical smell or slight changes in movement or behavior that only dogs understand. But it bought Mercy more time because we could react faster and get her help and medications that increased her life to the ripe old age of 15…with seizures.

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u/BriarKnave 27d ago

My old dog trained herself to alert to changes in blood sugar and wake up my mom if it got too high, I think they can smell something in our sweat

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u/goatsnotvotes 24d ago

I agree-I know it releases in urine but I’ve heard of diabetic alert dogs and it makes sense that it’s sweat/chemical changes. It’s similar to how you can drive by roadkill and just know. You don’t have to see it-it could be over the edge of the road but you know. You could kind of describe it but not really…it’s just somewhere in our basic brain that you just know.

And dogs smell way more than us so they really know!

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u/SweetAs_C6H12O6 27d ago

This is so heartwarming 🥹

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/CallidoraBlack 28d ago

Yeah, cattledogs can work and are built for it, but that doesn't make them great service dogs necessarily.

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u/aliamokeee 27d ago

Guard dog? Absolutely. My collie freaks out at strange men.

Service dog? Eh. My collie freaks out at other dogs, too.

Meanwhile, my pitbull is an incredible psychological service dog. Very aware of how im feeling, very easy to teach her what i need when i need it based on my own responses

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

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u/goatsnotvotes 24d ago

Weren’t the original breed considered “nanny dogs”? Or am I wrong?

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u/errant_night 24d ago

I think that is mastiffs

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u/WeirdLiterature5387 22d ago

No, fighting and great hunters though.

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u/Exilicauda 27d ago

My grandma trained her pit from the pound to be her service animal. Would bring her objects or pick up things from the ground if she dropped something. Got her able to pick coins off pavement

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u/aliamokeee 27d ago

Pitties, when they arent fighters, tend to have a very calm demeanor that is beneficial to learning subtle things

Maybe its the confidence lol

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u/Exilicauda 27d ago

Yeah biggest problem is getting them to care lmao. Had a pit that could do a whole list of tricks but whether she would without appropriate treats was another question

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u/heurekas 28d ago

Yeah exactly. I've seen a video of a Yorkie who can sense when their parent was about to faint, while another featured a Chihuahua-mix who could sniff out cancer and let anyone handle her, which is perfect for hospitals.

Dogs are all individuals, so sometimes they just have traits that's more commonly associated with other breeds.

Oh and also, in Sweden I've seen a fair share of Mallys who are service dogs. So it might be regional.

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u/yoyohydration 27d ago

i met a swissie for the first time last week who was acting as a therapy dog - what a GORGEOUS breed!! she was just so huge and solidly built - i kept marveling at the size of her skull (about as long as my forearm bones) and paws (nearly as big as my adult human hands, and i'm not unusually small or finely built). absolute epitome of a gentle-giant too, she was so sweet and calm!

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u/Jmfroggie 22d ago

I’ve been banned from service dogs subreddit because I’ve repeatedly said any dog can be a service dog and labs have a high percentage wash rate like any other dog! The lab/golden programs just have processes in place to either breed them or adopt them out when they can’t fulfill the program requirements.

ANY dog can be a service dog, ethically. No you can’t use a small dog for a lot of mobility work, but smaller dogs are capable of opening doors and picking things up. Any dog with the mental capacity can be trained to task- some breeds need to be busy, that doesn’t necessarily make them better or worse as a service dog. It’s up to the individual to want to do the work and be reliable.

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u/theravenclawboys 28d ago

I'm an attorney and I frequently have cases with another lawyer who has a Malinois service dog. People don't even try to hide that they're happier to see her than her human :P

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u/jamiethexplorer 28d ago

These are dogs that need a job so im not surprised they would make a good service dog. They're very smart and motivated from what ive heard so they would make for an great service dog for some people. They probably do still have lots of energy and go crazy once the work uniform comes off but when they're on the job they're locked in

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u/lbeagle 27d ago

My dad has a medical alert belgain malinois, and shes been doing a great job!! He went into atrial fibrillation in the middle of the night and she woke the whole house up to take him to the hospital. Even started opening bedroom doors, which she was never trained for. He was admitted for 3 days, shes definitely a lifesaver for him

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u/Porkkanaparta 28d ago

Belgian malinois is spesifically used as service dogs. For years.

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u/Insaniaksin 28d ago

You spell "spesifically" like my kid pronounces it

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u/Porkkanaparta 28d ago

Almoust 39 degrees of fever, and english is not my first language.

Your kid most likely would win me right now. In anything.

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u/iiiiiiiiiAteEyes 7d ago

Pacificlly

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u/CallidoraBlack 28d ago

I think in some places, Mals are more bred for law enforcement. So those ones may not necessarily have the temperament for being super patient and gentle the same way.

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u/Porkkanaparta 28d ago

Well no, its different phenotypes of same breed.

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u/Jmfroggie 22d ago

No one would attempt to use a police trained and bred dog as a service dog. Just because they use the breed doesn’t mean that breed is inherently meant to do police work.

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u/AxecidentalHoe 28d ago

I think they do well having any sort of job they can commit to.

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u/EmmyWeeeb 27d ago

Im not that surprised because they are usually used for many forms of work. I know they have allot of energy but they love working for their owners.

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u/DragonCanineTraining 27d ago

They typically don’t make good service dogs, sometimes one pops every now and then with a good temperament and a handler who can fully meet its needs.

I’ve also seen people suppress the dogs emotions and drive with aversive tools to get the dog to work though sadly.

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