Dutch Shepherd Forum

My tiny brindle dog gets compliments everywhere. I joke that she can act like a total douche and get away with it due to the Naomi Campbell effect. I think she's looking more GSD these days, but we are stopped nearly daily by people asking if she's a mal and/or "where'd' she get that striped coat?!"

For the record, she has not grown in height at all since 6 months. She will be 8 months this week. She's tiny but very, very athletic. I love seeing her leap!
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Great pictures! Looks like she's having a great time exploring. She doesn't look so small, but maybe that's just the lack of familiar objects in those shots. Hilde is also tiny: 19", ~38lbs. I was approached once by a couple of LEOs asking if she was a "mini-Mal". I can see with Grendel's predominantly fawn coat getting the Mal question, but Hilde is clearly dark and brindle-y. Maybe in the K9 world the DS are just lumped in with Mals for simplicity?

Thanks!

Yeah, the lack of familiar objects probably is part of it. And honestly, she's not tiny like chihuahua size! Just tiny in comparison to any DS or GSD I've ever seen.

Her trainer said it's very common in working dog community to refer to DS as a mal. I don't know if that's a local thing or not. As for Grendel's coat - I think the brindle is much more apparent in person (in dog?). People are always saying "wow, I've never seen a brindle GSD!" Or that they didn't know mals came in brindle.
Personally I didn't realize mals were such a hot item until I got Grendel. People seem really impressed with the idea of a malinois. When I say DS, I get funny looks like they think I'm making up a breed!

I dont see any GSD in there but a very light brindle. if she didnt have stripes I would say she is a Mal

She is awesome looking!

Lol

I’ve never in my life heard of a dog named Grendel, before I named my pup that. Now there’s two on this tiny forum

She’s beautiful

Thanks. I don't think Mals are tan Dutchies. Though it depends on what "expert" one asks. Since you're on this forum, I'm not sure if your statement was in jest or not.
My girl is only half DS. As she's gotten older (she's 2.5 now), the GSD has really come out in her form. She has noticeable roaching and coat much more like a GSD (more of a fanned tail, longer hair), and her mask has faded alot.
But she has lived up to her name- despite lots of training, she can be quite the terror when it comes to other dogs and strangers. She's way smaller than my mal, but much scarier. On the plus side, she has shown herself to be quite protective, which surprised me. We had a recent encounter with some drunk guys on the street, and both my dogs just stood there, but when the guy became threatening, Grendel actually got between us and lunged at the guy. Clearly scared the hell out of him, caused him to jumped back and yell about my crazy dogs. She then stayed between us and didn't let him get any closer. Meanwhile my Mal just stood there watching like it was a big party. Neither has any protection or real bitework training, so I really didn't expect anything from either of them, which made her behavior both a surprise and a comfort.

Crazy girl. She's often a major PITA, but also fun to work with on tricks and various stunts. She can scale a 6' fence pretty easily, and recently has been scaring me when she goes after squirrels in the yard, because she has almost jumped our 7' fence. She stays put if I'm there, but will do just about anything to get to me if she thinks I'm leaving.

@brindledog

Yeah that’s a joke, I wanted a DS which is why I joined the forum. The wife talked me into a Mal. But I like it here, good people on this forum who get working dogs and I’m always learning something new. So I turned the Dutchies are brindle Mals thing around for laughs