THE MALINOIS HISTORY IN U.S. LAW ENFORCEMENT Up until the late 1980’s, the German Shepherd Dog was the predominant breed of dog used by law enforcement for patrol and detector activities. However, a change in the emphasis in certain traits of the breed made it increasingly more difficult to find GSD’s with the essential qualities required for good, solid police work. Ironically the popularity of the Malinois began as a result of misfortune. The owner of a very large commercial kennel was in Germany during the Bundeseiger Prefung (German Schuzhund Championship) looking to buy dogs for police clients. The kennel owner had apparently been involved in a business dispute with a particularly influential seller of these dogs and a rumor quickly spread that he had beat some people out of their money and wasn’t to be trusted. The result was that nobody would sell him a dog. I know the kennel owner and personally doubt the rumor had any merit. However, it caused the man to look for alternatives to supply his clients. At this time, the average GSD capable of police work was selling for 3500DM ($1500.00) It cost about $600.00 to ship the dog to the U.S. The dog sold to law enforcement for about $4500.00 so the profit margin was $2000 to $2500 per dog. Not bad. The kennel owner didn’t want to waste time and money on an unproductive trip to Europe so he looked around for alternatives. He drove to Amsterdam and found the country flooded with a gazillion ugly little red dogs. Of course they all ran like they had rockets tied to their asses and they swallowed the entire bite suit. More importantly to the buyer, they were half the price of the GSD at $750.00 (doubling the profit margin). The kennel owner snatched up a boatload of these dogs and returned to the U.S. The new breed’s mystic origins and penchant for knocking the crap out of the decoy caused initial interest and eventual obsession within law enforcement. There had been so many past and recent failures on the street by the GSD that the Malinois was a welcome alternative. It had speed, power, and courage. In fact, on the training field the Malinois made the GSD look like it was in slow motion. The problem was that little to no attention was placed on temperament or trainability. This was…unfortunate. Many handlers, perimeter cops, trainers, and some innocent citizens paid a heavy price. Training techniques had been developed for the GSD, and in many cases caused major conflict and aggression towards the handler. It is a big mistake to “try” to train a Malinois in the same manner as a GSD. It is imperative to develop training systems designed to exploit the traits and genetic behaviors of specific breeds, and the Malinois is no exception. Some people learned this lesson through pain and some learned through failure. A handful of trainers have learned it through success.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 12:15:41 +0000
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