We Belgian Malinois are fast, strong, and agile, but I bet you didn’t know that we can fly, too! Well, sort of. We’re often called into action as police dogs, guard dogs, and military dogs – we’re even Navy Seals! Sometimes those military operations require us to skydive, and we’re better at it than, say, a German Shepherd because we’re lighter. We’re usually strapped to the humans when we hop out of the plane, but sometimes we get to do it by ourselves! Look out below – doggy diver incoming!

We come from the Belgian city of Malines and we’re one of four varieties of chien de berger belge (Belgian Shepherds), which also includes the Tervuren, Laekenois, and Groenendael. The Belgian Dog Shepherd Club was created in 1891 to categorize us. In November of that same year, a group of our fans, breeders, a panel of judges, and a veterinarian named Adolphe Reul held an important meeting about us! They figured out which shepherd dogs fit under the Belgian Sheepdog category and in 1892, Professor Reul outlined our breed standard. We were bred to herd sheep, but as the sheep population in Belgium dwindled, humans had to find a new use for us. That’s when we started working in law enforcement and the military. We were even the first dogs to be used by the Belgian police! During World War I, we worked hard as messenger dogs, Red Cross dogs, and ambulance cart dogs. Our pupularity in Belgium exploded during the beginning of the 20th century, so humans decided to export us to other count