Behaviour propensity

The Malinois is a variety of the Belgian Shepherd breed and is known to be an active, intelligent, hard-working dog which exhibits an exceptional high energy and awareness level. Due to these characteristics, the daily handling of the Malinois could be challenging for dog owners who are not prepared to provide the exercise they require. On the other hand, they make the Malinois an excellent working dog for personal protection, police work or sport (like agility or sport protection). \nBesides the desired controlled aggression that is provoked and clearly related to a well-defined situation (“targeted aggression”), some owners reported that their Malinois showed unpredictable and episodic aggression that makes them difficult to handle and even dangerous. The undesired aggression is described as spontaneous and without any obvious trigger. During these phases of aggression, dogs are completely out of control and their eyes are “glazing over”. They do not respond to environmental stimuli anymore, show owner-directed biting behaviour or even seizures. \nA tandem repeat variant in the dopamine transporter gene (SLC6A3) has been found to be more likely present at dogs that show this “unpredictable aggression”. Three possible alleles of the gene have been identified: The alleles A0 and A10 are not associated with adverse behaviour, while the allele A22 is associated with “undesirable aggression”. Dogs that are heterozygous for A22 (A0/A22 or A10/A22) are reported to show behaviour considered by some owners to be adverse and/or potentially undesirable. However, dogs with the most extreme behaviour are more likely to have the homozygous genotype A22/A22. \nPlease note that behaviour is composed with many other factors that could influence or trigger aggressive behaviour (e.g. painful diseases, persistent environmental stress or inappropriate educational methods) besides to this genetic variant. Moreover, this test only provides information about a single genetic predisposition of the dog. This result does not allow any presumption about the actually trainability or communicative behaviour of the dog. \n