#i genuinely wish that owner trainers would stop posting their unicorn SDs online entirely

[healingheartdogs]

Service dog handler here who went to school for SD training and has worked alongside quite a few people with "unicorn" SD breeds, including mals (and including some mal SD handlers on dogblr.) Every single malinois SD I have met has washed or should have been washed but their handler kept working them anyway despite the dog being unsafe or unfit for SD work because of the breed's naturally high reactivity levels.

I'm not talking just these dogs being too high energy and easily bored by the work or wanting to herd kids or something like that, I mean that these dogs eventually had (or already had and it was ignored by the handler because they wanted a "cool" SD no matter what) issues with growling at, barking at, snapping or nipping at, or trying to muzzle punch strange people who approached and attempted to interact with them, including children. A few of them handled frustration in training by becoming nippy/snappy and reactive as well, making them also somewhat unsafe for whoever was training with them or handling them.

Most of them were also -- at best -- dog selective and had issues with certain breeds or dogs with certain features, if they were not outright dog reactive. With these dogs their handlers just banked on them not running into other strange dogs while working that would set them off and would generally blame other dogs in public if anything did happen. Some of these SDs had multiple occurrences of attacking or getting into fights with other dogs while not working, and a couple even while working. That means those dogs were actually illegal to work as service dogs, because the law forbids any dog who displays reactivity or aggression from being an SD.

This is a breed that is selected for protectiveness and high reactivity, and that automatically makes them not a good choice for service work. As someone who has been heavily involved in the SD training world (not the online SD world where owner trainers love unicorn breeds despite their risks, but actual SD training IRL for clients paying tens of thousands of dollars to an SD training org where success of the dog and support of the handler's disability was the main priority) a protection breed like this as an SD is always a red flag to me, personally. Doubly so if they're also actually doing protection sports at the same time because that often encourages their natural reactivity, and the biggest most reddest flag if they're doing ACTUAL protection work. I really do not understand why people go for unicorn breeds like this and often when I ask owner trainers (because this is an issue unique to owner trainers) the reasons they give me are vain ones -- they want a unique SD or a scary looking SD so people don't talk to them or they think that the normal SD breeds are "boring."

This is definitely my hot take when it comes to service dogs but if you would rather risk a dog washing out (and it is a HIGH RISK, as in it is more likely than not) because it is not bred for service work and is not temperamentally suited to service work because you want a unique SD instead of a golden, lab, poodle, or mix of those breeds then you should probably think long and hard about how much you actually need an SD. If you really need a service dog you should choose a breed or mix that is most likely to succeed and bred with SD favorable traits or specifically with the goal of doing service work in mind. If your service dog washing out is not more of a concern for you than your SD being a specific breed that you like I'm going to assume you don't actually need an SD in order to manage your disability and just want to be able to take your cool looking dog into public places that don't allow dogs.

Maybe that assumption comes off as mean or gatekeep-y and close-minded to some people, but the fact is that going for unicorn breeds that are not suited for service work literally puts other handlers, their dogs, and service access continuing to be allowed in public spaces for owner trained SDs in general at risk. Get the dog you actually need to do the work that you need, or get a cool breed you like as a pet and keep it out of places that don't allow pets. Service dog handlers should not be subjected to public disapproval, legal restrictions on owner training for SDiTs, or actual danger of injury from other people's unfit unicorn SD breeds, because most of those "unicorns" are indeed unfit and pose access or physical danger risks to others because of that.

The best case scenario with unicorn breeds is usually a dog that washes because it doesn't like service work and simply won't perform as needed to. The worst case scenarios are people or other service dogs being physically injured or killed by an unfit breed behaving aggressively. Neither of these are good outcomes for a disabled person who actually needs a reliable SD to manage their disability in public, so just stack the deck in your favor by avoiding unicorn breed SDs as a whole.

Could you talk more on your thoughts on malinois as service dogs? I follow someone who has one so I'm curious as to your thoughts on it as someone who isn't familiar with the breed

I'm not ~in~ service dogs OR Malinois for that matter, but its been told to me by others that Malinois are quite sensitive to their handlers so are often not a good option depending on the type of service work that is needed. Malinois are also a high energy breed and need a lot of physical and mental stimulation. They can be challenging to average dog people (I wouldn't own one if you paid me even though I think they're cool). Both of these indicate to me a high potential for washing out of service work and generally, I'd hope that people don't recommend them to others for service animals.

For me it also comes down to this: a majority of modern malinois are bred to bite. Working malinois lines are often bite sports, personal protection, military, police dogs. To me, this type of dog directly conflicts with what a service dog should be when doing public access. In fact the AKC standard even states this regarding temperament: "He is naturally protective of his owner's person and property without being overly aggressive." (although this was recently rewritten in 2021 to omit this language so as to reflect the malinois temperament in "positive terms" (AKC malinois club words not mine)) and the FCI standard says this: "As well as its innate skill at guarding flocks, it also possesses the highly prized qualities of the best guard dog of property. Without any hesitation it is the stubborn and keen protector of its owner."

So somebody getting a Malinois for service work is probably going to want to go with a dog bred for show, but again, these dogs can be handler sensitive and even by their standard should not be "overly aggressive" when in IMO the correct amount of guardian behavior or people aggression a service dog, which is medical equipment, should display is ZERO. This is why golden retrievers and labradors make such popular service animals and this is why there are service dog programs that have been breeding dogs specifically for service work for generations (not to say there aren't dogs from these programs without issues, but that's another rabbit hole...)

I know a lot of "off-breeds" that are service animals and i think that's great when it happens successfully, but it's a lot different to have a unique individual who is up for the task, often an outlier in their breed, than to say a specific breed makes a good service animal. I know a few malamutes in service work, but that does not mean the breed as a whole makes good service animals and it does not mean I would ever recommend them specifically for service work (bc, hell, we have dog aggression in our breed standard!).

And regarding my last post, it's mostly the fact said service dog was cross trained in both service work AND personal protection which is a huge no-no and a big red flag to me. A service dog is medical equipment and a personal protection dog is a weapon. I've known service dogs that participate in bite sports, but that is different than being trained in personal protection. If an animal is going to be going into public access I expect them to be able to ignore other dogs AND other people, to be aggressive to neither, be non disruptive in public, and to focus on their actual, medically necessary job. But that's just my two cents.