Baby-killing Malinois & upcoming U.K. election put XL Bully ban on trial

Or might Malinois be banned too?

COVENTRY,  United Kingdom––The first Malinois fatality on record in the United Kingdom immediately sparked public discussion as to whether the list of dogs prohibited under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 should be expanded for the second time in less than a year to try to forestall Malinois proliferation.

Surfacing equally rapidly have been defenders of the five already banned “bully” breeds,  alleging that the June 16,  2024 Malinois killing of seven-month-old Elle Doherty proves that “any dog can bite,”  and that all of the breed bans should be rescinded.

Conservative government of Rishi Sunak expected to fall

This is a possibility,  albeit remote.  British public opinion favors the “bully” breed bans now in effect by approximately a 2-to-1 margin,  on aggregate across multiple polls.

However,  the government of Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak,   who favors breed bans and pushed through the ban on the XL Bully taking effect at the beginning of 2024,  is trailing in the polls and is expected to be voted out of office on July 4,  2024.

Of the 81 dog attack fatalities occurring in the United Kingdom since the first four breed bans under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 took effect on August 15,  1991,  involving 116 dogs altogether,  76 were inflicted by “bully” breeds,  53 of them by pit bull types that are now prohibited.

The other 23 were by “Staffordshire terriers,”  who continue to be exempted from the “bully” breed bans.

(See United Kingdom dog attack fatalities, 1991-present.)

“No criminal offenses”

There are no breed-specific restrictions under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 pertaining to non-bully breeds,  but any dog with a history of dangerous behavior can be placed under an order to be muzzled when outdoors,  and/or be impounded and euthanized,  at the discretion of a magistrate.

“Following a detailed investigation into the circumstances of the death of a baby who tragically died after being bitten by a pet dog at a home in Coventry, detectives are now satisfied there have been no criminal offenses,”  announced the West Midlands Police in a June 21, 2023 prepared statement.

“Serious head injuries”

“We were called to a property at Shorncliffe Road shortly after 3 p.m.,”  the West Midlands Police statement recounted.

“Together with our ambulance colleagues,  we arrived within minutes.

“Elle Doherty,  aged seven months,  received serious injuries to her head after being bitten by the family’s dog inside the home.

“Elle received treatment at the scene by paramedics before being rushed to hospital for further treatment.

“Tragically,  she died a short time later. Our thoughts remain with her family at this devastating time,”  the West Midlands Police said.

“The pet dog,  registered as a Belgian Malinois,  was removed from the home and humanely destroyed,”  the West Midlands Police statement added.

Five breeds now banned

“Currently there a five breeds on the United Kingdom’s banned dangerous dogs list,”  reported Matt Lloyd for the Birmingham Mail.

“They are pit bull terriers,  the Japanese Tosa,  Dogo Argentino,  Fila Brasileiro and,  since earlier this year,  the XL bully.  But Pet Insurers Petwise previously named the Belgian Malinois as a breed which could be added to that list,”  Lloyd noted.

“In a banned breed section of its website,  the Pet Insurers Petwise experts said,  “More breeds could be added.  One of those is the Belgian Malinois.  This breed has strong herding and guarding instincts and is inclined to chase and bite things.”

Padded suit

“Originally bred to herd sheep and drive livestock,”  alleged Hannah Beckler for Business Insider on July 23,  2023,   “Belgian Malinois and similar breeds such as Dutch,  German,  and Czech shepherds dominate the ranks of military and law-enforcement canines in part because of their intensity.  Trainers call it ‘drive’— a drive to work,  to protect,  to hunt,  and to attack.”

Beckler,  investigating Malinois use against prisoners,  put on a padded bite suit to experience for herself the force of attacks by Malinois trained by Dave Blosser,  “a retired police canine handler in Northeast Ohio,”  Beckler wrote,  “who is now the owner and lead trainer at Tri-State Canine Services,”  in Warren, Ohio.

Reality is that the Malinois resembles any herding dog breed only to approximately the same extent that the modern Rottweiler resembles the docile cart-pulling dogs of the Middle Ages.

War dogs since the 19th century

Like the Rottweiler,  the Doberman,  and the German shepherd,  the Malinois emerged from a late 19th century Teutonic effort to develop a superior war dog.

Traditional mastiff-based war dogs,  used to guard prisoners and slaves,  and to charge gun emplacements,  had proved ill-suited to the demands of modern mechanized warfare,  introduced to the European continent during the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War.

Seeking a more intelligent,  self-reliant war dog,  competing breeders on either side of the battlefields turned to sheep-guarding dogs for base stock.

“Same duties as St. Bernard”

The first specific mention of a Malinois dog breed at NewspaperArchive.com,  including newspapers from around the world published since 1607,  is an Australian report from July 7,  1916,  two years into World War I,  mentioning that,  “One of the most interesting of the subsidiary establishments of the French army is that of the French sheepdogs,  who are being employed in ambulance and patrol work…The dogs are of five breeds:  Malinois,  Gronendael,  Bar Rouge,  Briard,  and Berfer Allemand,  of which the last is said to be least intelligent.

“On ambulance work they perform much the same duties as those of a St. Bernard.  They are sent out to scour the ground,  and when they have found a wounded man they bring back some article of his apparel.  A doctor and two orderlies are they detailed to follow the dog,  who brings them to the place where the wounded man is lying.”

Variant of “Alsatian”

NewspaperArchive.com offers only 37 more mentions of Malinois within the 20th century,  all in the context of them being a rare breed,  and only some mentions after 1990 noting Malinois use in police and military work.

Most discussion of Malinois as recently as 2000 described them as a variant of the Alsatian,  the original common name of the dog best known today as the German shepherd,  also describing Malinois as “Dutch shepherds” and “Belgian shepherds.”

Dog fanciers today may insist that these are all distinctly different dogs,  much as many insist that pit bull variants are distinctly different dogs,  rather than a closely related continuum,  but reality is that whatever distinctions there are appear to be of very recent origin.

Explosion of selective breeding

Subsequent to 2010,  more than 750 articles describe Malinois use by police,  as a guard dog,  and as a war dog.

Clearly the Malinois underwent a rapid explosion of selective breeding to produce the abundant and almost commonplace dogs of today.

Also in 2010,  Malinois appeared for the first time in the ANIMALS 24-7 log of fatal and disfiguring dog attacks occurring in the U.S. and Canada,  maintained since 1982.

Altogether since then,  46 Malinois are known to have inflicted Ian Dunbar scale level 5 attacks on 30 children and 19 adults,  resulting in four fatalities and 32 disfigurements.

First Malinois-inflicted fatality

The first Malinois-inflicted fatality,  David Fear,  64,  of Grover Beach,  California,  suffered fatal injuries on December 13,  2016 while rescuing neighbor Betty Long,  85,  from an unprovoked attack by a Malinois previously trained as a police dog by another neighbor,  then-Grover Beach police officer Alex Geiger.

Geiger was on April 12,  2019 acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and failure to contain a large animal causing serious bodily injury and death.

A San Luis Obispo County jury,  however,  on July 28,  2021 held the Exeter police department,  former Exeter police chief Clifton Bush,  and Lieutenant Brett Inglehart partially liable for the attack.

The jury awarded $7 million to David Fear’s adult survivors,  Rachel,  Sarah,  and Steven Fear,  plus $13.8 million to David Fear’s former neighbor,  Betty Long,  who was severely injured in the same incident.

But the California Court of Appeal in February 2024 overturned the jury award,  leaving the plaintiffs with only a much smaller settlement already received from Geiger.

(See $20.8 million jury award for California dog attack.)

Three more U.S. deaths

The second Malinois fatality,  Ryan Hazel,  14,  of Rehobeth,  Massachusetts,  was found dead on May 10,  2019 at the 3 Dogs Running kennel where he worked,  surrounded by “one Dutch shepherd and three Belgian Malinois,”  according to police.

The third Malinois fatality,  Janet E. Means,  71,  of Tellico Village,  Tennessee,  was killed on March 30,  2022 by a dog described by the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office as “a very highly trained personal protection dog owned by the victim and her husband,”  Roger Lee Means.

Roger Lee Means,  then 86,  had operated the Roveldeco Professional Dog Training Center in Spartanburg,  South Carolina,  since 1993.  He died on June 26,  2022.

The most recent U.S. fatality involving a Malinois,  Joe Cleveland Scott,  73,   was killed on February 28,  2023 in McDonald Chapel,  Alabama,  by a six-dog dog pack also including pit bull, boxer,  and German shepherd mixes.

(See Riverside County, California extends lead in fatal dog attacks.)

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