1) I'd like to know how many puppies to expect in a litter from a 3-year-old female Malinois and a 3-year-old male German Shepherd?
My Malinois is Kennel Club registered, and my friend's German Shepherd is also KC registered.
2) How long does the pregnancy last?
Thanks in advance for your help! 👌 !!!
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Well said @juju and @Eoss! It makes me shudder to see these youngsters wanting litters left, right and centre – whether it's for friends, for money, for the owner's sake, the dog's sake, the list goes on. I’ve got a KC-registered Belgian Malinois who works and also does really well in showing, but I wouldn’t dream of breeding from him. I’ll leave that to the professional breeders.
You don't have a litter just because your mates want puppies...
And you definitely don't breed crossbreeds just because you don't have a friend with the same breed!
To breed a Malinois litter properly, you need:
- Working titles and results
- Breed standard confirmation
- All the relevant health screenings for the breed
- A suitable stud dog (matching in terms of build, temperament, ability, and pedigree)
- Heat cycle monitoring (constant trips to the vet for progesterone tests and smears)
- Mating (the first tie must be natural according to FCI rules! But AI can be done as a backup; you’ve got the stud fee plus potential AI costs)
- Ultrasound from 21 days
- X-ray possible from 45 days
- Whelping (buying all the right kit and "medical" supplies; there's always the risk of losing puppies or the mother, and a C-section for a dog this size will set you back around £500)
- If it’s a large litter (Malinois have been known to have 14 puppies! All viable), you'll be bottle-feeding every single pup every 3 hours for 3 weeks.
- Weaning with mush served at a specific temperature, with several meals a day.
- Socialisation work (this is absolutely vital for a working breed like the Malinois).
- Vetting future families; there are strict conditions to meet, it's not just about giving them to friends (that usually ends in disaster anyway!!).
- Microchipping, vaccinations, and Kennel Club registration for the whole litter (roughly £85 per puppy).
- Lifetime support for the pups; if there’s a problem at any point in their lives, you must be able to take the dog back!
For one litter, you’re looking at an investment of at least £1,700 as a bare minimum (vet fees, equipment, etc., excluding microchipping, jabs, and KC registration). For KC registered Malinois from a hobby breeder, you’re looking at maybe £430 per pup tops. So, if you add the £85 per pup to that initial £1,700 for a litter of 14... it adds up very quickly...
Breeding "mutts" shows zero respect for the work your dog's original breeder put in. It’s totally pointless given how many GSD or Belgian Shepherd crosses are already sitting on Gumtree or in the RSPCA and local rescues. It’s disrespectful to your dogs!
Is that comprehensive enough for you?
Yes, I’ve got friends who want one. I wanted her to have a litter with another Malinois, but I don’t know anyone who has one.
I really can’t stress enough how much you need to think about the implications of a litter before you dive into it.
As I often say, breeding is a profession that requires real skill and knowledge. For that reason alone, breeding should be left to professional breeders.
Without that expertise, there are genuine risks to the dog’s health as well as to the puppies' development.
On top of that, breeding is expensive if you want to do things properly.
It also inevitably adds to the issue of dog overpopulation. This directly impacts the situation in rescue centres and for professional breeders, some of whom already struggle to make a living from their passion.
So yes, I’ll admit it, I’m firmly against pet owners breeding their dogs. The implications are just too serious to be justified simply by wanting the experience or to make a bit of money.
