Honestly, what breed do you think this dog is?

[kallisto4529]

what happened with Kyle he is a beautiful dog, I really hope someone stepped up for him

[Giselle]

He's still at the shelter. I've been asking people and the shelter contacted a rescue but they said they were "full". Sounds like rejection if you ask me >_>

He still acts very subdued at the shelter and it really is heartbreaking to see him. If I didn't have Ivy...

[SemaviLady]

There's a reason behind this, but I first want to know what you all think first.

What breed do you think this dog is?

He looks a lot like a malinois/GSD cross. In fact, your instincts are pretty spot on. These are popular in some working circles (there's a reason for that too).

He may or may not have been started out as a police dog. Maybe he was one in a litter that didn't pass the screening tests, but went to a pet home. Pet homes are often not prepared to deal with a dog that is bred to have high protection drives. But experienced homes do exist.

I feel for this dog too. It's very stressy to be in an environment that creates so much conflict with it's natural instincts and drives.

See this google image search search for examples of these deliberate crosses, also visit some of the sites. I'm sure some of them are training or breeding sites.

A reason that rescues may not have resources to deal with such designer-like mixes is that funds are often raised to support purebred rescue and they are not without fostering and financing issues. But many purebred rescues do sometimes work with those that deal with other breeds and mixtures of the same genre because their fostering resources are sometimes increased that way.

Our Anatolian rescue works with some mixed breed cases for the above reasons. (but it's not a wide open door due to resources) Anatolians are sometimes crossed with Great Pyrenees and the problem occurs when the dogs are not placed carefully or if the source doesn't provide problem solving support during the dog's training.

On a related note, the doodle and 'poo' craze does create a lot of animals that can be traced back to the poodle for instance, but there is just no way that poodle rescues can deal with the volume. As popular as some types of mixes get, there probably are not a lot of national rescues specifically for such mixes. So it's a sad reality.

[shepsrbest]

malinois with some Shepherd for size, tight tail, etc. It has more Malinois I would say cause of color, face, ears. Nice dog very muscled.

[Emeraldgreen]

Our dog Muddy is a malinois cross and I think this dog looks ALOT like one too. I also think he looks like he might be mixed with Rhodesian Ridgeback. In one of the pics you provided it looks like there might be a slight ridge going down his back. The colouring is right for both Malinois and Ridgeback. The shape of forehead reminds me of a Ridgeback too and the dark muzzle as well. My RB dog, Smokey was a shep/rhodesian cross and looked quite a bit like this dog.