NO. They are not. Been where they came from and trained many of them. The Belgian shepherd has a different shaped head, thicker body, longer hair and a different attitude about life then a malinois does.
Here are a few more wiki fantasies about these doge.
Look at this and then tell me what is true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phhUTIRLXko
The Black dog is a belgian sheepdog not a belgian shepherd. It was posted by idiots.
Then we have this post.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Shepherd
and it is full of crap too. The posts on wiki that say the belgian shepherd are the same as a malinois are also full of crap.
We raise and train belgian sheepdogs and I've been to the areas of Europe where these bloodlines come from. The Belgian Shepherd, the German Shepherd, and the Belgian sheepdogs are all distinctly different dogs than the Malinois.
This is what Belgian shepherds look like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Shepherd Sorry, next batter.
Not to be overly argumentative, but I would make the assumption that FCI, which does the registry for them, quite possibly has some idea about belgian shepherds. This is the quote from their 1920’s era breed standards.
At the General Consultative Meeting of 8 February 1920 of the Société Royale Saint-Hubert, the members vote unanimously to maintain the five existing varieties. The qualification of Belgian Shepherd is recognized for dogs with all coat colours belonging to the breed. The following matings were allowed:
dogs of all colours with the same coat texture
short hair with rough hair
The other matings, i.e. short hair x long hair and long hair x rough hair were banned.
In the absence of an official publication, the standard published in a booklet by the Royal Berger Belge Club in 1923, is taken as reference.
According to show rules and registration in the studbook (L.O.S.H.), the varieties were divided into eight different classes (eight C.A.C. per sex):
The 5 existing varieties:
Malinois Shepherd dog
Groenendael Shepherd dog
Belgian Shepherd dog with fawn long hair
Belgian Shepherd dog with fawn rough hair
Belgian Shepherd dog with dark ash-grey rough hair
The other varieties:
Belgian Shepherd dog with short hair, other than Malinois
Belgian Shepherd dog with long hair, other than black or fawn
Belgian Shepherd dog with rough hair, other than fawn or dark ash-grey.
I have a feeling that some of them have also been where they are bred and raised. I don’t get my information from wiki!
Here’s another link of the 1989 standard from FCI for Belgian Shepherds showing malinois, groenendael, turveuren, and laekenois as varieties. No wiki