The Belgians must be related to German Shepards, don't you think?
I was told they are, by Chad, who partnered with Ringo, his Belgian Malanois, in Kuwait (on my profile page).
In the picture are both. Chad & Ringo are far left. They have since retired Ringo, who came down with something. It's been too long...can't recall. Ringo was about 10-12 at the time the photo was taken.
No they're not. Not closely, anyway. Although the proximity of the 2 areas and the fact that all kinds of mutty shepherd dogs existed and went into creating these dogs recently could mean they have some common ancestors not too far back.