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Adopt a Rescued Malinois

Rescue Malinois come into the ABMR foster program from shelters, animal control, or owners who can no longer keep their Malinois for various reasons. There are many excellent Malinois who have lost their homes through no fault of their own. Divorce, moving, death, illness, or ? can result in the Malinois losing its home and family. If you are considering a Malinois as a family companion these "Ready made dogs" may prove to be an excellent choice.

ABMR Rescue is committed to finding new homes for Belgian Malinois being fostered. Experienced Malinois owners evaluate the foster Malinois on several levels before he can be considered a suitable candidate for adoption. First, the Malinois undergoes a medical examination; he is tested for Heartworm and when diagnosed clear for Heartworm will begin receiving Heartworm preventative; appropriate vaccinations are administered and arrangements are made for spaying or neutering. Second, the foster home evaluates the temperament of the Malinois; compatibility with children, cats and other dogs. Only when the suitability of the Malinois is determined, in many situations, is he considered ready to be placed for adoption.

A NOTE TO POLICE OFFICERS, SAR GROUPS 
AND OTHERS LOOKING FOR WORKING MALINOIS:

Many police officers/trainers/SAR groups approach Malinois rescue looking for young dogs to train. Most of our rescued dogs are not suitable for these types of jobs. Some of our rescued Malinois are actually dogs that have been rejected by police departments due to their inability to do the job. While we are not opposed to adopting dogs out as working dogs, we adopt only to individuals, never to organizations or police departments. Most of our rescued Malinois have had difficult beginnings in life. The majority will make fantastic family pets, but most of them do not have the temperament needed to work day after day with a police officer or in search and rescue. All dogs adopted through Malinois rescue will be spayed or neutered prior to placement.

The rescue chairs, coordinators and foster families hope you enjoy the Belgian Malinois profiled and pictured in these pages. If you are looking for a Malinois available for adoption we sincerely hope you find one that appeals to you. In the meantime, located in these pages there are volunteers ready and willing to assist in identifying Malinois in need of rescuing, to answer questions and links to each of the dogs currently available for adoption. Each profile has a description and photos followed by an online Adoption Application link,. Pages are also available for the shelter volunteer trying to ID a Mal, stories of successful adoptions, and ways that each individual can support Malinois Rescue. Follow the links, located in the top menu and on the sides, to find it all.

ABMR (American Belgian Malinois Rescue, Inc) is a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to helping Malinois in need.  

2024   Owner Turn in Policies

2021 - 2023 have been quite the years for our rescue and most other rescues and shelters throughout the country.  Most are at capacity and faced with new dogs needing help each day.  For ABMR, we believe this to be partially due to the increased popularity of our breed as more people are exposed to the magnificent and smart malinois that grace the news, TV shows and blockbuster movies.   The desire to own one of these dogs coupled with the availability of puppies through so many back yard breeders has led to many families buying or adopting a dog without doing their research or making a commitment to the amount of time and training a malinois requires to be a good companion.   As people went back to work and the country opened up from COVID restrictions, the number of owner turn ins to shelters and rescues skyrocketed.  Sadly, many of these dogs have severe behavior issues and no one has the resources to help.  For the most part, ABMR is closed to direct owner turn ins.  Our coordinators and foster homes are maxed out.  We will try to help when we can but we are letting owners know that they must be willing to hold on to dogs they need help placing and they need to get their dogs vetted and spayed/neutered in order for us to post any courtesy listings.  We will help screen homes when we have the resources to do so and we will try to make owners aware of training support in their area.

If you are seriously considering getting a malinois, do your homework!  Meet as many malinois and malinois owners as possible.  Find responsible breeders who do health checks on their dogs and who screen who they sell their dogs to. Find a responsible rescue that also screens the dogs in their program and the people who adopt from them.  Both responsible breeders and responsible rescues will take their dogs back if something happens and you are no longer able to keep the dog.  We are seeing more and more health issues and genetically based behavior issues coming from back yard breeders who do not do any health screening on their dogs and do not socialize their puppies.  Please be careful about where you get your dogs! 

Remember, this is a lifetime commitment and not something to do on a whim or because you saw a cool dog in a movie.   These dogs would give their lives for their owners - do the same and change your lifestyle to give your malinois the time and training it craves from you.

Important Tips:

You can find the SEARCH option in the ANIMAL drop down list at the top of the page. If you want to search our available dogs by state, age or some other criteria click on Search and then click on Advanced Search.    

When filling out the applications using a phone, please pay attention to completing all required fields.  Due to the limited real estate on the phone, it can sometimes be difficult to see that you missed a field.  Scroll up to make sure all asterisked fields are completed.

Please fill out only ONE (1) application even if you are interested in a couple of different dogs. Filling out more than one application will slow down your application's processing. 
 

MERCHANDISE AVAILABLE!
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NEW! ABMR Face Mask - 100% cotton 2 ply face mask is designed for daily wear. It has ribbed binding ear loops to keep the product attached to the face. These masks should be washed after each use. See these and other items available on our ABMR Store.