After speaking with numerous breeders and owners, I have decided either to purchase a German Shepherd or Belgian Malinois. At this point I don't care about looks, more about temperment and physical ability. Which is better suited to long distance (4-8 kilometers) running and protection training? Temperment is also a strong point, which has a better temperment between the two?

<span style="color: lightblue">I have a German Shepherd, and I can tell you that he used to be very well suited to long distance running. I say "used to be" because he's almost 11 now, and so he isn't as fit as he used to be.
Temperment is good. Alot of german shepherds (including mine) will even let you pat them while they are eating. They tend to be fairly playful - my Dale still plays like a puppy quite a bit. And on top of this, Dale is a very good lap dog. Or, rather, he thinks he is. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'd say protection training wouldn't be an issue with a german shepherd: they wouldn't be favourites of the police and such without reason.

My experience with German Sheperds is as follows:
German Shepherds tend to have fairly good temperement, they can be a little more agressive then they need to be sometimes, but that should be easy to train out. The one thing I would warn you about is that are sometimes not aware of their strength, so if you ever have young children over (or if you have young children yourself) you'll have to keep an eye on them incase the dog accidently hurts someone.

Malinois tend to be a bit smaller and a lot more active than Shephards. Shephards tend to act more "mature", Terv's and Malinois tend to be more playful and "puppyish". Shephards CAN have hip problems so absolutely go to a reputable breeder.

What kind of protection training and why... schutzen? Are you connected with a reputable club or trainer? (there are a LOT of bad trainers)

4-8 kilometers running alongside a human will barely break a sweat on a healthy dog of sound breed (not talking about English Bulls here).

Yes, Shutzund training as well as a CKC certified trainer (I believe that he is also certified with Shutzund int/CA). I want to do protection as it can allow the dog to reach a closer type of bonding, also, while I live in a good neighborhood, my house has been broken in a few times and the park is at night infested with damn potheads. They haven't done anything yet, but if they do, well...

Shutzund isn't as much about bonding as control, if you want a good bond with your dog you'd be better served with intensive positive training methods.

Admittedly I'm a bit biased, I'm not a big fan of training animals to attack people, I think if you're looking for protection you should get a gun... it's a LOT less dangerous when improperly trained. [img]smile.gif[/img] Most dogs, especially the classical protection breeds (shepards, rotties, dobies) will exhibit many of the traits most people need in an protection dog (Bark at strangers, protective towards owners and property, intimidating to others) without requireing training that if improperly executed will turn the animal into a time bomb. By the same token I know Schutzen is arguably the best way to go about it if you're intent on doing it... just be sure to check your trainers references (ANYONE can get a certificate).

Also you should be aware of the legal implecations of Shutzen training... which in many places makes you criminally liable if your dog attacks someone (even if that someone is a pothead [img]smile.gif[/img] ).

I think for what you're trying to do either breed will work well, go see dogs of both breeds and decide that way.