A Bit of History...

Just over two years ago, I decided to add a family member. You see, I am a dog trainer by profession. In order to improve my skills, I consulted one of the top trainers in my area for a mentorship opportunity. I wanted to learn about protection work. I had seen it done on videos and was fascinated. The trainer graciously spent about an hour on the phone with me. He told me all about protection work and then, told me that the best way to get involved in protection work was to really get my hands dirty and get a dog I could train up myself. I will never forget it. He told me to get a Belgian Malinois. Specifically, he told me to look for a "hard" pup with a "high prey drive, high fight drive". Being new to the field, I had absolutely no idea what this meant but he assured me this would teach me quite a bit about timing in a relatively short amount of time.

So I began my search. I started contacting breeders all over the states, explaining to them that I wanted a hard male malinois with a high fight drive. Most breeders quickly educated me otherwise, telling me that such a dog would be near impossible for me to handle. I didn't quite understand why at this point but looking back, thank goodness for these breeders and their wisdom!

I scoured the internet researching every breeder I could find. 32 to be exact. I checked references and pedigrees. I wanted the perfect pup. And then I found Cyrrah........

Cyrrah des Ombres Valereux to be exact. She was at a local breeder whose philosophy and references were perfect. Cyrrah wasn't my perfect dog. She didn't have a high fight drive and she was a female....not what I thought I was looking for. But when I saw her, I knew she was the one. I sent over my puppy buyer questionnaire and pretty soon, I had myself a ridiculously cute malinois puppy :-) More on this in another blog....

My original intent was to train my dog in Schutzhund - a well recognized protection sport that I had done a ton of reasearch on. However, after meeting with the breeder, I was turned on to a sport called French Ring, which touts being built for the Malinois, and requiring a significantly higher amount of control. I was told it's a "Trainer's Sport".


I remember watching videos and being widly impressed. The sport combines bitework with agility and obedience. The dogs that compete are no doubt the best of the best. I was hooked.

Long story short, I paired up with a trainer out of Westminister, quickly became involved in a So. Cal club, and started training in Ringsport. After no time at all, the sport and the malinois breed was in my blood. I was an addict and I have no problem admitting it. One year after I got Cyrrah, I got my second female, Cuvee who is also training for the sport.

This blog is dedicated to the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into and will continue to go into raising, training and competing of these AMAZING animals. They have taught me so much and I am so grateful to have them in my life.