Cyrrah - The Early Days

I remember driving out to meet with the breeder and pick Cyrrah up. I was so excited. The breeder is located in Aguanga, just out east of the Temecula area. I hopped in my car, loaded up a crate and was ready to go. The drive was longer than I anticipated and as I entered the mountains, I began to worry. No joke, this place is in the middle of nowhere. I drove alone down windy roads, though mountains and canyons and wondered if I had actually contacted some serial killer who disquised themselves as a puppy breeder to lure girls in and murder them. I snapped back into reality as soon as I pulled up to their home and saw a couple standing knee deep in black puppies.

I walked over, met with the couple and watched as another couple picked out their beauceron puppy. Afterwards, it was my turn. Cyrrah was sitting by herself in a little pen, barking at me, begging me to grant her her freedom.

They brought her out, did some bite work with her, and without question, I knew this was my puppy. I paid them their fee and loaded her into the car, ignoring the crate I had brought and sitting her on a little blanket in my front seat where she slept the entire car ride home. I was smitten. I didn't know this adorable puppy would soon wake up to be a demon unlike any other you could imagine....

Cyrrah was an adorable puppy - that's for sure. But underneath all of the cute was a monster, waiting to attack unsuspecting legs and hands. She liked to bite more than your typical puppy and I assume, because of her training, she knew how better than your average dog. I took her everywhere with me and I remember my friends fearing her when they saw me toting her along. I would take her to our neighborhood pub and everyone would dote over her until the monster emerged. We brought a load of toys to distract her but nothing was as tasty to Cyrrah as human flesh. She would bark, eyeballing the victim and then launch a full mouth attack! Clear as day, I recall taking her to the beach for a game of fetch...After about 10 minutes, I saw the fury in her eyes, so I waded into the water fully clothed (she had never been in the water before) and she swam out after me and bit me in the ass! There was no stopping her!

I was bruised and bloody for the first few months of Cyrrah's life. She was a monster, that's for sure.

We started training with Cyrrah practically the instant we brought her home. I met with a trainer from Westminister and would commute twice weekly to Oceanside (about an hour away) to give my little monster a few minutes of bitework. She was good, but the fury definitely emerged while she was biting. She didn't want to let go of her prize and she wasn't going to let anyone make her!

Because of what I call, Cyrrah's fury, it turns out people started to think she wasn't a good candidate for Ringsport. She was reactive and. as she started to mature, she started to stress out during her bitework. Several people in ringsport encouraged me to "get rid of her" and focus on a "good dog". I had faith in Cyrrah...You see, I am not in this for my own ego or agenda. I am in this because I LOVE working with my dog and I LOVE that my dog loves to work. After watching Cyrrah practically pull me off my feet when she saw the decoy, I knew she loved the work. Even if she wasn't going to turn out to be a superstar, I didn't care. She was having fun.

I didn't always feel this way though. A few team members convinced me that Cyrrah was so stressed, she wasn't enjoying it at all. I didn't know why. She did go through a phase where she was so wound up at home that she seemed miserable all the time. I started to become concerned. I only wanted what was best for Cyrrah - I wanted her to have a life she was happy with. I was convinced she needed land - a ranch somewhere where she didn't feel confined. We have a yard but I didn't feel it was enough for her. So I began searching for a new home....and I found one quickly. I found a woman who had experience with Malinois and lived on a large ranch in the San Francisco area. It was perfect and I was devastated. I cried every day about Cyrrah leaving me but I felt like I had to do it for her sake.

In the meantime, I started switching up her training and routine to see if I couldn't combat the problem at home. I felt like I had to exhaust all of my resources before I could feel certain that rehoming her was what was best. I bought a treadmill and taught her to run on it, figuring more exercise would do her good. I took the pinch collar away - I felt like we were using too much compulsion in her training and I wanted to take a step back. I took bite work away - if everyone told me it stressed her out, why not give her a break? And I let her run the yard all day. She wasn't allowed to before because she would fence fight with the neighbors dogs and was actually tearing the fence down. So we put a new fence up and made it impossible for her to continue the behavior. I tried it all....and guess what? It worked! Cyrrah started to mellow out and actually, after about a month of not bite work, we gave her a bite and she had actually improved dramatically. She no longer seemed stressed and seemed to actually enjoy herself! My faith was renewed and I stopped the search for a new home!

I began training with her regularly again and she improved with each session. My breeder was still concerned that she was too reactive to make it past ring I (there are levels of Ringsport beginning with Brevet, then to Ring I, II and III) but I didn't care. She was having fun and so was I and that was all that mattered to me.