# Whiplash... what the?!?!?!?!



## Curls (May 14, 2013)

Well, knock me down and call me curly, I didn't see this one coming. So, some of you are familiar with the ongoing saga of my working dog hunt. Well, I'm pleased to say that it is over, at least for now. Muahahahaha.

Yesterday, I got a msg on facebook from the very first breeder we contacted when we started our search for a working dog. Apparently, a couple who had a pair of her pups have recently divorced and the husband took the male and the wife took the female. Unfortunately, the wife has had trouble finding work and couldn't find housing to accommodate the dog who is now 3, so she was returned to the breeder. Oh yeah, and she is great off leash and has had tons of training from the breeder, gets along with cats and dogs, loves kids, is a major cuddlebug, doesn't destroy houses or steal food off counters, is super smart and would excel in any sport we cared to try. Would we be interested? 

Given the problems we have been having finding the right dog and our desire to start training for detection work as soon as possible, she was just too good to pass up. It really doesn't hurt that she has fabulous bloodlines with some serious working credibility and is beautiful to boot. We get to jump way ahead in detection training because she is already so well trained in the basics. So, sadly, my immediate search for a spoo is over, BUT, and it's a big "butt" , my husband and I agreed that I could still have my spoo. Only now I have the luxury of time to find exactly what I'm looking for and I could plan to bring home a puppy instead of searching for a young adult. 

Any whoodles, I couldn't resist posting a couple of pics of our new sweetie, whose name is Tango. We pick her up this Saturday or Sunday. She is in the back looking at the camera in the second pic. The dog she's curled around is her Uncle. Anyone care to guess her breed???


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## Sweetp (Mar 23, 2013)

You certainly got lucky with Tango. Congratulations, hope she turns out to meet all your expectations. Is she a Belgian Malinois?


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## Indiana (Sep 11, 2011)

Well that's awesome! Mals are so good at obedience work and you wanted a dog you could work with, so it sounds like a great match! She's beautiful. Glad that worked out for you!


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

What a beauty. They are similiar to the belgian tervuren right? I know one of those and they are a great dog, super smart and very drivey. Best of luck with your new girl.


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## murphys (Mar 1, 2012)

Congratulations! It worked out in the end. What a great dog. We have a 6 month old Malinois in our Obedience class. He is gorgeous and quite a handful.


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## Curls (May 14, 2013)

Sweetp said:


> You certainly got lucky with Tango. Congratulations, hope she turns out to meet all your expectations. Is she a Belgian Malinois?


Thanks! She is indeed a Malinois.



CT Girl said:


> What a beauty. They are similiar to the belgian tervuren right? I know one of those and they are a great dog, super smart and very drivey. Best of luck with your new girl.


Thank you! My husband is doing a happy dance and I'm stocking up on extra strength antihistamines.  To be honest though I'm pretty thrilled with her too and dealing with the allergies is just part of life. I really still want my spoo though so I can cuddle _something_ with fur. Spoos and Mals rock, IMO. Just differently. 

Mals and tervs are quite similar, in fact everywhere in the world except for the AKC considers them to be different types of the same breed. The Mals have historically been preferred for police, military and general working roles due to their short coat so they tend to have slightly more drive for those types of things while the tervs have been used more typically for herding. I think that may be splitting hairs a bit fine, though.


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## Curls (May 14, 2013)

murphys said:


> Congratulations! It worked out in the end. What a great dog. We have a 6 month old Malinois in our Obedience class. He is gorgeous and quite a handful.


There's a reason they're nicknamed the Maligator.  You know you have a good litter of Mal pups when you walk in the room and all of them run over and clamp onto your legs! I chose that breeder originally because of the temperament she was breeding for, which matches high drive and intelligence with a stable non-reactive temperament. The dogs have impressive French Ring performance titles but are lazy in the house.


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## Indiana (Sep 11, 2011)

I love their faces, that subtle stop gives them such a sleek, almost wild look. So pretty!


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