Belgian Shepherd Malinois
Ch. Belgenbeau Sassy Fantom
"Maleny" came to me by sheer good luck. I enjoyed watching the Belgian Shepherds being judged at the Royals and Breed Specialty Shows for some years. I even managed to handle one or two (Groenendaels), and being a 'fan' of short coated breeds, I somehow naturally preferred the Malinois, however there were very few being shown in Victoria. I had made mention to some breeders that I would love to have a 'Mal' and then one day (some years later) I had a phone call asking me if I was still interested? As it turned out the first Malinois in my life was not really suitable for the Conformation Ring and her breeder offered to swap her for a young bitch she was intending to keep and show herself.
When she arrived she was 8 months old and a nervous ball of energy. It took some time to get her to understand the word NO, and I had trouble finding the 'off switch', however I think some 4 1/2 years later she realised that I am serious when I say NO! (not that she paid much attention to me when I spoke). She loved her toys and playing games but most of all she loved to sleep on my pillow (sigh).
She easily gained sufficient points for her Aust.Ch. title and for 4 years in a row she was awarded BOB at the Belgian Shepherd Dog Club of Vic. Championship Show. She had been graded "Excellent" at every Specialty Show we attended, and she was even awarded her 'Class in Show' one year.
"Maleny" was DNA profiled and was Hip Scored as 6:4 & Elbow Grade of 0:0. She was certified as having 'Normal Eyes' [ACES Cert No. 3686] in May 2008. Disappointingly at 4 1/2 years of age she began to seizure and so was not bred from. It was a steep learning curve with my first Belgian Shepherd and she taught me a lot about the breed that I wished I didn't need to know. Sadly the seizures worsened and I made the decision to let her go peacefully rather than see her suffer.