Scout chilling on a ladder
Oh Scout. Life with this little 43 pound one and half year old Dutch Shepherd gets interesting at times. Ok, actually most the time. Scout joined our family in March of last year. She was a wedding present from only the most amazing wife ever. I was dead set on male Belgian Malinois when I first began my search. I wanted a dog as smart as a whip, with protective instincts, and one that could keep up on life’s adventures with me and my adventure partner. After hearing stories of the Mali in action protecting soldiers overseas and increasingly being used as police K9s, I was sold. I began to research Malinois breeders in the Florida area and found one I really liked. Unfortunately for them they gave me the run around and I decided to take my money elsewhere. I did a little bit more searching and found one that seemed ok but for some reason I wasn’t completely sold. It’s amazing how things work out because I stumbled upon the best breeder ever thanks to ITS Tactical, Jack Spirko of the The Survival Podcast, and Joel Ryals. Joel Ryals mentioned Baden K9 a couple times and when I searched for them, I happened upon Rich Graham of Trident Fitness and his youtube channel, Vonhelmet. He has an amazing, just amazing Malinois that goes by the name War Beast, and War Beast lives up to her name. Definitely check out his videos if you get the chance. After this, I knew I wanted a Baden dog. My wife is awesome and set up the call so I could go about getting a pup through Joshua Perry at Baden. When he explained their training philosophy and breeding program, I knew I had picked the perfect breeder. I was really surprised however when he tried to steer me away from a male Mali. I had my heart set on one but listening to him, I was convinced that maybe I would be really happy with a female Dutch Shepherd even though they had both a male Mali and a female Dutchie on the ground. I had no clue what one was when he first mentioned it so I did some research and although I wasn’t fond of the brindle coat, I figured their capabilities exceeded my wildest expectations. After discussing it with my wife, we decided to pull the trigger.
Joshua delivered our pup the day before the Intro to K9 Home Protection Course he and Rich Graham were conducting in Orlando. I knew as soon as the little Dutchie stepped out of the truck we had made a very good choice. The first night was a sleepless one as we figured her out and she figured us out. The next day we took our tiny pup to hang with the big dogs at the Compound. We didn’t get to participate in all the exercises but Scout was thrown into the mix whenever she could. It was awesome seeing that little fuzz ball in the dog pile on top of the table.
Scout Conquering the Atlantic
She has come a long way since then. She is now an active participant whenever we can make it over to training. She’s been to Baden up in Canada and trained multiple times with Rich in Orlando.
I can honestly say I am so glad we got into contact with Joshua and picked Scout, our 43 lbs Dutch Shepherd instead of going with a male Mali. She’s ferocious, smart, agile, sweet with our little one, and more fun than you can imagine. She always keeps you on your toes and makes you a better handler. Life with Scout is always an adventure.
