Če

Sometimes the good things in life just happen, without planning them carefully. I was playing with an idea of having a malinois for a long time, but it was always accompanied with many IFs… What IF it is too big, too stiff, too aggressive,…  And then came šČEne with just the right amount of everything. With exactly the right size, awesome social temperament and her pretty black face she is exactly how I imagined my malinois. And I got it without even choosing the combination, much less a puppy itself. She was supposed to stay only temporary, for basic socialisation and upbringing, but the longer she stayed, the more I realised she is exactly what I want and need at this time.

She is unstoppable and sometimes I think she feels no pain whatsoever.  The amount of things she managed to destroy, brake or ate is huge, especially considering I am aware of her destructive nature and keep her in maximum security prison (cage) whenever I am not paying attention.

She is refreshingly quiet when it comes to barking, but she more than makes up for that with all the noise she makes with her tail or body as such… slamming in everything that is standing on her way.

As a puppy she was a real pain in the ass in everyday life and to these day I have to remind her that there is such thing as indoor speed and enthusiasm, but she is absolutely impressive when it comes to work. A total workaholic, but I guess that was to be expected. She is very intelligent, learns with a speed of light and has the best generalizing skills I have ever seen. She is very much fun to shape, because she has great ideas and is very active in offering all sorts of stuff, but she is also brilliant in the “boring” exercises like heeling. I had to hold myself back great deal not to over train her, because she was such a focused little thing…
Her working ethic is really something to admire. She is an incredibly focused and versatile dog. She stared in many movies and adds, had a fast and furious agility career, did some IGP and was generally always amazingly quick to figure out just about anything we set out to do. Unfortunately she was also a bit too crazy for her own good sometimes so she struggled with a lot of stupid injuries throughout her career, so I retired her from action sports relatively young as I want her to stay fit for everyday life as long as possible.

And for all those, trying to figure out her name… When she joined our gang I somehow could not get used to her pedigree name. In a search for a better one, I started to call the puppy Ščene, which is a Slovenian word that means something like a mutt. As funny as it was at first, it kind of stick to her, although I do often call her by a short version – Če (Che)… So there it is. My big crazy mutt.