Hello everyone!

[MalinoisK9]

My name is Sheldon and I figured after my girlfriend (Katie) signed up on here the other day. In our house we have a 7 year old female Taiwanese Beauty, a 7(ish) month Hypomelinistic Corn Snake, a 3.5 year old Belgian Malinois dog, and a 8 year old West German Shepherd Dog.

We are currently looking into getting a Brazilian Rainbow Boa, a Emerald Tree Python (Chondros), and a Atheris squamigera (Tree Viper). Katie's rule for letting me get a venomous snake is that it has to be pretty. If you can't handle it, it might as well look nice. We are also shopping around for another corn snake. Ours is in a 90 gallon tank, so I figure she could use a roommate.

We live in East Lansing, MI and are both still in college. I am finishing my degree in Criminal Justice Law Enforcement and Katie is Pre-Vet.

 

[Maligator]

And it can't exceed three feet long...

 

[MalinoisK9]

Well not for our first one.... I still want to get a Eastern Diamondback later down the road...

 

[The_Thunderer]

Welcome to you (both)! Looks like you have a nice list of "wants"!

BTW, since you're interested in HOTS, make sure you check out my "C & R Thrill for the Day".

Good luck to you both!

 

[MalinoisK9]

Ah yes the "Want" List. The snakes I listed are the few that we currently have room for... and it took quite some time to whittle the list down to what we wanted the most and could get our hands on.

This weekend I am building a shelving unit for a wall in our living room that will hold three 200 gallon tanks and one 90, then I am also going to build a enclosure for a Emerald Tree Python sometime this winter.

If we had the space and $$$ the list would be considerably longer, but with the main hobby/lifestyle of training and competing working/personal protection/police style K9's, time and money disappears depressingly quick.

The "Wish List" includes a Red Tail Boa or a Columbian Boa, a Blue Beauty Snake, Black Pine Snake, a Bull Snake, and a few others including a couple other Hots :devil01:. I'd also at some point like to get a Nile Monitor.

 

[The_Thunderer]

I hope this isn't too far off topic...

I used to have a rather nicely large Taiwan Beauty. He died in an unfortunate A/C accident, but he grew from about 18 inches to about 4-5' before he died a year later. How large is your 7 year old??? Gotta be kinda on the LONG side, if it grew as fast as mine did.

BTW, I have a VBB that I just measured at almost 6' today too. 1 year and 3 months ago, she was about 18" long as well. Wonder what she'll be like in 7 years...

 

[MalinoisK9]

My TBS is just a bit longer than 7 feet now. She is really deceptively long, when she is in her tank or coiled up she looks like she might be about 5 feet long, but get her out and let het fully extend and then her full size comes in to perspective. Last night while watching TV I had her out on the floor with me and when I laid next to her, Katie said she was about a foot longer than me and I am about 5'10. She is still growing a little bit but not nearly at the rate that she used to. I'd be thrilled if she ever made it to 8 feet, but I doubt it will happen.

How is the temperament of your VBB? I've heard they can be a bit on the snippy side compared to the TBS. Also how's the coloration? Did it stay a violet blue and black or fade to a grayish blue as it got older?

 

[The_Thunderer]

My TBS is just a bit longer than 7 feet now. She is really deceptively long, when she is in her tank or coiled up she looks like she might be about 5 feet long, but get her out and let het fully extend and then her full size comes in to perspective. Last night while watching TV I had her out on the floor with me and when I laid next to her, Katie said she was about a foot longer than me and I am about 5'10. She is still growing a little bit but not nearly at the rate that she used to. I'd be thrilled if she ever made it to 8 feet, but I doubt it will happen.

How is the temperament of your VBB? I've heard they can be a bit on the snippy side compared to the TBS. Also how's the coloration? Did it stay a violet blue and black or fade to a grayish blue as it got older?

VERY kewl. I wish I had my TBS again. There's one just down the road, but I don't think my wife would appreciate me getting a colubrid giant again. LOL.

As for my VBB... she's great! I think her colors are just awesome. She just shed last night, so I should get some pics of her. She is one of those that I'm VERY wary of, but she has NOT bitten me yet. She's a little testy in her viv, so I use "Lambchop" socks to pull her out of her viv and then remove them once she's out. Sometimes she "looks" like she wants to strike... intelligently looking me in the eye, but that's the extent of it. I'll try to take pics... so keep a lookout for a thread about her.

 

[MalinoisK9]

Very very cool I would love to see some pics of her. My TBS can be a bit of a you know what when getting her out of her tank. But it is a day by day thing. Sometimes its reach right in and shell climb right up ready to get out and others it's "Sure reach on in... closer... closer..." BANG! Gotcha!

It isnt often that she'll actually bite. But she has gotten me with 3 really good bites that bled a lot and she has bitten Katie once. Considering how often she is out and handled it actuality isn't that often. (That and considering the time span of it, almost a bite for every 2 years... not bad) I'll try for some better odds with the viper tho, haha. But seeing how I will never handle it except to get it out with snake hooks and gloves to clean the tank, the chances will be much lower.

 

[Maligator]

*raises eyebrow* Oh, an Eastern Diamondback? That's quite a jump from what we've been talking about..

Thunderer, I think it's so neat that you have a VBB; Sheldon has been dying to get one to contrast our TBS. What kind of dog do you have? Have you worked dogs? (Not only do we love meeting snake people, we love meeting dog people as well!)

 

[The_Thunderer]

I don't have any dogs... LOL. But I DO hope ya'll get a VBB. I really love her.

 

[Maligator]

I don't have any dogs... LOL. But I DO hope ya'll get a VBB. I really love her.

haha definitely mixed threads there; apologies!

 

[MysticExotics]

*raises eyebrow* Oh, an Eastern Diamondback? That's quite a jump from what we've been talking about..

Thunderer, I think it's so neat that you have a VBB; Sheldon has been dying to get one to contrast our TBS. What kind of dog do you have? Have you worked dogs? (Not only do we love meeting snake people, we love meeting dog people as well!)

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but your username caught my attention.
I too, am a slave to the Malinois breed.

I've been a lifelong GSD fan, I've been raised around them since I was a kid. Not in the working sense, but my dad has always had them, and my grandparents had a GSD when I was a kid.

I've been familiar with the Mal for over 10 years, due to my (now ex) BIL was an explosive detection dog handler, and a good friend of mine on the east coast raises them.
I got my girl, a Mal/GSD by accident. I was looking for another GSD after I lost my male GSD to cancer.
My good friend recognized the Mal in her, and it is because of her that I was able to work with her.
Not only did I get a crash course in hands on Mal experience, but also behavior (reactive) issues.
We have worked through a lot, but she will be a work in progress for some time.
Needless to say, she is not a candidate for bitework.

I have done some informal nosework with her, after taking an Andrew Ramsey NW seminar when he was here a couple eyars ago.
I wanted to get her into Barn Hunts, but she gets stressed in new environments and cannot focus on the rat (which she knows the scent of, because she tracks them at my house). Baby steps.

I recently brought in a male Malinois, as a foster ("Zephan", there is a thread about him).
He was a stray that spent 4 months in a shelter, and was recently transported to a PNW shelter. I picked him up last weekend.

It will be some time before I see his true personality, my guess is he might not be high drive enough for bitework, but he might be a good agility, nosework, or ? candidate.
He is a very sweet, gentle soul.

I will start with basic obedience with him, and probably a confidence building class after that. We'll see how he does from there.

There is an IPO club not too far from me, and another one, that also has FR a couple hours south of me (well, a couple hours without traffic).

There is also dock diving, less than two hours from me (again, without traffic).
Living in the Seattle area sucks, as far as travel time hinging on traffic. LOL

I hope to see more dog sports on the north end, I'd really like to get involved in them.

 

[MalinoisK9]

Hey sorry it took me so long to get back to you!
I know a few handler/K9 teams that train with the Puget Sound Dog Sports club. One is a good friend of mine and used to train with me but moved out there from MI. The rest I got to know from trialing around.

My first working dog was (is) a West German Shepherd who is now 14. 115 lbs of unbalanced drives. Very little prey and the rest was pure defense and fight.... not a fun dog to trial. He never found the fun in the game. Every decoy had to die. Every bite involved a black out rage session and he had to kill the decoy. He was never content with an out.

Then as I spent more time in the working dog scene and training I figured out how to look for a buy balanced dogs. I currently have 2 malinois (one 10 and one 5). My 10 year old was my primary trial dog. The 5 year old I adopted after my female died of a accident at a fairly young age. He was with a police department in Ohio for a bit but was a little too much dog for them. He bit a few officers, handlers wife, a couple joggers.... I considered turning him into a trial dog but he would be just at content taking down a judge as he would a decoy. He knows the game and loves to work but loves it a little too much. I muzzle him in pubic because he has a hair trigger. Look at him in the eyes with the wrong posture... he might take a shot at you. Walk by... might take a shot at you. Just a very very dirty dog.

I love that you have taken in rescues! If I had the time or space I would. Or dogs that would allow it. Leyf is extremely dog aggressive unfortunately. Kriger is iffy. Females are ok but males better be very very submissive.

If you want any names in the area to check out let me know. For being in Michigan I have some contacts out there.

 

[MysticExotics]

Hey sorry it took me so long to get back to you!
I know a few handler/K9 teams that train with the Puget Sound Dog Sports club. One is a good friend of mine and used to train with me but moved out there from MI. The rest I got to know from trialing around.

My first working dog was (is) a West German Shepherd who is now 14. 115 lbs of unbalanced drives. Very little prey and the rest was pure defense and fight.... not a fun dog to trial. He never found the fun in the game. Every decoy had to die. Every bite involved a black out rage session and he had to kill the decoy. He was never content with an out.

Then as I spent more time in the working dog scene and training I figured out how to look for a buy balanced dogs. I currently have 2 malinois (one 10 and one 5). My 10 year old was my primary trial dog. The 5 year old I adopted after my female died of a accident at a fairly young age. He was with a police department in Ohio for a bit but was a little too much dog for them. He bit a few officers, handlers wife, a couple joggers.... I considered turning him into a trial dog but he would be just at content taking down a judge as he would a decoy. He knows the game and loves to work but loves it a little too much. I muzzle him in pubic because he has a hair trigger. Look at him in the eyes with the wrong posture... he might take a shot at you. Walk by... might take a shot at you. Just a very very dirty dog.

I love that you have taken in rescues! If I had the time or space I would. Or dogs that would allow it. Leyf is extremely dog aggressive unfortunately. Kriger is iffy. Females are ok but males better be very very submissive.

If you want any names in the area to check out let me know. For being in Michigan I have some contacts out there.

Thank you, that would be great! I'd love to find someone on the north end of Seattle, if possible, maybe somewhere in the Everett area.

Sounds like you have your hands full!
Sorry to hear about your female. It is always incredibly hard to lose them.

None of our local (in my county) K9's are Mal's, and when I have asked a few of the handlers why, the most common response is, "no one is brave enough". I have talked with one, who almost got a Mal a few years back, but had no experience with one, and with really no one to turn to if he had any questions or problems, he declined to take the Mal and went with a GS.
He has since done research, and said down that down the road, he'd be open to trying a Mal.

Most of my dogs have been rescues. My first dog, a GS, I bought from a breeder that I thought I had done research on. I was green, and didn't do enough research. My dog ended up having to be put down at 6yrs due to a genetic defect. I've rescued every dog since.
I'm not at all opposed to buying dog/puppy from a reputable breeder, and I have learned a lot over the years.

I'm on a list for a male puppy from a good friend of mine (the one who helped me with Alexa). She has three Mal's. The female she will be breeding is one she produced in a cobreeding, with her male, who is from Loups du Soleil . She will be paired with a male sibling to her oldest female who is from Ciel Rouge. I am still new to learning bloodlines and such.

I am a bit nervous about the idea of bringing in a puppy, but my friend insists that I am ready. LOL
I am looking forward to starting with a clean slate, but I know I am in for a lot of work with a mini demon. LOL

Zephan is already proving to be easier than Alexa has been, without the behavior issues. I don't think he has a reactive bone in his body.
He will bring new challenges, such as fence jumping, I'm sure, but I'm certain I won't have any biting issues with him.

After I get more weight on him, and make sure he has a clean hill of health (his vet checkup is next Monday) I will be taking him out to public places to see how he does, and after basic obedience, I hope to see what possibilities there might be for training with him.