About Us

I always said I would never have a Belgians. Those I had met never instilled much interest in me. Back then I had an Australian Cattle Dog and a Border Collie mix. In 2012, I had been fostering for a couple of years for a rescue and I was one of their most experienced foster, when the manager gave me a call and asked me if I could take in a Belgian that someone wanted to surrender, as otherwise the dog was facing euthanasia. The description wasn't very appealing... but I said yes. I went to pick him up at the vet clinic, we looked at each other and that was it. He certainly was a challenging dog, but there was no going back: this was my soul dog. The rest is history as we say.

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Through the years, I kept being involved in rescue, which allowed be to get first hand knowledge of the challenges they face daily. I advised other foster families, I retrained and rehabilitated many dogs. 

 

I have been doing obedience, herding, agility, rally-obedience, conformation, traction sports, and have now started IGP. I hike with my dogs, and I take them on horse rides. I've always been interested and invested in all kinds of sports and activities, and my dogs definitely match this energy. 

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When it comes to my vision for the breed, I do believe that, to respect their original purpose as herding & working dogs, we must emphasize the qualities pertaining to these functions. Hence, temperament, structure and movement are incredibly important to me. I've met too many dogs with weak nerves, prancy and fancy but non-functional gait supported by a very straight front, huge coats that would be very impractical to maintain for a farm or working dog, rather focusing on non-working traits like a very refined head. As the ABTC's online judges guide states: "The Belgian Tervuren is a herding dog and versatile worker. The highest value is to be placed on qualities that maintain these abilities, specifically, correct temperament, gait, bite and coat."

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My breeding goals are to produce beautiful, good, healthy dogs, who excel in dog sports/performance and to do so have excellent structure and lots of drive, biddability, with a strong and stable temperament, a good off-switch, without sacrificing conformation to the breed standard nor his instinct as a herding dog.

Furthermore, I personally adhere to the description of the character of the Belgian Shepherd published on the page of the Swiss Belgian Shepherd Dog Club, which indicates the following:

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Belgian Shepherd Character Profile

 

The Belgian Shepherd is vigilant and lively, full of activity and always ready for action. In addition to his innate abilities as a herd guard, he has the valuable qualities of a very good guard for the house and yard. He defends his master fiercely and passionately without any hesitation. He combines all the necessary advantages of a shepherd, guard, protection and service dog. His lively and cheerful temperament and his strong qualities of character will manifest themselves in his posture and the proud and attentive expression in his bright eyes. Their “quiet” and “courageous” temperament will be taken into consideration during the judging.

 

Elements of behavior leading to exclusion from breeding

 

Exaggerated anxiety and escape behavior, prolonged avoidance behavior, aggressive behavior without motivation. Great deviation from the profile.

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https://skbs-cscbb.ch/fr/race/profil-du-caractere-du-berger-belge/

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