SOME NOTES ON OUR BOUVIER DES FLANDRES

(Translation of an article by Felix E. Verbanck, probably about 1965. )

It is almost impossible to trace the precise origin of most of the breeds of dogs we now speak of as "purebred", and this is particularly true in the case of the Bouvier des Flandres. During the last decade of the nineteenth century a program of selective breeding of the dogs native to Belgium was begun under the guidance and encouragement of Professor Ad. Reul, a veterinary surgeon and author of a book accepted as a standard reference on dogs, "Les Races de Chiens". This volume, edited in 1894, was a collection of articles previously published by Prof. Reul in a veterinary journal, and strongly pleaded the cause of the Belgian Sheepdog. The Bouvier is mentioned here in a short article, saying: "The cattle dog is for the most part a sheep dog, or a dog that resembles him in general make up, but who is bigger, fiercer, more aggressive and has a bolder look."

About 1910 a more specific interest was felt in the Bouvier des Flandres. In the farms of the grazing region situated between the river Lys and the North sea coast, a vast expanse famed for its lush meadows stocked with cattle, dog fanciers found dogs being used as guards, drovers, draft animals and activators for churning mills. These dogs seemed to form a breed that had some characteristic traits in common: bob tailed, ears cut, coats harsh and tousled, and every one a perfect guard.

From where had they sprung? It would be difficult to determine their ancestry with any degree of certainty, but a few types could be cited with great probability: draft dogs of the matin type; shepherd dogs with a wiry or tousled coat; perhaps some infusion of hunting dog blood from a barbet type. They were, however, the result of breeding without any idea of continuity and in many cases without the consent or wish of the owners of the bitches.

How could it have been possible for the new owners of these dogs to speak of them as "pure bred"?  Still, their protagonists in describing the breed or in discussing the formulation of a standard for the breed, insisted that these dogs who were at that moment a breed in the act of being created, without known ascendants and bought right and left at local farms, were perfect models of the breed!

Although similar in certain points, as mentioned above, this group of dogs differed not only in stature and in texture and color of coat, but essentially in the formation of the head. To answer its purpose a standard must describe the ideal that breeders wish to attain and will try to approach it must never be the description of an already existing animal.

However, before a standard was formulated a brace of so called "Bouviers" was shown at a three day all breed show held at Brussels by Le Societe Royale St. Hubert on March 21 23, 1910 by my fellow townsman, L. Paret ­who later moved to West Flanders.  His name was later used extensively in the writings about the Bouvier des Flandres as personifying the correct type for the breed. It must therefore be stated once and for all that breeding operations of L. Paret have left no trace in the ancestry of what is now the Bouvier des Flandres.  His dog, Rex, was more or less of the Bouvier type, but the bitch, Nelly, took much more after the shepherd dog type.  If it were possible to reintroduce Rex into the show ring today, we are convinced he would have some difficulty in obtaining even a simple M (Mention), the lowest possible quotation.

Thus the meeting organized in 1912 of Bouviers found in the Roulers Courtrai - Ypres district could have no result other than the assembling of a lot of dogs entirely dissimilar in type. The particular character of their owners, the stand taken by several of these even before the meeting, and the absence of any outstanding personality (such as Prof. Reul at the creation of the Belgian Sheepdog) a personality who could have formulated the guiding principles of the breeding of the Bouvier des Flandres to an ideal resulted in the dismissal of the meeting after a "between two chairs" decision, per­fectly in line with their conduct as egotistical amateurs. Two standards were formulated; others could have been created for instance, to cater to the minority group of Bouviers with long and tousled coated, called "Briardes" by their opponents.

There was no one to listen to the sage advice of one modest counselor who said that "the two so called varieties will have to be used in forming a single breed, since one will be in need of the other if they are to survive at all." Circumstances have proved how right he was, but under conditions completely different from those he was able to foresee at that moment. During the war of 1914 to 1918, when the home territory of the Bouvier des Flandres became a battlefield and the zone behind it a supply advancing territory, the numbers of cattle dogs in the Flanders area was cut drastically.

When normal life started again, the Bouvier slipped from his original territory, first to Eastern Flandres and Antwerp, then to the Hainault country, and from these areas to France and the Netherlands. It was during this period that breeding on other bases really began. The previous breeding, without a precise aim and from types of very different models, was now re­placed by a more selective program with a well defined type in view, such as that described by the standard formulated by the Club National Belge du Bouvier des Flandres, formed in Ghent on January 15, 1922.

The results of such selective breeding could not, of course, be apparent at the outset, considering how diversified were the elements found in the breed and which remained present in those dogs that breeders "discovered'' at farms and included in their breeding programs. The breeding has therefore known several periods during which one type superseded another, the result of the temporary success of one or another specimen of the breed which excelled in one of the highly desirable qualities sought after in the breed. It is fortunate that our breeders, guided by the experience acquired in the breeding of our native sheepdog, have stubbornly refused to eliminate any of the usual colors found in Bouviers, taking TYPE and type only as the sole guide for their selection.

As the breeding progressed and the breed purified itself by leaps and bounds, a more satisfying model emerged and came to the fore: "A square built dog, Massive through the chest development, ennobled by a neck proudly carried, with a strong but well chiseled head to which the trimmings render even more expression, a tail highly placed and gaily carried to give accent to his fiery character, the body well poised on four pillar like and well boned limbs but without heaviness in his gait."

However, although our careful and conscientious breeders have managed to assemble the highly desirable qualities in our Bouvier des Flandres while eliminating the undesirable characteristics bequeathed by the mixture of the varying breeds from which he is issued (a feat which could not be attained without a heavy percentage of dogs without the desirable traits), the progress of the breed has been hampered by the use of these misfits by breeders without knowledge of the real type to be aimed for.

Another difficulty in breeding Bouviers des Flandres is the coat, as a "harsh, somewhat tousled coat" is, in its essence, of a variable and unstable texture in need of constant correction by the thoughtful breeder. He must incessantly watch that the coat does not become too lorry, and thereby too soft, nor too short and thereby too thick and too sleek. It is for this reason that the color of the coat must of necessity be a secondary consideration, as long as it remains within the range of colors allowed by the standard from sables to black, with all the mixtures and brindles connected with these shades.

However, even when all the bodily excellencies are assembled in one of the breed, he cannot be a "real" Bouvier des Flandres if he has not, at the same time, all those moral qualities which have given the breed its success since it came into the public eye: a bold character, steady and resolute; a limit­less fondness for his master (does not one frequently hear that the Bouvier des Flandres is a one man dog?); and his innate instinct to guard his flock, to watch his property. His temperament is fiery without becoming vicious, his gait is a free, powerful and elastic trot but not, as some might suppose, heavy or ponderous.

The Bouvier des Flandres owes much to our breeders, who have been able to bring him to his present excellence, as verified by the best specimens now seen. It is up to all of us to progress along the road that they have traced so successfully.

The facts included in this article were assembled some ten years ago. Since then, the production of the Bouvier des Flandres has shown a decided im­provement in the median level of the breed. If the quantity has not pro­gressed notably, the progress in general quality has been very marked. We now find that the major part of the young stock comes from a group of pro­ducers who have chosen to perpetuate a purer type, without loss of character or temperament.

More and more our breeders keep in mind that the elements of continual improvement must be taken wherever they may be, and that a halt must be called to an ostracism that has led, in another of our national breeds, to a selection in a single direction which has caused a limitation to the general level of the whole of the produce. It is this single fault that has permitted foreign breeders to surpass us in the production of first class stock in that particular breed.

Justin Chastel on the left, Felix Verbanck on the Right, 1965