The Time Has Come

Jim Engel Jan 26, 2001

In the beginning, when the North American Working Bouvier Association (NAWBA) was founded, there was a certain tension between those who favored a fundamentalist approach, breeding according to working performance in the protection trials, and those who believed that the better approach was to appeal to all Bouvier enthusiasts, and to adapt programs and policy according to their existing preference, practice and expectations. The concept was that, somehow, this would lead to the emergence of a working culture and the resurgence of a modern Bouvier true to the working heritage. With some reservations I lined up with this latter point of view, believing a wider appeal to diverse people be more practical, could reach potentially working oriented individuals and light the spark.

I was wrong.

Instead of fostering a serious working culture, NAWBA has fallen into the hands of the pet owners, play trainers and those who glory in hard and aggressive dogs without regard for the trainability and control necessary for practical service and a place in modern society.

Instead of lighting the spark, NAWBA has given the young dog sport enthusiast every reason to select another breed. Why should he hang the millstones NAWBA has created around his neck when he can go the German Shepherd or Malinois and find a flourishing community which embodies and supports the values he learns at his IPO, Ring or Schutzhund club? Mickey Mouse is for eight year olds, why should he cast his lot with those who carry it into middle and old age, and don't even know the difference?

We see temperament tests modeled on failed European practice, the legislation of a new herding heritage with no program to bring it to reality and long discussions of versatility which ignore the fact that specialization, the breeding for particular functional roles, is the essence of the working canine culture.

Are those who tout the Bouvier as a serious herding dog, in spite of the fact that this functionality has lain dormant for a century, in fact breeding and training the Bouviers who would bring this herding renaissance into the realm of reality? No, and the emptiness of this is obvious in that many of these people have young Boarder Collies rather than young Bouviers, that even though they spout the words their actions belie their hypocrisy. How can the Bouvier be taken seriously as a herding dog when the NAWBA president looks to the future by choosing young Boarder Collies rather than young Bouviers? Who can believe in NAWBA when the Bouvier is not good enough for the French judge, presumably brought over as a role model, who breeds and trains the Malinois ?

I believe that for the Bouvier to be a working dog, we must focus on training for a serious protective heritage sport, and relentlessly select breeding stock accordingly, dogs with working willingness and obedience as well as aggressive potential and a strong propensity to use the olfactory capability in searching and tracking. This is, after all, the process which maintains the serious working breeds, such as the Malinois and the German Shepherd, and which maintained the old Dutch Police lines.

Those in control of NAWBA believe that this is too hard and not popular among the pet owners, who want to be reassured that their play sports are real work and that their pet Bouviers, discards from the show lines, are truly in their hearts reincarnations of the fierce defenders of the Flemish plain.

I believe that just as form must follow function, you must first identify those dogs which can work and only then select from among these dogs those with the best physical structure and conformation as breeding candidates, as indicated by the select designation.

NAWBA pretends that if you have the show dogs in a Mickey Mouse temperament test someday, somehow, working dogs will emerge from the process, even though fifty years of pretending in Europe has produced the disgrace we see in the show ring of every nation, France and Belgium as well as the Netherlands.

I believe that if the Bouvier is to recover the herding heritage, the advocates must breed, train and demonstrate dogs which cattle men will line up to purchase. NAWBA believes that a committee of little old ladies can create tests and regulations that will put flesh and blood on the myth without the work and struggle of breeding and training.

Clearly, I am fundamentally out of step with NAWBA as it exists today. Just as clearly, the pet owners, show breeders and play trainers are in control of not only NAWBA, but the European clubs as well, indeed, in control of the fate of the Bouvier des Flandres.

Since NAWBA has evolved into a parody, an organization of dilettantes, play trainers and those who glory in the one dimensional aggressive dog, what should be the posture of those who hold to the old principles? Most of these people, such as Charlie Porter and many others, have long since abandoned NAWBA, given up their membership. The time has come for me to do the same.

For these reasons, my NAWBA membership is pointless and will be allowed to lapse. I will, of course, continue to comment from time to time, for the responsibility to speak out against hypocrisy, stupidity and the ever lowering of standards cannot be avoided by simply failing to send in a dues check.