by Jean-Marie Vanbutsele

(text reviewed on December 2007)

This article does not want to encourage Belgian shepherd amateurs to experiment with intervariety breeding !("Crossbreeding" is not the exact word when it comes to dogs of the same breed.) I will analyze the main genetic and historical aspects of this quite complicated matter of intervariety. It is wise to leave intervariety breeding to truly experienced breeders and this within the borders of strict rules and under surveillance of a breeders commission in order to maintain the structure and the character of the breed.

To make the reading as easy as possible, I have avoided to use scientific words, that will nevertheless be mentioned between brackets.

We will not talk about the rough-haired shepherd which hereditary characteristics are too complicated, we will mainly discuss the varieties with sleek hair. A special fact with the Belgian shepherd is that each variety has received a proper name :

First of all, two Groenendaels can never produce anything but long-haired dogs. They can only produce Groenendaels or Tervueren, never Malinois, nor black short-haired dogs (this last variety has never received a proper name). In other words, this dogs is pure for the length of the hair. In fact, if the dog would possess a gene for short hair, the dog would no longer be a Groenendael but short-haired, since the gene for short hair is dominant. This is about the length of the hair.

Now the other aspect, the one of the color. One must know that the color black (eumelanine pigment), with the Belgian shepherd is dominant over the fawn color (phaeomelanine pigment). 

We will not examine in this article, the case of the "recessive black". The gene which distributes the color "dominant black", the most frequent case, on all the body is currently codified by the letters "K" (a dominant gene starts with a capital letter). See : Update on the "K" locus gene. 

The gene that produces the fawn is called "Ay". You should also know that a color is transmitted by a couple of genes, so the following cases can be produced :

a) Breeding between two "pure" blacks :  K^BK^B + K^BK^B 

               It is clear that only black can come out of this.

b) Breeding between a "pure" black and a "dominant" black : K^BK^B + K^BA^y

Each dog will be black but only half of them will be "pure", meaning that they possess the same genes for the color (KK) (homozygotic for the color), the other are called hybrids (heterozygotic) since the possess two different genes (K^BA^y).

c) Breeding between two "dominant" black-haired   :

The outcome given on four dogs will be : 1 "pure" black ( K^BK^B), 2 "dominant" black or hybrids (K^BA^y) and 1 "pure" fawn (A^yA^y). We recognize here the mendelian proportion of 25% + 50% + 25%.This is the reason why certain Groenendaels sometimes give one Tervueren (A^yA^y) in their litters, rarely two. It is because one of the dogs has a Tervueren among his ancestors, sometimes during several generations. If this dog is mated with a dog having the same background, there is a possibility of finding a Tervueren in the litter.

Since both the long hair and the fawn color are recessive, it is natural that this dog is "pure" for the two characteristics. The mating of Tervueren with another Tervueren (A^yA^y) will always give a Tervueren. We can hereby conclude that the Tervueren is a dog without surprises as far as the reproduction is concerned. But there are fawn  Tervuerens and there are "grey" Tervuerens. These last dogs carries the recessive gene "i" ( first letter of the locus "intensive") that reduces the intensity of the fawn color. The impression of "grey" is given by the intensity of the overlay. The gene "i" does not alter the black color, this means that a Groenendael may posses the gene.

We know that the fawn color is recessive, so two Malinois will only produce fawn. On the other hand, there is the length of the hair, short hair is "dominant" over long hair and may hide recessive long hair. Three different cases may occur :

a) Mating of two "pure" short-haired :

           In this case, only short hair can be expected.

b)  Mating between a "pure" short-haired and a "dominant" short-haired :

           The offspring will be short-haired, but only half of them will be "pure".

c) Mating between two "dominant" short-haired :

On four dogs, one will be "pure" short-haired and another one will be "pure" long-haired (a Tervueren),the other two will be "dominant" short-haired or hybrid.This explains why a Malinois sometimes gives Tervueren. He carries the long-hair genes, obtained from a for ancestor,and is mated with a dog in the same case. The long-hair gene finds its equal and produces one Tervueren on four, rarely two.

The amateurs of Tervueren recognize immediately a Tervueren offspring from Malinois. They have a rather thin undercoat. The standard prescribes that the shepherd dogs should have good undercoat to protect them against the weather, but it is a fact that our Groenendaels and Tervuerens have a better undercoat then the Malinois, and the rough-haired have very little undercoat. The lack of undercoat is dominant over a good undercoat, breeders should bear that in mind.

How is it possible that some dogs are genetically not "pure" (homozygotic), why is a certain Groenendael apparently black but also carries the fawn genes ? Intervariety breeding is the cause of this.

Before dog clubs and stud books existed, before man started to select and register breeds, the shepherds and farmers mated black dogs with fawn dogs, long-haired dogs with short-haired dogs. I would like to analyze the results of those matings.

Only long-haired dogs can come out of this. Since black is dominant, the first generation will be completely black, but hybrid (heterozygotic) and will hide the fawn color.

A hybrid dog K^BA^y mated with a "pure" fawn (A^yA^y) will give 50% black hybrids K^BA^y and 50% "pure" fawns (A^yA^y).

It sometimes happens that Tervuerens coming from Groenendaels do not have a black mask, but the standard mentions that the absence of a black mask means disqualification of the dog. This is due to the absence of the dominant gene "E^m ". This gene is responsible for the mask and produces black hairs that cover the face, the ears and the tail, where it forms a triangle half-way and blackens the end of the tail.

Black is dominant over fawn and short hair is dominant over long hair. It is obvious that a "pure" Groenendael  (K^BK^B) mated with a "pure" Malinois will only give black short-haired dogs in the first generation. The two main characteristics of the short-haired black, the black color and the short hair, can always hide long hair and the fawn color without being noticed. There is a large number of combination and this probably explains why the breeding of this dog has never been very successful. 

On the condition of taking place between two "pure" dogs, the mating between a Groenendael and a black short-haired gives quite regular results. At the first generation, it will give black short-haired dogs. At the second generation, there will be the following proportion : one "pure" Groenendael, one "pure" black short-haired and two hybrid black short-haired, these last ones will be divided in the same way for the next generation. But if, by accident, one of the dogs or both dogs should carry a recessive gene, it would be a very complicated and endless puzzle.

A mating between the two, can only give fawn dogs. The first generation will be totally short-haired, that is Malinois, only in appearance however. But in the second generation there will be the mendelian proportion of one "pure" Tervueren, two hybrid Malinois and one "pure" Malinois. This is the moment to talk about another peculiarity. Sometimes it occurs at the first generation that the short hair dominates the long haired badly, the hair is not as short as it should be for a "pure" Malinois. The length of the hair is somewhere in between short and long and requires a new selection during several generations (normally three) before the pure variety is found in one or the other way.

Provided it takes places between two genetically "pure"' dogs, the mating of a Malinois with a black short-haired can only produces black short-haired dogs at the first generation. At the second generation, there will be one "pure" Malinois, one "pure" black short-haired and two hybrid black short-haired. But if the reproducers are themselves both hybrid, they can produces a Groenendael or a Tervueren, but always strictly according to the laws of dominance formulated by Mendel.

Now we have talked about the different varieties of the sleek-haired Belgian shepherds that form a really characteristics whole. In this article the color and the length of the air has been stressed because they define to which variety of the Belgian shepherds a dog belongs. The Belgian shepherd is one breed only. There is only ONE standard and not a standard separately for the Malinois that differs from the one for the Tervueren or the Groenendael.

In 1920, after the damages caused to the kennels during the war of 1914-18, which also strongly decimated our Belgian shepherd population, dogs of all permitted colors, with the same type of coat, were allowed to be mated. The breeding between short-haired and rough-haired was also permitted, the other intervariety breeding was prohibited (t.i. the breeding between long-haired and short-haired).

At the end of the second World War, in 1945, the following matings would be accepted :

a) short-haired with long-haired,

b) short-haired with rough-haired,

c) the mating of all short-haired colors,

d) the mating of all colors long-haired.

It is noticed, says O'Breen, that mating long-haired and short-haired, practiced in view of multiplying Tervueren, has often resulted in a bad expression, mainly a too pale eye, which is of course not in favour of intervariety breeding. Of course, not all Malinois have the requested dark eyes, far from it. But is often a question of family and should be paid attention to. The main difficulty remains avoiding the production of semi-long-haired, and, its getting into unexperienced hands.

From 1st January 1974 on, the different intervariety breedings were abolished and the black short-haired was no longer recognized. On the other hand, starting 1st January 1979, according to the rules of the Fédération Canine Internationale (F.C.I.) the intervariety breeding of varieties to which a CACIB is attributed, was prohibited.

When intervariety breeding was allowed in certain exceptional cases by the breeders commission, the offspring of these breedings will be registered in separate stud book until the third generation of the wanted coat and color.

To end, I would like to cite from an article by F.-E. Verbanck, called "Plusieurs variétés, mais une seule race" ("Different varieties, but one single breed"), published in N° 138 of "La Vie Canine" in June 1964 :

"The matings between different varieties must be carefully considered attempts, made to realize a well determined goal, and knowing that they are enterprises of long duration, of which positive results will only be obtained after several generations. Our opinion hasn't changed, on the contrary, the matings between different varieties, realized by serious breeders, have proved to be worth it. Each time that one or the other variety of the Belgian shepherd needs new blood it is only with the other varieties that the necessary elements can be found."


(translated by my daughter Pascale)