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Apollon du Pelican and the Japanese |
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Apollon du Pelican and the Japanese |
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APOLLON DU PELICAN (LOSH
20139), a Malinois, was born on 20 November 1924 in a nest of nine
puppies by WUC (LOSH 17933) out of ZOUKY (LOSH 17759). WUC was none else
than the famous Malinois DUC DU RUPEL (a dog of the Belgian Kennel
Club). DUC DU RUPEL was a contemporary of SNAP (LOSH 10050 - alias FRAM
DE JOLIMONT) and about the Malinois bitches RITA DE LA CAMPINE and
MARGOT DU RUPEL. They were the fabulous foursome of 1920-25 that
dominated in all the disciplines (ring, tracking, fieldwork). |
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The best result obtained
by APOLLON was a second place in the ring competition of the fourth
Belgian Grand Prix in 1930. APOLLON was a beautiful Malinois with an
enormous sense for biting. He was passed with only a few points by
another, very talented Malinois, BOLLUX (LOSH 32278 - alias LUX DE
GALLIFORT - LOB 12534). The fourth, fifth and sixth place were
occupied by the Groenendael NEROLO (LOSH 22277) who won the Grand Prix
in 1929 and 1930, COLDUC (LOSH 38613) and NIYLORD (LOSH 26324). NEROLO
and BOLLUX were part of the club "Le Chien dressé d'Anvers"
(The trained dog of Antwerp). MYLORD and APOLLON however were members
of the "Antwerp Kynos Club". The seventh place was taken in
possession by the Bouvier FRANCOEUR DE LIEGE (LOSH 19303). Further
down the list we find the long haired gray KERO (LOSH 40830). The
first German Shepherd dog, NONETTE (LOSH 40482), a nice small bitch,
placed itself at the thirteenth place behind a short haired gray-black
TIBI (LOSH 32203). The following story
comes from a small book written in Flemish by E. Ten Grootenhuyze, a
ring judge. This work is very interesting and objective. It was
divided into two parts entitled "Ring sport - Gister en vandaag"
meaning Ring sport - Yesterday and today. This is passage concerning
APOLLON and the Japanese. "These events took
place some ten years after the First World War. I was a member of the
Antwerp Kynos Club. On numerous occasions, on Sunday morning we
received the visit of Japanese sailors. The subjects of the great
Mikado always followed the training of our dogs with great curiosity.
For these foreign visitors it was a novelty. They had never seen
anything like it. On their large island full of cherry trees and lotus
flowers, our type of dog training was totally unknown. The caretaker
of our premises, the old Koclx, was a very social man who worked in
the harbour. It was with his help that the Japanese sailors discovered
our club premises. They found it extremely interesting to see our dogs
at work. Whenever there were Japanese ships in the harbour, we were
sure to get a visit from the little yellow men on Sunday. They were
loyal visitors and after a while even supporters. The only means of
communication were our hands, but the sly old Kockx was more advanced
than us and was able to talk to them. In those days, the two
top dogs were the Groenendael MYLORD of the deceased Ch. Monnoyeur and
the Malinois APOLLON DU PELICAN of Henri Martel. Especially APOLLON
was magnificent in the attack on the apache. Lively as lightning, he
dashed towards the one that defied him. Even when his attacker was big
and strong, this one had trouble in keeping lis balance. It was
especially APOLLON's work that attracted the attention of our foreign
visitors. They really admired him for his work. They had never seen
anything like it. They did not think it possible for a dog to attack a
human being with that kind of strength. They did not understand that a
dog could attack a person without showing any fear. That a dog could
bite and shake like that, they had never taken for possible. For them, without any
doubt, there must have been a trick. I took quite some time to
convince them that it was not so. They wanted to experience themselves
that there was not trick. They expressed their wish to old Kockx. Even
if we insisted that it was dangerous for a novice, they persisted
because each time they went back to their country nobody wanted to
believed their Antwerp adventures. Even with a picture of APOLLON as
proof their story seemed unbelievable. That is why they wanted to try
it themselves and take a picture of it in order to convince the
incredulous in Japan. They did not fear the hard and dangerous work of
the apache. Then one day, instead of
the big and strong Sus (our apache) one of the Japanese took his place
and put on the security suit that was twice his size. With a lot of
courage the `new' apache took up his task. Each time this “dwarf”
apache was in Antwerp he would put on the suit. He made progress and
we were satisfied with his trials. Perhaps he persevered to become the
first apache in his country ? Anyway, at first we were scared for him. His compatriots were
proud and expressed enormous joy. They had a lot of fun when they saw
APOLLON attack their friend. Their pleasure was endless when they saw
him shaken by APOLLON like a bag of rice. For APOLLON this kind of
apache was just a toy between his teeth, although the little man never
lacked courage. More than once, Martel had to intervene to liberate
the poor guy. This was a relief for the compatriot of `Miss
Butterfly". We had to acknowledge that the yellow man was really
courageous to affront all this hardship. We admired his tenacity. The foreign visitors
were most of all satisfied that there were no tricks involved. They
took a picture of the attack as well as a photo of a group of Belgian
amateurs with our Japanese admirers. They became real public relation
officers for this sport in their native country. Their ultimate desire
was to return to Japan with dogs having the same qualities as APOLLON.
Out of fi-iendship for these loyal visitors we tried to accommodate
their wish. After a while, when their boat arrived in the Antwerp harbour, and they came to visit us, we gave them the good news. Their happiness was endless. They had never expected anything like it from the Belgians. Such a fi-iendship came as a big surprise to them. They were finally able to take three puppies of APOLLON with them, as gift of their Antwerp friends because they had shown the way to our premises at a great number of their fellow compatriots. Now they would be able to prove that these dogs, for which they had enormous admiration, really existed. That this gift consisted of descendants of the ferocious APOLLON, this great police dog, was beyond any expectation. With the help of Kockx as translator, we explained them the basic needs of the dogs like, food, education, ... They promised us, and especially Martel, to keep us informed of the trip to and the arrival in Japan. They kept their word.
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It was an extraordinary event
in Japan when the young Belgian Shepherd Dogs arrived. lnstead of a letter,
Martel, received half the front page of a Japanese newspaper with a photo
surrounded by Japanese signs. The Japanese sailors, the first to import
these famous police dogs, were more than proud about their acquisition. The
most renowned newspaper of Tokyo had dedicated an entire column to the
announce the arrival of these fabulous dogs in Kobe where the steamboat
"Deer-Cland" came alongside. The newspaper was "Mainidu
Schimbun" meaning "Fresh new, each day". The newspaper gave a
complete description of the training method applied by the Belgians to
obtain good police dogs. There was also a picture of the three descendants
of APOLLON DU PELICAN. Japan was proud of this first shipment by Japanese
sailors. These sailors were thanked by the Japanese nation for this
initiative. The description continued : " The strength and the courage
of the famous police dogs, that just came to Japan, had no equivalent on
earth." It was followed by a description of the tactic used of these
tracking dogs to search, arrest and guide thieves and villains. The article
related the visits and experiences of the sailors in the Antwerp school for
police dogs. Nobody ever believed that an
article on dog sport would be written in a Japanese newspaper with such
enthusiasm. Especially Henri Martel, can be proud, since the reputation of
his loyal four-legged companion had even reached Japan. I personally wish to thank the
Reverend Father Jesuit Paapen and Dr. Grootens of the Ruusbroeck Association
in Antwerp for their translations from Japanese."
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