History of the Standard of the Belgian Shepherd Dog

Part Two : Between the Two World Wars
1. The Advisory General Meeting of 8 February 1920 2. The official recognition of the black short-haired by the "Club du Chien de Berger Belge" and the "Kennel Club Belge" in 1929 3. Modification of height in 1938 (U.C.S.H). 4. The situation of the varieties before the Second World War
*1. The Advisory General Meeting of 8 February 1920* On 20 November 1919 the "Berger Belge Club" addressed a letter to the "Société Royale Saint-Hubert" advising the classification of the Belgian shepherd dog into three varieties according to the coat texture without distinction of colour. (This letter was published in 'Chasse et Pêche' of 20 November 1919 on page 427.) Because of the anxiety caused by this letter concerning the fate of the current five varieties, the breeding commission of the "Berger Belge Club" addressed a second letter to the Société Royale Saint-Hubert to explain its way of thinking. "We remain persuaded that the complete suppression of the varieties constitutes a real remedy to the unfavourable situation of breeding. Nevertheless, to maintain the interests representing numerous years of labour, we admit that the show-organising clubs should be allowed full scope to maintain a class for each of the five mentioned varieties." The breeding commission of the "Berger Belge Club" ends by saying: "It should be understood that no restriction will be made, especially concerning the LOSH for the efforts made by the breeders in the way of cross-breeding between subjects of a different colour." Must we see in this request the wind of democracy that blew in that period and brought universal suffrage? The aim was mostly utilitarian in the way that they had to make the most of the available material. But did this not mean abandoning the scientific way of breeding and returning to the empirical methods? The success obtained by our Groenendaels and our Malinois proves that those who had chosen a black coat for the first and a fawn coat with black mask and overlay for the second had been well inspired. It was an established right. On 8 February 1920 the "Société Royale Saint-Hubert" organised an advisory General Meeting to express an opinion on the proposal of the Berger Belge Club. After a debate of more than seven hours, the Assembly pronounced itself in favour of (but without obtaining a unanimous vote): a. The complete preservation of the five existing varieties (their disappearance was not wished for, states the text). The names of 'Groenendael' and 'Malinois' are maintained for the two varieties known under these terms. b. The qualification of Belgian shepherd dog will be recognised for dogs that comply with the standard (provided that the colour is part of the range of colours varying from black or fawn or a mixture of these two). Judges are required to be extremely strict concerning the type. c. Dogs of all admitted colours and with the same coat texture, are allowed to be cross-bred. The cross-breeding between short and rough hair will be admitted. The other cross-breeds are forbidden. The delegates of the twenty-two recognised clubs (especially taking care of our national breeds) and some personalities of the cynophilic world made up this advisory assembly. It would be too long to analyse every decision taken at that assembly in detail, but I would like to recommend reading the comments by Charles Huge. He answers every question, including the questions on the colours that are extraordinarily compliant with modern genetics. The text reveals a profound knowledge of cynology. ('Chasse et Pêche' of 22 February and 14 March 1920) This is a very important piece of the comments by Mr. Huge concerning the colours of the Belgian shepherd dog: "Although I am in favour of returning to our national shepherd breed all the grounds that used to belong to him, I refuse to allow him colours that in living memory were never met with in the country. Never have we seen a chocolate Belgian shepherd dog or a mouse grey or black with intensive flames like the Doberman or the Beauceron. Fawn and black with traces of white on the chest and sometimes on the extremities constitute, in our opinion, the borders of the breed. But the fawn colour is varied and extensive as a range, and there we should not be exclusive and admit the entire range. The range varies from intensive auburn, sometimes with a lot of overlay like a fox, to the yellowish isabel-colour. Today we frequently see both in the same litter. Concerning the rough-haired, its reproduction would be facilitated if the cross-breeding with the short-haired is allowed. It can be said that this type of coat texture is not fixed. When the breeding of rough-haired starts to give coats where the undercoat is longer than the top hair, it is time to appeal to the short-haired. (Rough hair is dominant over smooth hair.) It is not advisable to cross-breed rough and long hair, since rough hair has a tendency of becoming too long. The cross-breed of short and long hair has fewer inconveniences, but is no longer officially accepted to avoid the production of semi-long hair. This would require a new selection during several generations (mostly three to recover the pure breed in one sense or the other according to the Mendel theory)." Several dogs that used to be banned from the shows and sporting events reappeared. For example Jan, a brindled long-haired (LOSH 10177) won the ring competition at the Olympiads of Antwerp on 13 June 1920. Jan was born on 24 April 1911 out of Moll by Gamin; Gamin by Dick out of Mira; Dick by Milsart out of Miss; Moll by Picard out of Diane. He filled the spectators with admiration. It is a serious looking dog, that despite his nine years of age is still fit and lively. It was a beautiful dog. "Jan, wrote judge A. Peffer, has remained the good dog that we once knew before the war. His jumps are good, his gait is excellent and his attacks extremely fierce." "Personally I think it ridiculous to pretend that a dog is a Dutch shepherd dog just because he is brindled, although he is descending from pure bred Belgian shepherd dogs", declared Jos. M. Panési. Apparently no revised standard resulting from the advisory General Meeting was published. Shortly afterwards, probably at the end of 1923, the "Berger Belge Club" published a booklet that besides its statutes also contained the standard of the Belgian shepherd dog and its varieties. Some slight changes to the Reul standard were made. The standard specifies the admitted colours as fawn, black, brindled fawn, brindled brown, brindled grey and the range varying from fawn to black. The exact description of the admitted colours for the Groenendael and the Malinois as well as the names themselves were not repeated. Almost at the same time, in 1924, the count Henri de Bylandt republished a part of his work "Les Races de Chiens" (Dogs Breeds). He dedicated the book to the "Royal Berger Belge Club" but also changed certain paragraphs of the standard. From a practical point of view, how were the classes divided for show purposes? Based on several catalogues from dog shows such as the "Société Royale Saint-Hubert" Internationals of 1923 and 1924, the "Royal Kynos Club Liègeois" dog show (1924) and the "Malinois Club"() dog show of 1925, eight different varieties are mentioned: 1. Belgian shepherd dog Malinois (short fawn hair with black mask and overlay) 2. Belgian shepherd dog with short hair (other than Malinois) 3. Belgian shepherd dog Groenendael (long black hair) 4. Belgian shepherd dog with long fawn hair 5. Belgian shepherd dog with long hair (other than fawn or black) 6. Belgian shepherd dog with fawn rough hair 7. Belgian shepherd dog with dark ash grey rough hair 8. Belgian shepherd dog with rough hair (other than fawn or dark ash grey) On 12 February 1928 the "Union Cynologique Saint-Hubert" (U.C.S.H.) was founded by means of the 'agreement of revision of the convention of 6 January 1908'. The "Union Cynologique Saint-Hubert" exercised its competence by means of two of its components: the Conseil Cynologique and the Assembled Delegates. The Société Royale Saint-Hubert remained responsible for issuing the LOSH, as well as for the administration and the exterior representation of the Union Cynologique. At the time of the foundation of the Union Cynologique Saint-Hubert, Ch. Huge and G. O'Breen respectively occupied the functions of chairman and secretary general of the Representatives. () founded on 15 July 1907 and recognized by the " Société Royale Saint-Hubert"
*2. The official recognition of the black short-haired by the "Club du Chien de Berger Belge" and the "Kennel Club Belge" in 1929* The variety of black short-haired Belgian shepherd dogs was recognised by the Club du Chien de Berger Belge on 22 October 1929 and ratified by the board of directors of the Kennel Club Belge on 29 October of the same year. (At the start of that year and more precisely on 13 January, J. Couplet accepted the presidency of the "Kennel Club Belge". The function had become vacant after the decease of his predecessor Mr. G. Oortmeyer, who died on 29 October 1928.) On Sunday 1 August 1937, the "Kennel Club Belge" judges for Belgian shepherd dog joined in Binche. Following persons were present: J. and R. Adant, Mr. Caspers, Mr. Desmedt, Dr. Hubert, L. Dupuis and Mr. Van Houtvin. Mr. Couplet was excused for health reasons (he died in Brussels on 27 September). Dr. Domicent and Mr. E. Couvreur were excused for other reasons and Mr. E. Abs was detained elsewhere by a show. The meeting had no definite purpose. They did not want to modify the standard or change the way of judging. They simply thought it useful to exchange some points of view in front of such a collection of dogs that could only be found in Binche, the cradle of the Belgian shepherd dog. About fifteen Malinois, twenty Groenendaels and four Tervueren were gathered. These are some fragments of the report by A. Caspers: "We have studied these dogs carefully, without taking notice of the small imperfections and without classifying them, but with the intention of obtaining a total picture. Below we give you an overview of the measurements of the leading dogs:
in cm	Malinois male					Groenendael male				Tervueren male
	A	B	C		D	A	B		C	A	B
Shoulder height	58	60	61		62	60	66		64	61	63
Chest measurement	68	69	74		74	76	78		74	67	79
Chest depth	30	29	32		29.5	31	35		29	31	31
First concerning the height. It is the group of four Malinois who seems to be the most homogenous and draws closer to the average of 60cm. The Groenendaels reach and exceed the average, the Tervuerens exceed it. This is absolutely complying with the general opinion that the Malinois is the smallest of the Belgian shepherd dogs. Next, the chest depth. It is generally admitted, although it is not written anywhere, that the chest depth equals half the shoulder height. These numbers are reached although the difference is noteworthy. The difference varies from -1.5 to +1.5cm for the Malinois, from -3 to +2cm for the Groenendael and from -0.5 to +0.5cm for the Tervueren. Remains the chest measurement. Here at first sight the numbers seem confounding. The Groenendaels show the smallest differences, although their chest depth was the most varying. It is plausible, but it means that another factor is at work: the rounding of the ribs. It goes hand in hand with the specifications of the standard requiring 'the chest not very wide, but deep and low'." Other points were discussed at this meeting of Belgian shepherd dog technicians. They recorded that around the average height of 57/58cm for the females and 60cm for the males, the largest amount of characteristic dogs were found.
*3. Modification of height in 1938 (U.C.S.H.).* Some months later, the judges of the "Union Cynologique Saint-Hubert" gathered. On 16 January 1938 a congress of national shepherd dog judges was held in Brussels. They wanted to consult each other on the line of conduct to follow in view of a better uniformity in the appreciation of the different points of the Belgian shepherd dog standard. Were assisting as judges: Messrs. Verbanck, Brism‚, Tanghe, Mysen, Deffernez, Staveau, Tenret, M. Adant, Ch. Huge, Leenaerts, Bloemen, Brossard, Crunelle, A. Willocq and Huyghebaert. The official judges were: Messrs. Kermans, Mandart, Martinage, R. Willocq, Tobler, O'Breen, Boudart and F. Huge. Messrs. Huyghebaert, Tenret and Ch. Huge gave very interesting talks on the subject. The question of height has been the subject of strongly animated discussions. At the end of the meeting, the congress participants agreed on a minimum of 58cm for the males and of 56cm for the females. The desired height is 60 cm for the males and 58cm for the females. Following the lectures held by Mr. Verbanck and Maurice Adant on the modifications of the standard and the accompanying explanation one some points, a commission was composed to condense the different studies together with the different remarks made during the congress. This commission was composed of Messrs. Kermans, Huyghebaert, Verbanck, Bloemen and O'Breen.
*4. The situation of the varieties before the Second World War* Upon examination of the LOSH of 1932, it is interesting to note that the best represented breed is the fox-terrier (939), with is almost twice as many enrolments as the German shepherd dog who takes second place with 563. The bouviers occupy an honourably third place with 505. The Malinois only come in seventh place with 231; the Groenendaels ninth with 170; the other Belgian shepherd dogs with short hair 33, rough-haired 39; other long-haired 24. This makes a total of 497 for the Belgian shepherd dogs. Published in 1938, the 51st volume of the LOSH states the following numbers. For reason of comparison I also mentioned the totals of the preceding year.
				1937				1936
German Shepherd Dog Fox terrier (rough hair) Bouvier des Flandres Pekinese Malinois Cocker Groenendael BSD short hair other than Malinois BSD long hair other than Groenendael BSD rough hair				1142 807 795 536 533 463 327 40 30 17				1266 1148 856 573 679 439 316
This is the opinion of a specialised judge, practitioner and learned in Belgian shepherd dog and breeding advisor: "Because of our particularistic spirit, wrote F. Verbanck, what harm did we cause our national patrimony? We have amused ourselves in creating eight varieties for our national shepherd dog. 1. Black long-haired Groenendael 2. Fawn long-haired Tervueren 3. Other coloured long-haired 4· Fawn short-haired Malinois 5. Other colour short-haired 6. Ash grey rough-haired 7. Fawn rough-haired Laekenois 8· Other coloured rough-haired This is too much! Why do we not limit ourselves first to the following varieties: Groenendael, other coloured long-haired, Malinois, other coloured short-haired and rough-haired of all colours. When remembering the pre-war Tervueren and rough-haired and we compare them to the dogs that are shown today, I believe we can rightfully say that both varieties are in decline. As for the short-haired, we can sincerely say that we have not met, during the last fifteen years, an other coloured shepherd dog that is desirable by character or by type and structure." However it should be noted that the quality of some dogs does permit them to obtain a CAC and sometimes even a champion's title. Following dogs became work champion:

Year	Name	Variety
1928 1930 1931 1934 1934	Foch (LOSH 15112) Sady de la Redoute (LOSH 32071) Foliette (LOSH 23282) Pirouf (LOSH 40192) Ami du Parc des Sports (LOSH 46386)	Tervueren Grey rough hair Black short hair Black short hair Fawn rough hair

	History
	The Standards and the Varieties
	of the Belgian Shepherd Dog