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Mechelle
Louis
We Love Our Malinois!
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History of The Malinois (Mechelse shepherd ) After the foundation of the Belgian State, 1830 Professor Adolphe Reul a veterinarian was aware of the unique breeds of dogs found in Belgium. These dog breeds were more appreciated abroad than at home. The middle class in Belgium preferred foreign breeds over the Belgian farmers dogs. Nevertheless many foreign breeds did use for breeding Belgian dogs that were either robbed, plundered or bought occasionally from Belgium farmers. Belgium was the battlefield of Europe. Germans, French, English , Dutch and Spanish were known to rob Belgian kennels. They crossbred these Belgium dogs to their native breeds and create new ones. "It is historically proven that in many veins of reputed foreign breeds the blood is flowing of Bassets, Bouviers and Mechelaars from the Flanders, Bullenbijters from Brabant, Sint Hubertus dogs from the Ardennen, etc. ! " Professor Reul decided to write to his old-students who were practicing veterinarians. He ask them to find the best and most typical Belgian dogs, and try to convince their owners to participate at a special exhibition in Cureghem. To achieve this, professor Reul created the organization Club du Chien de Berger Belge on September, the 29th 1891. ! On November, the 15th 1891,117 shepherds were present at Club du Chien de Berger. Reul stated that all the dogs were good looking but no two of them looked alike although all of them were related. . The objective of the Club du Chin de Berger was to bring the Belgian shepherds back to a pure breed, formulate standards and achieve uniformity. The first task of the committee was to divide the dogs into 3 classes according to their coats. - long hair, - short hair, - rough hair. They could not agree about uniform color. All three classes had the colors black to grey with brown to wild colorful mostly with dark outlines on the head. Black occurred most with the long hair and grey with the rough hair. The second task of Reul’s committee was to issue the first breed characteristics that were concluded from a study of comparisons . On the 2nd of April 1892 the committee issued these standards: Characteristics of the Belgian Shepherds. General appearance : smart, obedient, faithful, strong, zealous average build : 55cm Head : long, sharp muzzle, black snout, forehead flat and wide, gap between forehead and nose, not deep, Eyes : smart expression, brown or yellowish. Ears : triangle, half long, straight and stiff. Neck : strong, not to long. Back line : straight, wide and short. Tale : thick, a little curled. Chest : small Rib cage : high, deep, not to wide. Shoulder : long, very slanted. Elbow : leveled. Forearm : long. Belly : neither falling down, nor pulled up. Buttock and thigh : muscled. Legs : long. Posture : firm, steady foot, round like with the cats. Color : black, pepper and salt, tiger brown, fade. Sorts: -long hair: color : most accepted color is black. Hair : soft, fairly long. Thick occupied at the ear hole, at the elbow and the back of the forearm, at the neck, collar, feather tale. Short hair at the head, at the legs, on the ears. -Rough hair: Color : most accepted color is pepper and salt. Hair : rough, half long, confused. Beard at the lips, short rough hair at the eyebrows, no feather tale that is short, fade or tiger brown, black muzzle. -Short hair: Color : Brown, black, grey and wild color hair : smooth hair on the head, on the legs, on the ears. Half long at the neck, collar and tale in the shape of a ear of corn. With these types of dogs in mind they started up breeding-programs to achieve- through inbreeding, and selection, the desired and uniform result, in which they succeeded. The official recognition of the breed took nine more years. After a trial period of nearly 10 years the "Société Royale the St. Hubert" registered in 1900, two Belgian shepherds as a fully dignified breed in their pedigree know as the "Mechelaar" and the "Groenendaeler" (LOSH=Livres des Origines St. Hubert). 1898- For the first time breed characteristics were edited in Flemish (Dutch) by the "Mechelse Club ter Verbetering van de Kortharige Schaapshond". This club from Mechelen was a department of the "Club du Chien de Berger Belge". The Modern Times The origin of the different Belgian shepherds The origin of the different Belgian shepherd breeds is so closely interwoven that it is nearly impossible to treat them separately. For instance the Tervuren shepherd already existed 40 years but was not recognized as so. Officially they were called "different-colored". The origin of the Mechelaar belongs to the most controversial ones in the Belgian Kynology because they could not agree about the color it should be. In my youth I knew many Mechelaars that were black like pitch. (Groenendael x Mechelaar = Black short hairy Mechelaar). For many years Mechelaars and Groendaelers were forced to be used in order to achieve a purer breed. So there is no doubt that they are closely related. First something worth knowing that might influence the further development. Around the change of century there was a herdsman called Mane Janssens who had the privilege to let his herd graze on the grounds of the Royal Palace in Laeken. He originated from a town called Herenhout in the Kempen. Of old, the family were sheepherders who traditionally bred their own dogs. To be able to feed their sheep sufficiently some of the family sons moved to a region near Brussels, called Zaventem where is today's national airport. This Janssens bred dogs to become good shepherds, but the color did not matter to him. The best of them in the family were the ones colored dark brown and the pale ones with rough hair and which were defined later as the Laekense and rough Mechelaar. One of his best male dogs was the "Vos II de Laeken" a rough-hairy, flax-colored dog with a feather tale. His best female was a brown coloured, short-hairy called "Lise de Laeken". With these two dogs he bred the female "Mouche"(Gray-brown and slim) and "Diane" (light-grey with a black muzzle, short open standing ears and slightly rough haired). The mating of Diane with the short hairy male dog "Samlo" gave birth to the male dog "Tomy" who became the property of M. Segers from Brussels. This "Tomy" was a short hairy red-brown coloured with a black mask. Everywhere he came he was praised and set as an example for the Mechelaar. Matings with "Tomy" were countless and one of the result for the 2nd generation was the female "Cora I" owned by Mr. Opdebeeck from Mechelen. The mating of the father "Tomy" and the granddaughter "Cora I" gave birth to the male dog "Tjop". This one possessed all the beauty as well as all the required work qualities. At this time registration for shepherds didn't exist because they weren't yet recognized as a breed and the origin of some dogs is more supposed than proven. "Tjop" in the contrary has the pedigree number LOSH 6132 (Livre d'Origine Saint Hubert) "Mouche" the second female of herder Janssens became the property of M. Duchenoy. She was mated with a male dog "Vos with LOSH 5847" from the region of Mechelen who in 1899, won the first prize in Mons. This mating gave birth to "Dewet with LOSH 6466" which became excellent examination reports, but gave rise to many heavy discussions between adherents of Tjop and adherents of Dewet. Dewet was heavier as the more slender Tjop and the breeders from Mechelen were afraid that the breeding standard would be changed in favor for a heavier dog. In the end, we must conclude that the descendants of "Tjop", "Dewet" and their next of kin (bloodlines) like the half-sister of Dewet "Lolo van Watermael", have made the Mechelse shepherd as we still know him today. The Mechelse shepherd In the last century and in the beginning of this century Mechelen was the religious centre of Belgium. Not surprising that there was a concentration of associations. The real breeding of the Mechelaar happened mostly in villages around Mechelen and in the Northern Kempen. Each farm owned his own Mechelaar with colours varying from black to beige going through fade, lion color, wolf color, red brown . The farmers were not interested in colours, but in the character properties of their dogs. Some close assistants from professor REUL happened to be people from Mechelen. I refer to veterinarian Gustaaf Geudens, Louis Huyghebaert and L.Van der Snickt. It were those people who contributed to the foundation of the "Mechelse Club tot de Verbetering van Kortharige Belgische herdershond" a subdivision from the "Club du Chien de Berger Belge". (Mechelse Club to improve the short haired Belgian Shepherd) To have better leading strings while examining dogs the "Club du Chien de Berger Belge" in dialogue with the "Société Royale de St. Hubert" defined in 1899 the hair color for the Belgian shepherds. - black for long hair - pepper and salt for rough hair - lion color (fauve charbonné) with a black muzzle for short hair. This happened without consulting the people of Mechelen, who were enraged. They feared that the typical characteristics from the Mechelaar would disappear at the expense of the color. To help out, the first competitions in the world were held for trained guard- and defense dogs. We can attribute the organization for this event to the kynologe Reul, Van de Snickt, Huyghebaert and the chief of police from the city of Gent, Van Wezemael.. The first public competition was held in 1903 in Mechelen. It was won by the female "CORA 1" from the Mechelaar L. Opdebeeck. To stop the discords and fights that existed between the members of the same breed organization, the people from Mechelen decided to resign themselves to the color definitions. The dogs Tjop and Dewet together with their descendants became acceptable for the Mechelaars. This is reprinted with permission
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