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Workingline tervueren
Translation from Finnish
November 5th, 2000
Many people ask amazed what are working
line Tervuerens as these dogs are not yet very familiar in Finland at the moment. Below a
short summary of subject, in which we have aimed to answer to the most typical questions.
The Belgian Shepherd Dog: History
and Variations
At the end of 1800's people started to
develop a breed called Belgian Shepherd Dog from Belgian dogs that were used to sheep
sheperding. As a breed, it is different from all the others because it consist of four
different variations. At the early days there were even more breed variations, whose
length of coat, texture and colour varied a lot. Different breed variations were often
crossbred with each other. Gradually, at the beginning of 1900's different variations were
reduced, and in 1921 Belgian breed association accepted approximately those variations
that exist today.
Even after that in Belgium, France and the
Netherlands and in some other countries variations have been strengthened with
crossbreeding, when needed, although nowadays an exceptional permit of a national breed
association is demanded. So, Belgian Shepherd Dog is one breed and its' variations are
separated from each other on the grounds of coat length, texture and colour - not on the
grounds of a pedigree. Short coat is a dominant character, as well as black colour.
Malinois can carry a gene of long coat being short-coated himself, or Groenendael reddish
brown colour despite the fact that is black himself. It is because of these factors that tervueren
puppies are occasionally born out of Malinois and Groenendael litters. These puppies are
registered as tervuerens and they can be used for further breeding with tervuerens.
Working Lines and Show Lines
In addition to being divided into different
variations Belgian Shepherd Dog has also been divided into working lines and show lines
within a breed. This is due to the fact that other breeders and dog fanciers appreciate
and tend the working abilities of the breed and others are in favour of the conformation.
At first, a Belgian Shepherd Dog was purely a working dog and breeding choices were made
based on dogs' working abilities only. In these working lines a dog's capability to
protection sports, like Ring, Campagne and IPO, served as a breeding standard. Show lines
started to develop after the breed standard was made and these lines tend to emphasize
dog's conformation and show success. Both lines have been systematically developed in its'
own direction and they have not been mixed. Some people tend to regard this bisection as
problematic, others think that this has made it possible for our breed to develop to the
top in both lines.
The only Belgian Shepherd Dog variation in
which pure working line breeding has been exercised since the beginning of a breed history
until this day is Malinois. Already at the beginning of the century Malinois was in its'
home country a versatile working dog that both the army and the police used. Also, among tervuerens
and Groenendaels there were separate lines in which working abilities were emphasized but
in due time they, because of their longer coat and prettier looks, ended up to those
people who appreciate these qualities and so, in the 1900's, the breeding of these
variations have clearly been guided by conformation only. Working line Malinois repsesent
a considerable part of a whole Belgian Shepherd Dog proportion, especially in Belgium,
France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, as well as in many other Central
European countries. In Scandinavian countries Belgian Shepherd Dog hobby has been
concentrated more on show lines.
 |
Groenendael "Jules" ylittämässä 2.8m korkeaa
palisaadia 1900-luvun alussa. Jules voitti kymmeniä aikansa koirien tottelevaisuuskokeita
ja neljästi Pariisin kansainvälisen mestaruuskilpailun (vuosina 1908-1911). |
Working line dog sport activists have
traditionally appreciated mainly Malinois variation, and those tervuerens born from
Malinois litters were either killed or were registered as Malinois despite of their long
coat. At the end of 1900's people started using tervuerens, borne out of working Malinois
litters, to breeding so that they were further bred with other tervuerens borne from
working Malinois litters. When some of these tervuerens and their offspring accomplished
excellent results in protection championships working line tervuerens became popular in
many countries. Some of these tervuerens with excellent success could be mentioned here:
Bayard who won the Ring championship in France in 1993; Kay von Roten Platte who won the
IPO breed championship in Austria in 1996; Jago von der Roten Platte who won the IPO breed
championship in Switzerland in 1997; Harley du
Colombophile who won the IPO championship in France in 2000, as well as, Lewis who was
placed third in the Ring championship in France in 2000.
At the moment, there are, in many
countries, several breeders who are interested in breeding working line tervuerens. It is
most common in France, Switzerland and the Netherlands but these enthusiastic pioneers can
also be found elsewhere. Also, working line Malinois breeders take up a more positive
attitude towards tervueren puppies born out of their Malinois litters because they are
aware that there are already some dog sport activists who are interested in them.
At the end of 1900's, as far as breeding is
concerned, some important Malinois whose offspring consist of both excellent Malinois as
well as tervuerens are e.g. Cartouche, Cuik du Clos Saint Michel, G'bibber, Atos, Elgos du
Chemin des Plaines, G'bang de la Virginie, Stoned van de Duvetorre, Arco Perle de
Tourbiere, and Dusty du Clos de Savoie.
Regardingly, as far as breeding working tervuerens
are concerned, some important tervuerens are, for instance Bayard, Fidgy vom Kirchof, Duke
du Lac de Lezert, Cerdan des Garrigues de la Madeleine, Iyankee du Domaine du Titisee,
Depper von der Roten Platte and Dick von Löwenfels.
Typical Characteristics of the
Working Line Dogs
Typical characteristics of the working line
dogs are good nerve structure, working ability, ability to work under pressure and strong
insticts. They are well-balanced dogs who take up an open attitude towards other dogs and
strange people. All and all, they are excellent working dogs because they have, in
addition, lively temperament and performance speed, typical of Belgian Shepherd Dog.
Naturally, each and every working line dog is not an excellent individual, as far as all
qualities are concerned, but in our opinion, these above mentioned characteristics are
quite established to these lines.
As far as health is concerned, we think
that working line dogs are very healthy. Because very tough and demanding protection
sports have acted as a breeding standard the whole dog population has remained good and
healthy, as far as structure is concerned. Dogs who are not healthy have been discarded
from breeding. However, there exist, to some extent, same hereditary faults and illnesses
as in show lines. The most typical faults and illnesses are e.g. disturbances of growth in
the joints, testicle defects, dental shortages and occlusion defects.
As far as conformation is concerned,
working line Belgian Shepherd Dogs have often faults which prevent them to get awarded a
first prize in a dog show. The most typical faults include big size, strong structure and
skull, long body and big ears. Because these faults do not disturb the dog in its' duties
and tasks they are ignored in breeding. Working line dogs remind a lot of Belgian Shepherd
Dogs at the turn of the century.
Working Line Tervuerens in Finland
Up to november 2000 three
working line tervuerens have been imported to Finland. The first import was Turco van de
Duvetorre "Rudi", whom we got acquainted with and fell in love at its' breeder
Johan Wechuyzen in Belgium in 1995. We considered having it to ourselves but concluded
that we could not have a third dog with us. After our hint "Rudi" found home at
Mirja and Harri Gröhn in Tampere (see kennel
Cäsarborg's page of Turco). After that "Rudi" has made a name in Finland as
an excellent protection dog. Among other things, "Rudi" has twice represented
Finland in the IPO World Championships for Belgian Shepherd Dogs.
The second working line tervueren brought
to Finland in 1996 was the brood bitch of our kennel, Umlaut van
de Duvetorre "Uma", who is "Rudi's" full-sister from the following
litter. "Uma" has a strong character and is big in size, and has also proved to
be an excellent protection dog.
The third working line tervueren came to
Finland in 1996, too. We brought Uvitox van de Duvetorre "Unna" as our brood
bitch, and placed her at Pekka Haapalainen, who is "Unna's" owner today.
"Unna" is in many respects a very fine dog but we decided, however, not to use
her breeding because, in our opinion, she is far too soft in character, regarding working
dog breeding. Pekka has achieved IPO1 with "Unna".
In addition to these imported dogs there
has been one working line tervueren litter born in our kennel (Tarkatan
A-litter), and furthermore, two tervuerens have been born in kennel Pois Kottoo
working malinois litters. All and all, there are not too many of these dogs yet but an
interest has risen, and our assumption is that working line tervueren hobby will expand in
the following years. Already at the moment some new imports are been planned so the time
will tell what kind of position these working tervuerens will gain in Finland among us
Belgian Shepherd Dog enthusiasts.
