History of Herding and Belgian Herding Dogs

Once upon a time ---well no, let's not go that far back. Humans and dogs have been associating with each other since before written history. Some estimates are 15,000 years, some much older. The first thing Humans probably did with dogs was to use them to help bring down prey, so it's most likely that the hunting dogs are among the oldest type of dog. However, by well over 3,000 years ago in Egypt, Mesopotamia and elsewhere, dogs were doing more than just helping bring in dinner. One of the earliest tasks was as a livestock dog.

There are some that argue the livestock GUARDIAN dog came before the livestock HERDING dog, but even so, as early as the Greek period, there is documentation of the herding dog being utilized. Greek vases that depict pastoral scenes (such as Paris in his shepherd role) include as often as not, a dog. The dog is in association with the herdsman (unlike a guard dog) and has the general build and appearance of a herding dog versus that of a guard dog (most guard dogs are of the mastiff type and often resemble the stock they guard; most livestock dogs resemble one or another of the predators - wolves, bears or foxes).

In any case, well before 500 BCE dogs were being used to manage stock - cattle and sheep primarily, but also the occasional goats or reindeer. In Roman times, tribes that primarily based their wealth in livestock occupied the European continental area. Caesar, in his "Gallic War" mentions the dogs of the "Belgae", the tribe that eventually gave their name to Belgium. By the Medieval period, the stockdog as we know it was pretty much in existence, although not as "refined" either in appearance or working style. Modern views of what a dog should look like or how it should work did not make an appearance until the humane laws of England in the early 1800s.

Prior to that, a dog that would be considered far too difficult for modern herding was well accepted. Von Stephanitz' book "the German Shepherd in Word and Picture" written in the 1920s, discusses the technique of filing teeth, knocking out canines or using an iron muzzle to control the dog in "gripping" as a normal procedure even in the beginning of the 20th century. Nor was this practice abandoned even as late as 1980, where Karl Finger's herding book in German discusses this also. By the Renaissance, the herding dog appears in art.

The earliest indication of the Belgian as we know it is in a 17th century French sketch - reproduced in Von Stephanitz' book "the German Shepherd in Word and Picture". There are, however, very few documents of the herding dog - this was not a dog of the nobleman or his lady. It was a dog that belonged to the "peasant", who is generally equally poorly documented. The earliest definitive accounts date to the late 1700s and early 1800s, where one encounters books for the "gentleman farmer" and serious stock raiser. Some of these accounts can be found in the US - George Washington was a serious stock raiser and wrote about his stock. However, in general, the dog gets perhaps a line or two, if it gets any mention at all. Like many other "tools" the stock dog is assumed to just "be there". So what was the herding dog doing?

Medieval and Renaissance accounts all indicate that the general policy was for a village or lord of an area to use a herdsman, who might be a child as much as an adult, to manage the cattle and sheep belonging to the whole. ecause of both human and animal dangers, stock were kept in secure areas at night, taken to a graze site during the day and returned to a secure area again in the evening. In various areas, the graze quality varies both seasonally and by altitude. Consequently, sometimes the "meadows" were either the same or close by and the stock stayed in the village and went to the meadow and back each year. Sometimes, however, the graze in a given area was good only for a period of time and then the stock had to be moved elsewhere, away from the village. This is the "transhumance" grazing that is documented in Spain, France, Germany and the United States. An excellent discussion of the US transhumance is "America's Sheep Trails", which discusses herding routes from the 1750s and later. A National Geographic article of 1947 documents a trek from Marseilles to the French Alps. This method of herding still exists in these countries, although it is not as widespread.

Belgium was not recognized as an independent nation until January 1831. Prior to that, various other countries ruled it and subsequent to this, various countries have occupied it. Wars, from the Napoleonic thru WWI and WWII have proven devastating to documentation on the stockdogs of that area, but nonetheless, what evidence there is shows that Belgium largely followed the herding methods of France with one dog or two dogs being used to work medium sized flocks (20 - 200), small cattle herds and occasionally geese. The introduction of the "industrial age" and the coming of railroads changed much of Europe, including Belgium. To read some of the accounts, it would seem that all livestock raising came to an abrupt termination. It is quite true that urbanization made some areas unsuitable for raising livestock and that many people abandoned the farmer's life, just as the same occurred in the United States. It is also true that there remained livestock raisers and farms, just as these still exist in the United States. Areas like the Ardennes Forest are still used as farmland and Belgium still has livestock, although more cattle than sheep.

The biggest change was the rise of nationalism and the introduction of the "dog show", where people having little or no background or interest in the dog's initial function got involved in breeding and exhibiting dogs in what essentially is a beauty show. Having seen the collie become popular in Victorian England and seeing the rise of their rivals in France and Germany, the Belgians were eager to join the "bandwagon". The initial foundation Belgians were working stockdogs - Picard d'Uccle was bought from a herdsman, Vos I's breeder/owner was an active participant in the first recognized herding trial held in Belgium. However, almost immediately after a "national" breed was established, the breeders of the dogs abandoned herding as a criterion for selection of the dogs. This is in stark contrast to the procedure used with the German Shepherd Dog, created as a breed in Germany a mere 2 years later, and which still has the herding trial (HGH) as one of the two means by which a dog may be evaluated as worthy of being used for breeding. France established a National herding trial, as did Germany (the HGH) and the English International Sheepdog Society (ISDS) trials are well known even today. For various reasons, Belgium did not opt to follow this pattern. Instead, the shorthaired dogs largely became the dogs of the "police" work. These dogs, originally of various colors, brindle, fawn, grey and black, eventually resolved into the nearly exclusive realm of the Malinois. Dogs that failed to meet the color standard of the Malinois were largely either rejected or entered into other breeds such as the Dutch Shepherd. The longhaired dogs became largely the "beauty dogs" and were mostly bred only for the show ring. The black longhair "Groenendael" and the fawn & other color longhair "Tervuren", who has appeared, disappeared and is now the type most popular. The wirehaired Lakenois always has seemed on the periphery, and has come very close to becoming extinct, although it now has it's advocates.

The two World Wars and their resultant devastation and disruption have been a mixed blessing to the Belgians. The genes of excellent dogs were lost, because of the loss of the dogs themselves both in war and after, which is a great loss. On the other hand, because so few of the dogs remained, Belgium found itself forced to allow the breeding of dogs from unknown pedigree as well as the crossing of dogs it would otherwise have forbidden. It is likely that at least some few actual working dogs added their genes to the "registered" dogs during these periods. So, what now?

As working dogs, Belgians have proven their worth in a number of fields, but with the exception of the Malinois, the percentage of Belgians doing so has always been a small number in comparison to those being bred strictly for the conformation "beauty" competition. This tends to allow for an exaggeration of characteristics that may appeal to a judge evaluating a silhouette, but which may be contradictory to the function of a working dog, let alone a working dog specifically used as a stockdog. The development of protection work into a sport has, as happens with many sports, taken protection "sport" from the actual reality of the serious working dog. A dog which is nothing more than a loaded gun waiting for the trigger pull is no more a Belgian than one which has a flowing coat and straight stance that would be a disaster in a dog required to have facility of movement in rough terrain as it works livestock. Despite having a herding trial held within it's borders (for BORDER COLLIES, no less), many of those in Belgium prefer to assert that it is impossible to use or exhibit Belgians as stockdogs because there "are no sheep".

Nevertheless, there are some indications of change in Europe - the French have opened their herding events to the amateur and the American Herding Breed Association has several times been asked to provide advice to those with "show breeds" who want to re-establish the traditional functionality to their dogs. In the United States, while the percentage of dogs that are conformation is still by far the majority, there are many more opportunities for those who wish it to breed, train and exhibit their dogs as stockdogs. The American Herding Breed Association program has been developed with a strong view to encourage the amateur to develop their dogs and the very popular Herding Ranch Dog courses were initially developed and tested using a Belgian Sheepdog. Of the first four Herding Trial Champions (HTCH), 2 were registered as Belgians. The past is behind us. The future beckons. Tomorrow is what you make of it.

By Peggy Richter richter@ridgenet.net

Peggy Richter started in Belgians in 1980 with her first dog, CH Ghura Kuymal O'Jeamill, HIC. While she initially got a Belgian with the intent to do obedience and perhaps protection sport, it was herding that almost immediately got her dedication. Starting at a time when herding was almost exclusively the providence of Border Collies and Australian Shepherds, Peggy has amassed a number of "firsts" in the breed, from the first Belgian Sheepdog with a nationally recognized herding title (Bearclaw of Kuymal Holt, STDd in 1983) to the first Belgian Sheepdog with an AKC title (CH Chieho's Vysier Kuymal PT) to the first Working Trial Champion (HTCH/WTCH Nyjella Ceres Kuymal HRDIIIsg, HTDIIIsd, RD, ATDscd, HGH, HX, CGC). She has served for more than 8 years as the president of the American Herding Breed Association and is the inventor of the highly popular Herding Ranch Dog course rules in that organization. She is currently a board member on the AHBA, an AKC herding judge and an AHBA herding judge.

Photos for this page were donated by BSCA member Peggy Richter