THE WORK OF THE BOUVIER |
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| Although the Bouvier des
Flandres is universally spoken of as a working dog, the meaning is not well defined, or
rather is twisted without mercy to meet convenience and justify lowered standards. On the
face of it, it seems quite simple. Since in French "bouvier" means cattle dog,
just as "berger" means a Shepherd's dog, is not the working function then well
defined by the very names of these breeds? And it is true that the Bouviers, of Flandres
and the Ardennes, and the Belgian Shepherds, the Malinois, the Groenendael, the Tervueren
and the Laeken, evolved as working farm and pasture dogs in an era of unfenced common
land. But while it is true that in Scotland and in Germany the age old herding way of life continues to this day, in the Low Countries, Belgium and the Netherlands, it disappeared, beginning in the nineteenth century. This was a fundamental turning point for the farm and pasture dogs of these regions. In order to understand this era, it is necessary to know that all of these breeds and varieties ( the Belgian Shepherds are four varieties in one breed ) were drawn from the same broad, indigenous population of working dogs. The shepherd's dogs were more numerous and the efforts to formalize them into a breed began about 1890, although for many years only a very few dogs were actually registered. It was 1920 before more than a bare handful of Bouviers were officially taken note of by registration. Furthermore, the men involved in the founding of the Bouvier or in recording his history, such as Louis Huyghebaert and Felix Verbanck, were in many cases primarily Belgian Shepherd breeders and enthusiasts. The bouviers and bergers were in many ways opposite faces of the same coin, having a different face but sharing the same base. A most valuable reference on this subject and this era is "Hundred Years of history of the Belgian Shepherd Dog" by Jean-Marie Vanbutsele. In this book he quotes Adolphe Reul, founder of the Berger Belge, as follows: "There was a time when Belgium possessed, according to its relatively small territory a considerable large number of dogs used for the guidance and guard of the flocks of sheep, and even flocks of geese, because in the whole country sheep were bred and used for their wool. "As a result of the prices of wool and mouton falling down, an inevitable consequence of the ruthless competition that Argentina and Australia offer our own producers, as a result of the given extension to the production and the use of cotton and of the realized progress in the agricultural domain that has brought it the suppression of the out of date system of untilled land, the decrease of the number and the importance of the flocks is emphasized." Vanbutsele goes on in his own words: "Following the general counting, 969,000 sheep were enumerated in 1836, 583,000 in 1856 and 365,000 in 1880. The sheep were mainly bred in Campine and the Walloon provinces." It is on "untilled land," what we in America would call open range, that husbandry is difficult or impossible without the herding dog. When the sheep and open range cattle approach to agriculture became obsolete, the need for such dogs disappeared In order to preserve these dogs and to meet the emerging social needs of urbanization, men such as Louis Huyghebaert created new sports, the so called "dressage" or obedience, which with new emphasis on practical police style application quickly evolved into the Belgian ring sport. The evolution of these sport activities and the invention of the "police dog" were part of the same process, for amateur breeding and training has always been an essential part of the police and defense application in Europe. Because of the dedication of these men, whom we can not honor enough, the time for the Berger Belge and the Bouvier des Flandres to die had been pushed into the unknown future and the heritage preserved for a generation. The shepherd's dogs and cowherd's dogs had been preserved, even as the shepherd and cowherd disappeared into the pages of history. Even before the 1800's, social change in Europe was a driving force in canine evolution. For many hundreds of years, with sparse population, the animal herds tended to be in large, open grass land where the primary function of the dog and the stockman was to keep the flock or herd together and to protect the animals from predators. Such conditions still exist in Turkey and similar eastern areas today. But the expansion of crop farming to fill all available land, driven by and helping to cause expanding populations, put pressure on the herdsman, for now he had to find food for his animals in close proximity to actively tilled land, which meant he and his dogs had to keep them out of the tempting fields. Thus the evolution of the tending breeds, from which, apparently, the modern bouviers and bergers emerged. |
Some will speak of the
draught dog or the cart dog, and ask is that not the work of the Bouvier des Flandres. Let
us again look to the words of Mr. Vanbutsele: "The shepherd dog, dog of defense and attack, is an invention of man; in its nature it is at most a guard dog. Some have also been draught dogs, but this last function was better performed by the Belgian draught dog, also frequently called the Flemish Mastiff, to whom the professor A. Reul was also devoted. The Mastiff was a very powerful dog, built like an athlete and with an imposing muscular system. It was about 67 to 80 cm ( 27 to 32 inches) high and its weight varied between 45 and 50 kilograms. (100 pounds to 110 pounds) These dogs have disappeared because the Belgian law prohibits the use of harnessed dogs. Since the war of 1914-18, this admirable breed was beginning to disappear, and probably because the Mastiff was a big eater and its keep became very expensive. It was also a known fact that the biggest Mastiffs collapsed very fast by the heat. It is undeniably a great loss of our genetic patrimony." Here we see a breed or type, the Flemish Mastiff, whose time to die came, and which thus disappeared as a small footnote in the pages of canine history. Every breed will die, just as every man and every nation will disappear. The life span is in part according to the courage, intelligence and perseverance of the advocates. But beyond that the unforeseen flow of larger events can cut short a worthy life or grant a long life to the selfish, the stupid or the morally degenerate by pure blind luck. Such is the nature of life. The truth of the matter is that the use of dogs for draft work was often cruel and abusive, leading to its rejection by society, its becoming illegal. Also, with the development of the bicycle, automobile and tractor the use of the dog and the even the horse as a means of practical transport became obsolete. Furthermore, the progenitors of the Bouvier, and the breed itself, as a medium size dog with a rough coat and robust character, would not be the natural candidates for draft work. This is not to say that a Bouvier cannot be hitched
to a cart and taught to work. Indeed, diligent searching and training would no doubt yield
a Bouvier capable of taking a point on a hidden bird or retrieving a dead duck. But those
interested in such things are well advised to search out the suitable breeds. Is, after
all, not the very concept of a "breed" to create a race of dogs with special
aptitude and desire for specific work? And would it not be logical, were we to claim that
this breed or that breed is "good for all work" to simply give up our registries
and breed all the dogs together? "The breeders do not forget that the Bouvier is first of all a working dog, and although they try to standardize its type, they do not want it to lose the early qualities which first called attention to its desirability. For that reason, in Belgium a Bouvier cannot win the title of Champion unless he has also won a prize in a working competition as a police dog, as a defense dog or as an army dog." Herding is not mentioned for the simple reason that there was no longer any herding to do in Belgium, that along with draft work, it was rapidly becoming obsolete. All of the traditional Bouvier working tests in
Belgium, the Belgian Ring Sport and the "Certificate of National Qualities"
(CQN), the working requirement for the Belgian championship, have their primary focus on
serious protection tests. |
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