Belgian Shepherds

At Little Dove Farm one of our great loves is for the Belgian Shepherd. We currently have six in residence who are a part of everything we do on the farm. They are herding, tracking, and obedience trained. A few will even confess to being breed champions. Although we are not breeders we would be happy to talk with anyone about Belgians and assist them in learning more and getting in contact with those people who do breed, as well as rescue organizations.

There are four varieties of Belgian Shepherds:

• Groenendael: long hair and all black, known as the 'Belgian Sheepdog' in this country.
• Tervuren: long hair, often mahogany and black but sometimes grey or sable.
• Malinois: short hair, mahogany and black
• Laekenois: Curly Rough Coat

In the United States they are divided into separate breeds, however in the rest of the world they are one breed four varieties. They are a medium size, high energy, very intelligent breed. Well known for their versatility they excel as working dogs in search and rescue, police work such as bomb and drug detection, as well carrying out the daily chores required of a farm dog. They also specialize in having lots of fun with a sense of humor and the ability always to keep their humans entertained. 'Always in motion except when under command' is part of the AKC standard. This is true unless they are very tired which is rarely.

Zoom with his ducks in a row