This is a breed which comes in four varieties. As far as the physical characteristics are concerned the breed standards are identical, with only one area of difference. This relates to the coat in respect of colour, texture and length. In alphabetical order the varieties are the Groenendael, the Laekenois, the Malinois and the Tervueren. The names refer to their geographic areas of origin within Belgium. These Belgian sheepdogs date back to the Middle Ages but began to be separated only in 1891 when Prof Adolphe Reul of the Belgian Veterinary School established the standards for the types.
A restaurant owner is credited with fostering the Groenendael; a brewer who first whelped a litter from a mating of two longhaired black-tipped fawns produced the Tervueren; the Malinois
takes its name from Malines; and the Laekenois comes from Boom, near Antwerp, taking its name from the Château de Laeken, a royal residence of Queen Marie Henriette, whose favourite variety was the Laekenois.
It is not appropriate to detail the existing differences as these are covered in the coat and colour clauses, but the Groenendael is fundamentally longhaired and with a black harsh-textured coat; the Laekenois, as yet the rarest variety in the UK, has a pretty, short, wiry type of coat which is reddish¬fawn; the Malinois is possessed of a shortish firm-textured coat which may be red, fawn or grey with a black overlay; while the Tervueren, now the most rapidly increasing of the four, has the same range of colouring as the Malinois, but the outer coat is long, straight and abundant.
The varieties are described as both sheep¬dogs and guards. They are essentially graceful without being too refined. They give the appearance of being purposeful creatures, and their somewhat laconic gait clause, ‘brisk, free and even’, while being very economic in words, does not give the full flavour of a unique mode of progression which is one of efficiency above all, with a high style. It is always a debatable point whether we should take what is in truth a working breed and try to turn it into a family companion/pet, but it has been done in many breeds in the past, especially the recent past, and doubtless it will be done in respect of the Belgian Shepherd. Provided owners do not lose sight of the fact that these are active animals requiring adequate exercise, both physical and mental, little harm will be done. But, as in many other working breeds, we must never lose sight of their history of service, or we shall find ourselves with dogs whose basic temperaments have been changed for the worse and out of all recognition.