BOUVIER des FLANDRES
A. Giraudlaan, 98, 1030 Brussel.
Founding member of the “Fédération Cynologique Internationale”.
BOUVIER DES FLANDRES
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Belgium – France.
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGINAL VALID BREED STANDARD: 25.10.2000.
UTILISATION: The
Bouvier des Flandres was originally used for droving, hauling and
churning. Modernization of farm
equipment has put a stop to these uses, and nowadays the Bouvier des Flandres
serves principally as the guardian of farms and estates, but also as a defence
and police dog. His physical attributes,
his easygoing comportment and his keen qualities of scent, initiative and
intelligence warrant his use for tracking, liaison and against poaching.
F.C.I. GROUP: Group 1: Sheepdogs and cowherding dogs (with the exception of Swiss cowherding dogs).
Group 2: Cowherding dogs (with the exception of Swiss cowherding dogs).
With work test.
The Bouvier des Flandres, as his name implies, is native to Flanders, Belgian Flanders and French Flanders, two regions not separated by any natural boundary.
The Flemish cow or cattle herders needed good dogs to drive their herds and thus solely selected dogs locally for their moral and physical qualities, which today’s Bouvier des Flandres has inherited from his forebears.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Sub-brevilinear. His compact body is short coupled with strong and well muscled limbs. The Bouvier des Flandres gives an impression of power, without clumsiness.
The Bouvier des Flandres will be judged in a natural standing stance, without physical contact with the handler.
IMPORTANT PROPORTIONS:
· The body length, from the tip of the shoulder to the rump, must be approximately equal to the height at the withers.
· The proportion length of skull to length of muzzle is about 3 to 2.
DEPORTMENT / CHARACTER: The Bouvier des Flandres has the calm and ponderate character of the boldly prudent. His fiery look shows his intelligence, energy and audacity.
The Bouvier des Flandres must absolutely preserve his qualities of working breed. Everything which might tamper herewith must be penalized.
HEAD: Its’ massiveness is accentuated by the beard and the moustache. It should be in proportion to the body and height. It must feel clean cut when handled.
SKULL: Well developed and flat, somewhat less wide than long. The upper lines of the skull and the muzzle are parallel. The frontal groove is barely marked.
Stop: Shallow, more apparent than real through the upstanding eyebrows.
MUZZLE
PART:
Nose: It forms a slightly convex tip at the end of the muzzle. The nose must be well developed and rounded in thie outer lines, the color always black. The nostrils must be wide open.
Muzzle: Broad powerful, well boned, straight upper profile, sloping to the nose, but never snippy. Its length must be shorter than that of the skull, in the ratio of 2 to 3. Its perimeter taken just below the eyes is approximately equal to the length of the head.
Lips: Closing tightly with dark pigmentation.
Jaws and teeth: The jaws must be powerful and equal in length. The teeth are strong, healthy, white and correctly placed. Scissor bite or pincer bite. The number of teeth must be complete.
Cheeks: Lean and flat, the cheekbones only slightly protruding.
Eyes: Free with an energetic expression, not protruding nor sunken in their sockets. Their shape is slightly oval with the axis on the horizontal line. The color must be as dark as possible in relation to the color of the coat. Light eyes and a haggard expression must be strongly penalized. The eyelids are black, with no trace of loss of pigment. The haw must never be apparent.
Ears: Cropped in a triangle, carried upright, attached high and very mobile; cropping matching the size of the head is recommended.
Uncropped ears:
Position: Set high, carried well upright, the ear flaps falling vertically. The fold crease may not be higher than the top of the skull.
Shape and carriage: Semi long, in the shape of an equilateral triangle lightly rounded at the tip, falling flat on the cheeks, apart from the slight detachment above the earset; not folded or twisted; in proportion to the size of the head; covered in short hair.
NECK: Must be free and sufficiently arched. Strong, muscled, widening progressively to the shoulders, the length is slightly less that the length of the head. Nape strong and slightly arched. No dewlap.
BODY: strong, broad and short.
Upper line: The upper line of the back and the loins is horizontal, tight and strong.
Withers: Slightly protruding.
Back: Short, broad, muscled and firm, wih no sign of weakness, but still flexible.
Loins: Short, wide, muscled; must be flexible, with no sign of weakness.
Croup: Must prolong as much as possible the horizontal line of the back and mold imperceptibly in the curve of the buttocks. Wide but not excessively so in the male, more developed in the bitch. A falling or slanted croup is a serious fault.
Chest: Wide and
deep, reaching the elbows; it may not be cylindrical. The first ribs are lightly arched, the others
well sprung and slanted backwards, thus giving the desired length of chest. Flat ribs are heavily penalized. The distance between the front part of the
sternum and the last rib must be important, about 7/10 of the height at the
withers.
Flanks: Rise slightly from the last rib to the abdomen, which is only slightly tucked up. The flank must be short, especially in the male.
TAIL: The tail is set relatively high and is aligned with the spinal column.
Some dogs are born tailless and should not be penalized on that ground.
The tail must be docked during the first week after birth to two or three vertebras.
A natural undocked tail is permitted in countries where caudectomy is not permitted.
MEMBERS
FOREQUARTERS:
Overall image: The forequarters are heavily boned and well muscled. They are perfectly straight and, when looked at from the front, completely parallel.
Shoulders: Relatively long,, muscled, not too loaded and moderately slanting. The humerus and the shoulder blade are approximately the same length.
Upper arm: Moderately slanting.
Elbows: Tight to the body and parallel; being out at the elbow or too close, both in natural stance and in action, are faults.
Forearms: When seen from the front or sideways, they must be perfectly straight, parallel to each other and perpendicular to the ground. They are well muscled and strong boned.
Carpus: Exactly in line with the forearms. The pisiform bone alone may form a protuberance. Strong bone structure.
Metacarpus: Strong bone, fairly short, only slightly sloping forward.
Forefeet: Short, rounded and compact, not turning in or out. The toes must be close together and cambered, the nails strong and black. The pads are thick and hard.
HINDQUARTERS:
Overall image: Powerful, with pronounced musculature, perfectly straight and, viewed from the back, completely parallel. They must clearly move in the same planes as the frontquarters.
Thighs: Broad, well muscled, parallel to the median line of the body. The femur should be neither too straight nor too sloping. The buttocks are well let down, fleshy and firm.
Knee: Clearly located on an imaginary line from the highest point of the haunch (the iliac crest) perpendicular to the ground.
Legs: Moderately long, well muscled, not too straight nor too inclined.
Hocks: Rather close to the ground, wide
muscular. Seen from the rear when in
position stay, they should be straight and completely parallel. In action they may not turn in or out from
the member axis.
Metatarsis: Robust, lean, rather cylindrical and perpendicular to the ground when the dog is in “stand” position. No dew claws.
Hindfeet: Round, strong, toes close together and cambered, with strong black nails. The pads are thick and hard.
MOVEMENT: The Bouvier des Flandres must be overall in harmonious proportions, in order the make possible a free, untrammelled and proud gait. The walk and the trot are the usual movements, although some do amble. The bouvier single tracks (meaning that the footprint from the hind leg exactly covers the footprint from the front leg on the same side) in normal motion.
SKIN: Fits closely, without too much looseness. The lips and the eyelid edges are always very dark.
COAT:
TYPE OF COAT: Very abundant coat. The topcoat together with the dense undercoat
constitutes a protective cover which is perfectly adapted to the sudden weather
changes in his native land. The hair
must feel rough and be dry and dull, not too long or too short (about 6 cm),
slightly tousled, but never woolly or curly.
It is shorter on the head and practically smooth on the outside of the
ears, shose inner opening is protected by moderately long hair. The upper lip must have a moustache and the
chin covered with a fully grown and harsh beard, which gives the breed its
characteristic gruff expression. The
eyebrows consist of erect hairs which accentuate the shape fo the brows but
never hide the eyes.
The topcoat is especially close and harsh on the upper part of the back. It is slightly shorter on the limbs, but remains hard. A flat lying topcoat must be avoided, as it indicated a lack of undercoat. The undercoat is woolly and consists of fine and close hairs growing under the topcoat and, together with the topcoat, form a waterproof covering.
COAT COLOR: The color of the Bouvier des Flandres is generally grey, brindle or black-tipped. A completely black coat is also permitted, but may not be preferred. Light colored coats, so-called washed-out, are not permitted. A white star on the chest is tolerated.
HEIGHT
AND WEIGHT:
Height at the withers : dogs : from 62 to 68 cm
Bitches : from 59 to 65 cm
Tolerance : 1 cm lower or higher.
For both sexes, the ideal height is the average between the measurements given, i.e. 65 cm for the dogs and 62 cm for the bitches.
Weight: dogs : approximately 35 – 40 kg
Bitches : approximately 27 – 35 kg
FAULTS
: each deviation from the above must be considered
as a fault which will be penalized according to its seriousness.
SERIOUS FAULTS;
· Nervous dog
· Molossoïd type, dog too heavy
· Body markedly too long (some tolerance for bitches), too light
· Head too massive, stop too pronounced, frontal groove too pronounced, cheekbones too protruding
· Skull too round, too small, very prominent occipital ridge, obvious lack of parallelism between the skull and the nose
· Muzzle too long, pinched nose
· Weak lips, thick and pendulous
· Crossbite, abnormal occlusion (bite)
· Small or unsound teeth, irregularly placed
· Light or globular eyes, atypical expression
· Uncropped ears, twisted or pleated
· Cylindrical neck with dewlap
· Back strongly saddled, strongly roached
· Obvious faulty stand position, too straight stifle, overangulated
· Silky coat, no undercoat; puffy, shiny or made up
· No moustache, eyebrows or beard
· General lack of pigment (nose, lips, eyelids)
Disqualifying
faults:
·
Shy or dangerously aggressive dog
·
Obvious lack of breed type
·
Nose lacking pigment or another
color than black
·
Snippy muzzle
·
Obvious overbite or underbite
·
Missing teeth, except 1 P1
·
Staring eyes or haggard expression
·
Entropion, Ectropion, pink eyelids
·
Coat color: chocolate brown;
white; washed out color; every other blonde color, from light blond to auburn,
even black tipped
·
Height at the withers outside of
the limits set by the standard
Remark : The official French text approved by the FCI also mentions the color ‘poivre et sel’ (pepper and salt) as being a disqualifying fault. This was omitted in the Dutch text for obvious reasons.
N.B.: The males must have two normal testicles which are completely descended in the scrotum