The kennel I am getting her from chrges $650 and up for pups.
They max out at around $4000, which is more or less what mine cost.
They are similar to German Shepherds, with redder and slightly different coloration, and probably 7 lbs lighter on avg.
My male is execptionally large at 90 lbs, but the avg weight of males is about 73 lbs, females about 65 nowadays.
A history:
Mechelse shepherd )
After the foundation of the Belgian State, 1830
Professor Adolphe Reul a veterinarian was aware of the unique breeds of dogs found in Belgium. These dog breeds were more appreciated abroad than at home. The middle class in Belgium preferred foreign breeds over the Belgian farmers dogs.
Nevertheless many foreign breeds did use for breeding Belgian dogs that were either robbed, plundered or bought occasionally from Belgium farmers. Belgium was the battlefield of Europe. Germans, French, English , Dutch and Spanish were known to rob Belgian kennels. They crossbred these Belgium dogs to their native breeds and create new ones.
"It is historically proven that in many veins of reputed foreign breeds the blood is flowing of Bassets, Bouviers and Mechelaars from the Flanders, Bullenbijters from Brabant, Sint Hubertus dogs from the Ardennen, etc. ! "
Professor Reul decided to write to his old-students who were practicing veterinarians. He ask them to find the best and most typical Belgian dogs, and try to convince their owners to participate at a special exhibition in Cureghem. To achieve this, professor Reul created the organization Club du Chien de Berger Belge on September, the 29th 1891. !
On November, the 15th 1891,117 shepherds were present at Club du Chien de Berger. Reul stated that all the dogs were good looking but no two of them looked alike although all of them were related. . The objective of the Club du Chin de Berger was to bring the Belgian shepherds back to a pure breed, formulate standards and achieve uniformity.
The first task of the committee was to divide the dogs into 3 classes according to their coats.
- long hair,
- short hair,
- rough hair.
They could not agree about uniform color. All three classes had the colors black to grey with brown to wild colorful mostly with dark outlines on the head.
Black occurred most with the long hair and grey with the rough hair.
The second task of Reulâs committee was to issue the first breed characteristics that were concluded from a study of comparisons . On the 2nd of April 1892 the committee issued these standards:
Characteristics of the Belgian Shepherds.
General appearance : smart, obedient, faithful, strong, zealous
average build : 55cm
Head : long, sharp muzzle, black snout, forehead flat and wide,
gap between forehead and nose, not deep,
Eyes : smart expression, brown or yellowish.
Ears : triangle, half long, straight and stiff.
Neck : strong, not to long.
Back line : straight, wide and short.
Tale : thick, a little curled.
Chest : small
Rib cage : high, deep, not to wide.
Shoulder : long, very slanted.
Elbow : leveled.
Forearm : long.
Belly : neither falling down, nor pulled up.
Buttock and thigh : muscled.
Legs : long.
Posture : firm, steady foot, round like with the cats.
Color : black, pepper and salt, tiger brown, fade.
Sorts:
-long hair:
color : most accepted color is black.
Hair : soft, fairly long. Thick occupied at the ear hole,
at the elbow and the back of the forearm, at the neck, collar, feather tale.
Short hair at the head, at the legs, on the ears.
-Rough hair:
Color : most accepted color is pepper and salt.
Hair : rough, half long, confused.
Beard at the lips, short rough hair at the eyebrows,
no feather tale that is short, fade or tiger brown, black muzzle.
-Short hair:
Color : Brown, black, grey and wild color
hair : smooth hair on the head, on the legs, on the ears.
Half long at the neck, collar and tale in the shape of a ear of corn.
With these types of dogs in mind they started up breeding-programs to achieve- through inbreeding, and selection, the desired and uniform result, in which they succeeded. The official recognition of the breed took nine more years.
After a trial period of nearly 10 years the "Société Royale the St. Hubert" registered in 1900, two Belgian shepherds as a fully dignified breed in their pedigree know as the "Mechelaar" and the "Groenendaeler" (LOSH=Livres des Origines St. Hubert).
1898- For the first time breed characteristics were edited in Flemish (Dutch) by the "Mechelse Club ter Verbetering van de Kortharige Schaapshond". This club from Mechelen was a department of the "Club du Chien de Berger Belge".
![[Image: Sam%20bite1.JPG]](http://www.heartlandbelgians.com/Sam%20bite1.JPG)