Starting a Belgian on Cattle... New article!

 

The First Continental Herding Trial, 1892
The tests of working sheep herding dogs, organized by the Collie Club and the Club of the Belgian shepherd dog, took place on the 1st and 2nd of May, 1892, on the premises of the market and slaughterhouse of Cureghem, Brussels. The land, wide meadows cut by streams and banks, had been well prepared for the event... read full article
 

1892 Herding Trial Diagram
Sketch of the course for the First Continental Herding Trial. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (a free download) to open the file... view course diagram

 

1898 French Course... view course diagram

French Herding - Word or PDF files
Circa 1900. Left: Belgian on the graze; Right: Belgian and possible Bouvier
 

The Belgian as a Stockdog
What kind of stockdog is a Belgian? They are not dogs that work feral or wild cattle. Most of the wild cattle were exterminated from the Western European area long before even Caesar. They are not dogs that work feral or wild sheep, because this area of the world had far too many people or four legged predators all too happy to have a lamb dinner for the shepherd to leave stock to their own devises for any length of time... read full article
 
Circa 1900. "Shepherd in Repose", with Belgian
 

Herding Dogs: Who Is and Who Isn't
It seems that in researching historical documents, a number of breeds purportedly are "herding" in origin and conversely, some breeds that one would think of as being herding dogs have that aspect vehemently denied... read full article
 
Circa 1900. Left: Old man and Terv;  Right: Boy and Belgian