The Laekenois - How It Should Be
Article by Serge Mousty

The Laekenois, is unknown

When looking at some old books the pictures that I found made me think that:

In the standard it says that the Laekenois should be elegant, between 58 and 64 cm in height, with hard fur, rough and disheveled and no longer than 6 cms in length on the body, shorter on the legs and especially on the forehead and on the top of the chamfer so that it does not hide the headlines.

A dog whose coat has been altered is disqualified, so he should not be trimmed.

Most of the Laekenois are not in the standard. The biggest faults are:
-strong or heavy head,
-head covered with too much fur,
-lack of elegance,
-fur not hard enough,
-too much fur,
-small size,
-lack of adequate bone,
-type very different from the 3 other varieties.

The ideal Laekenois is very similar to Quina-Quarteronne.

The old pictures of the original Laekenois prove that they are true Belgian Sheperds.

 

The Laekenois is a Belgian Sheperd like the others so it should be similar to them. We shouldn't breed dogs of the old Dutch type; dogs with too much fur, lack of elegance and type. After 1945, in Holland, Laekenois were crossed with Bouviers and other Airdales.

This resulted in a Laekenois type that looked nothing like the true Belgian Sheperd, and therefore should be eliminated.

It is necessary to correct the poor type in laekenois so that we may obtain the true Laekenois of the original type, because first and foremost it is what makes a Laekenois a true Belgian Shepherd.

This is how we will make the Laekenois a Belgian Shepherd like to the other varieties.


Serge Mousty.