A distinctive silhouette is one aspect of breed type, and certainly, one breed in which that silhouette is a hallmark is the Belgian Sheepdog, also known as the Groenendael or Chien de Berger Belge.  Conveying both elegance and determination, the Belgian Sheepdog, along with the Belgian Malinois, was the first variety of the Belgian Shepherds to appear in the United States in the early part of the 1900s.

The name Groenendael did not come from a village or town, as did the other shepherd’s names (the Malinois, for the city of Malines,  the Tervuren, for the village of Tervuren, and the Laekenois, for Laeken), but for a restaurant near Brussels called the Chateau Groenendael. The Chateau was owned by an important Belgian Sheepdog breeder of the 1890s, Nicholas Rose, who bred his black bitch, “Petite” to “Piccard D’Uccle, which produced Duc de Groenendael, the foundation sire of the breed.

Photo of “Dharma,” aka GCh Mika’s Pye-chedelic CDX, RE, PT, NA, NAJ, NF, CGC, a multiple National Specialty Award of Merit, multiple group placer owner/handled by Shelly Brosnan