Belgian Troubadour????
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It's either a major mangling Belgian Tervuren, or else it's an singer/entertainer from Belgium.Could someone please provide me with some info pertaining to what a belgian Troubadour is???? I am lost! Google for once is not helping me
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Haha! No... it's a type of Belgian Sheepdog- just like the Malinois is a type of Belgian Sheepdog. There's four Belgian types:
- Malinois
- Tervuren
- Laekenois
- Groenendael
Tervs and "black dogs" (Groens) look very, very similar with Tervs being brown (typically) and Groens being black (always). The Mal sometimes looks like the Tervs, but not often in my opinion. Laekenois are corded and look very different than all the others due to the cording.
At least in what I've seen, Tervs and Groens are typically about the same size, and often that size seems smaller than your typical Mal. This might be because the Mal has also been selectively bred to be larger for police work (though I have no source to cite for that- just my opinion). I've never seen a Laekenois in person.
Tervs do seem really cool! I have pretty limited experience, but the few I've seen have had little aggression. Same with the black dogs. It seems the Mal is the one with the most aggression (like a GSD). Again- is this because of police dog usage in Mals? Not sure...
All of them are definitely high energy. Tervs are really super cool; I might like one someday if I can get around all that hair! They do really well in agility also.
This Terv is named "Wings" and he's wicked fast!!
EDIT- by the way, wikipedia has pretty good pictures of all four types: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Shepherd
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Mals have a short coat, Laeks have a wire/curly/cord coat, Groens are the black ones with a pretty long coat that are also referred to as Belgian Shepherds. And the Tervs have the reddish brownish multi-colored long coat that look like something in between a rough collie and a GSD, but fanciers of either breed would probably crucify me for that comparison.
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I've had the same (and also limited!) experience -- Tervs seem a little smaller, calmer, and less pushy/frenetic than the Mals I've known. Very serious workers, but dialed back in intensity outside the ring. Once they go in, though, it's showtime.
About the breed: Sprite Working Belgian Tervuren is a good description of the breed (and contains some interesting speculation on possible reasons for the temperament differences. Short version: it may just be reflective of the breeders' differing emphasis on temperaments, which makes sense to me because there are very few serious Terv breeders in the U.S. and they seem to have a lot of connections in their pedigrees and breeding programs.)
One of my friends is thinking about a Terv for his next agility dog. I'll admit I'm shamelessly nudging him to pull the trigger on it just because I think they're super cool and want to enjoy the experience vicariously.
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The Belgian Laekenois is a rough curly coat, NOT CORDED, EVER. Though in lines with recent Malinois intervariety breeding, it will look less curly. (It takes about 7 generations for the proper coat after breeding with a Malinois.)
My dog was recently brushed, so his curls are not as curly as they could be. But some rain will curl them right up again. (Or a bath.)
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A friend of mine breeds Belgian Tervurens occassionally. In her last litter she had great dogs that excell at conformation and agility. They are very smart dogs.
My dog was recently brushed, so his curls are not as curly as they could be. But some rain will curl them right up again. (Or a bath.)
A friend of mine breeds Belgian Tervurens occassionally. In her last litter she had great dogs that excell at conformation and agility. They are very smart dogs.
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Not the one in our flyball club - Jiva is smaller, but NOT calmer, less pushy, or frenetic, she's her own little hurricane, lol. :wild:
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Or that Terv on Pawdemonium, Ice is it? Nuts! (but in a cool way, that I could never deal with!)
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Oh yeah, Ice is intense! Jiva and her Mal brother Loki were not at the Truckee tournament so you didn't get to meet them, but she's like Ice only smaller and more hyperactive. Apparently she did not come with an off switch. :rofl:
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I think that by "calmer, less pushy, or frenetic" that person was implying they are less aggressive. Whereas Mals seem to have that built-in aggression like a GSD, this is not what I've seen with the other Belgian Shepherds. I'm sure they're out there, but it seems that finding a Terv, Groen, or Laek doing SchH is not as common as finding a Mal doing such. I definitely agree that the non-Mal Belgians have ever bit as much energy as the Mals.
(And thanks BlackPuppy for the clarification on corded vs curly. I did improperly refer to them as corded)
(And thanks BlackPuppy for the clarification on corded vs curly. I did improperly refer to them as corded)
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Well, I did mean less aggressive, but I also meant less energetic overall.
It's very possible that this is due to limited sample size. I've only met maybe five or so Tervs and slightly more Mals, which is in no way sufficient to draw conclusions about the personality of an entire breed. But the Tervs I've met were calm outside the ring and lit up once their handlers told them it was "go time." The Mals, with a couple of exceptions, were GO GO GO!! constantly with no off switch. They were bananas. I couldn't imagine living with a dog like that.
But, and this is probably important!, all the Mals whose backgrounds I know were either bred as police dogs or as sport dogs (meaning Schutzhund/IPO in this context, although I met them when they were doing other sports), and at least two of the Tervs came from conformation lines. I don't know the backgrounds of the others.
It's very possible that this is due to limited sample size. I've only met maybe five or so Tervs and slightly more Mals, which is in no way sufficient to draw conclusions about the personality of an entire breed. But the Tervs I've met were calm outside the ring and lit up once their handlers told them it was "go time." The Mals, with a couple of exceptions, were GO GO GO!! constantly with no off switch. They were bananas. I couldn't imagine living with a dog like that.
But, and this is probably important!, all the Mals whose backgrounds I know were either bred as police dogs or as sport dogs (meaning Schutzhund/IPO in this context, although I met them when they were doing other sports), and at least two of the Tervs came from conformation lines. I don't know the backgrounds of the others.
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