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The American Belgian Tervuren Club is the parent club for the Belgian Tervuren breed in the United States and is a member of the American Kennel Club. The ABTC. welcomes into its membership any person wishing to promote the aims of the club. The Club promotes responsible dog ownership, careful breeding of sound, temperamentally balanced Belgian Tervuren, ethical practices in all dog-related activities and encourages use of the Tervuren as the versatile working companion that it is.
Membership is by no means restricted to those active in breeding and showing their dogs, indeed many of the hardest working and most beneficial members are those who are perhaps active in just one area of interest and often owners of spayed/neutered animals at that.
Belonging to our Breed Club and also a local obedience club will teach you
much about the breed and how to make the puppy a useful and enjoyable member of
your family. Keeping in touch with other owners of Belgian Tervuren will help
you with an understanding of the breed.
For more information on Belgian Tervuren or for an application to join ABTC send a self addressed, stamped envelope with extra postage to:
Sue Fregien
8600 N. Point Dr.
Fox Point WI 53217-2354
414/352-5052
fax 414/352-6198
email membership@abtc.org (preferred method of contact)
By nature, the Tervuren is a lively dog, one who is happiest doing something and especially if it be with his owner. He has been bred as a herding dog to work in close association with his master and his instincts are still geared to this task. He is very alert, agile, gentle with those he knows and watchful of those he does not know. He loves to play, is an excellent listener and you will always find him alert for instruction or praise. An understanding of the nature of the Tervuren is essential so that as an owner you will see that this energy and desire to do things with you be alone to become bored and turn his active mind to destructive acts. If you are not willing to spend some time to care for and train you dog, the Tervuren is NOT for you.
The Belgian Tervuren should fit the following description, based on the standard defined to the AKC. Any dogs outside this standard, usually because of size, color, or conformation, are sold as pets. These dogs are not considered breeding stock, but make the finest of friends. Often the dog that is spayed or neutered is better company because it is not distracted by the "seasons".
A Tervuren should be well balanced and medium size. You should be able to tell a male dog from a female at a glance. The breed standard uses the terms "strong, agile, well muscled, alert and full of life," it also says that the Tervuren is to be "elegant" with "proud carriage of head and neck." The Tervuren is kept natural, the only cosmetic surgery done is possibly to remove the dew claws. His coat should stay fairly clean and only require regular brushing.
The Tervuren is intelligent, often resorting to games of his own design if not entertained. He should show courage, alertness, and devotion. He is a watchdog, but should not be overly aggressive. When meeting strangers he should be neither shy or aggressive, but should stand his ground. He is likely to act protectively of his property when the owner is away. Once a Tervuren makes a friend, they will always be his friend.
The Tervuren must conform to specific size standards to be shown and bred. Height: For males - 24 to 26 inches at the shoulder, for females - 22 to 24 inches. They are allowed a tolerance of one inch shorter and a half inch taller before being disqualified. They should be as long from chest to hip as they are tall, females tend to be slightly longer than tall.
A Tervuren coat should be very full and double. The hair texture should be
coarse and as straight as possible. Once the adult coat has grown in, the
texture makes care fairly simple, the thickness and straightness of the coat
keeps it free from dirt and tangles. The color of the coat is any rich shade of
red with black highlights. The ears and muzzle have to be black, quite often the
entire head, neck, and chest will be black also. There should be a black
overlay, or blackening, of the coat, so that the hairs are banded - colored in
the middle and black on the ends. The blackening can be only on the head and
neck or cover the entire body of the dog. Too much blackening is a fault, as is
washed out colors, no black or none on the face and ears, or shades of gray.
White markings should be only on the front of the chest, and then only a very
small amount. White hair on the muzzle and chin is not unusual and not
penalized, sometimes it makes a young dog appear old.
The breed standard, as submitted to the AKC, details conformation, temperament, and coloring, and should be referred to when considering a Tervuren for show and possibly breeding.
The ABTC strongly recommends that you contact ABTC members who are breeders and who may have the puppy you are looking for. By breeders, we mean those persons who have many years association with the breed. They raise their litters in their home under good care and are willing to give you advice and help in raising you puppy and will stand behind the puppies they are selling.
A caution about Pet Shops: Dogs sold in pet shops are usually shipped in from distant "puppy mills" and are bred for profit only, with little or no regard for the welfare of the breed in mind. In some cases one cannot even be certain that the pedigree provided by such a breeder is correct. Such puppies are often sold at prices higher than "show quality" dogs. Worse, puppies kept in the pet shop environment rarely receive the close association and normal interaction with litter mates and with humans which is so essential to development of proper Tervuren temperament.
Remember that there is occasionally a mature Tervuren available and perhaps the older dog or puppy would fit into your lifestyle easier than a very young puppy. If the mature dog interests you, you can sometimes find one from a breeder, from an owner who must part with his dog, or even the occasional dog who is being held by an ABTC rescue person until a good home comes along. Be sure to find out all you can about the personality of such a dog and acquire it only if you feel it would adapt well in you home. A well raised and loved Tervuren will adapt and provide love and devotion to its new owner as well.
The ABTC cannot recommend one breeder over another, or one litter over another. Nor does the club have any right to dictate the price or terms offered by a breeder. This is where a little knowledge on you part beforehand will help assure that you will be satisfied with you purchase.
How to find a reputable breeder? The ABTC can provide you with a list of members and breeders in you area, and you can also find ads in some of the national dog magazines. If you can attend dog shows in you area, by all means do so. Find out the judging time and ring number for Tervuren and be at the show to talk with the exhibitors. The people who raise the most litters, or who have the biggest ads do not necessarily have the best dogs. Find out if the ABTC currently has a written Code of Ethics and if so ask the breeder if he or she has signed and subscribes to this code.
What to expect from the breeder: A good breeder will freely discuss with you what he knows about the background of his dogs, and will offer some written guarantee so that you know exactly what you can expect should appear that the breeder has kept the puppies healthy, inoculated, wormed and socialized, and you should receive a certificate stating exactly what has been done and that the puppy is clear of any infectious disease at the time of sale. Make arrangements to take the puppy to your veterinarian and have the right to return it within 48 to 72 hours if it doesn't pass the veterinarian's inspection because of a pre-existing condition. Many good breeders provide clearly written contracts or guarantees. Without such a contract, there is often little the buyer can do if a problem occurs.
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(The
numbers in magenta are for
reference and not usually seen in a pedigree)
Subject: The name
of the registered dog whose pedigree it is. (Shown in Green)
Parents:
Sire-Dam: The parents of the dog are
(1) the sire and (2) the dam. The grandsires and
granddams are (3)
sire's sire, (5)
dam's sire, (4)
sire's dam, and (6)
dam's dam. These are the same as grandparents in humans.
Male Ancestors: Female Ancestors: Sur-title: Sub-title Statistical Information:
Line breeding: In this pedigree the same dog appears twice in three generations (5)(9). This is called line breeding, or "crosses" on a particular dog (or bloodline). This practice is found where there aren't many purebreds of a particular breed available (a limited gene pool), or where a breeder is looking to duplicate certain traits outstanding in this dog.
Inbreeding: Inbreeding is not shown on this pedigree, but it is when a father is bred to a daughter, brother bred to sister, or even uncle to niece (or the other way around). Inbreeding will increase both good and bad traits - even genetic disorders - and is considered by some to be undesirable. When dogs are inbred, it is important that there are exceptional qualities present and absolutely no known genetic faults. When looking to buy a dog whose pedigree is inbred or very strongly line bred, be sure to have the breeder explain in detail the good points and faults that these ancestors possessed and which traits are most likely to be passed on. If in doubt about a pedigree, feel free to talk to a different breeder about the dog you are considering.
Cross faulting: Cross faulting cannot be detected in a pedigree without personal knowledge of the dogs, but is a very common practice in breeding. When a sire has particular traits that the dam doesn't have, and the dam also has better traits in the opposite areas than the sire, the two are said to be "cross faulted." In breeding, this means you hope that the good traits outweigh the bad ones and that they will prevail in the resulting puppies. This isn't always true, sometimes the bad traits will show up. Whenever Cross faulting, it is important to look at as many ancestors as possible, following both good and bad traits as they appear. An example would be: Breeding a dog with a good front and weak rear to a bitch that had the opposite. This works better if the dog's parents also had good fronts and the bitch's parents had great rears. Some people cross fault by Line breeding because they feel that the genes for the good traits will be more dominant.
American Belgian Tervuren Club
Tervuren-dot-com (anything related to Belgians)
Tervuren Pedigree Database (hosted by KO Tervuren)
Cyberpet (pet information network)
Complete List of Dog Related E-Mail
4M Enterprises (dog bookstore and more)
Dog-O-Mania (search for dog related items)
SAR-Dogs reference site (many Tervuren are Search & Rescue dogs)
(all text used with permission) |
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Spiritbrook Tervuren Pages |
This page visitedCreated: Saturday, 10 June, 1995 Last Updated: Thursday, January 16, 2003 © 1995, 1996, 2000 Designed by Liz Marr   |
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