Thread: Dutch Shepherds - To pedigree or not to pedigree.

As most people are aware, by now anyway, there are two types of Dutch Shepherds. There are the FCI Pedigreed ones, and there are the unregistered KNPV ones.
We have chosen to use only Dutch Shepherds from the KNPV bloodlines, rather than the pedigreed ones, while others have chosen the pedigreed ones.
So what is the deal with the Dutch Shepherd and pedigrees, and why isnt it an open and shut case like the German Shepherd or Rotti for instance?
Simply put open/closed stud books and lack of DNA testing.
The vast majority of dog breeds have been finalized and their stud books closed. This means that no new dogs can be added to the existing gene pool. This goes for the GSD, Dobies, Rottis and Malis etc. The Dutch Shepherd is quite unique in that it still has open stud books and the strongest gene pool of Dutchies are not pedigreed. In countries such as Belgium and Germany the Dutch Shepherd dog clubs allow unpedigreed (or mongrels as the bros like to call them) to gain pedigrees and allow them to be bred to. They do this because it is their belief that the Dutch Shepherd still needs some mongrel blood in them, so to speak.
Infact, the official Dutchie club of holland allowed their dogs to be outcrossed to both German Shepherds and Malinois because their gene pool was so small and lacking of new blood.
There are numerous examples of these new dogs that have been given FCI pedigrees. One for instance is Nico v Neerland. Nico is a KNPV unregistered Dutchie who's owners went through the process of getting an FCI pedigree from one of the countries with an open stud book.
Click the link below to see his bloodline.
http://www.bloedlijnen.nl/stamboom.php?ID=1583
As you can see he is a 100% unregistered KNPV Dutchie (or Mongrel) with not only Dutchie in him but Malinois. He is infact a half brother to Rudie Pegge, a dog who we got semen from.
So two minutes prior to his new piece of paper had been issued, he was a mongrel, and one second after he is a fully fledged Dutch Shepherd. Yeah, I know, its a load of rubbish, but thats the Dutchie for you.
Another example is a Kennel in Belgium who breeds FCI pedigreed dogs. He is very honest and open about the fact that he brings mongrel KNPV Dutchies into Belgium, gets official FCI pedigrees for them and breeds then as pure bred. So magically they are no longer mongrels. They also carry many of the same lines our Dutchies do. Go figure.
Click the link below for his website.
http://www.vanhetitterdal.be/indexgb.htm
For those not overly interested in smashing their illusion I will quote it here for you.
"We breed in an open and transparant way Dutch Shepherds that can be used as Sportdog or Service dog.

To bring more "Working Blood" in our Dutchies, we use dogs from KNPV bloodlines.

All our dogs are registered by the FCI (KUSH or VDH) and trained before being used for breeding.

In our bloodlines you can find famous KNPV names like :

Ringo van Mettler (Mandy)

Nico van Neerland (Eclips)

Nicky van Verlee (Mandy)

Tommy van Luijken (Digit, Boris)

Catro van Jansen (Mandyn Flo)

Remco van Linders (Flo)

Rocky & Robbie van Van Leeuwen (Boris, Digit)"
All of the dogs he listed have no pedigrees and are KNPV dogs (or Mongrels for those that want to sleep at night)
One of the dogs he mentions bringing into the gene pool is Remco Linders
Click below for his bloodline
http://www.bloedlijnen.nl/stamboom.php?ID=1220
As you can see from his bloodline he is a Black Malinois that goes back very close to a pedigreed German Shepherd. Kinda makes the whole "FCI dogs are pure Dutch Shepherds" look stupid doesnt it? But anyone with any knowedge of the breed know this most basic of truths.
And then there are the large number of fake pedigree dogs that are brought into the bloodlines. As Holland has closed stud books the only way for this to be done is via fake pedigrees. Its common knowedge which dogs have fake pedigrees and which ones dont, just like it is with the Malinois.


And so why do they outcross to these KNPV Dutch Shepherds when there are plenty of FCI pedigreed dogs they can buy puppies from or males they can breed to? Because the KNPV Unregistered Dutchies are so much better working dogs than the FCI dogs. Any breeder of FCI dogs will admit this. Anyone who doesnt admit it is a liar or very much missinformed.
But dont take my word for it, let's see what the FCI Dutchie breeders in Holland who work their dogs have to say. One of the better FCI breeders of Dutchies (v. Le Dobry) set up a Dutch Shepherd working club. This is their written goal.
"Goal :
To bring the Dutch Shepherd to an acceptable level. This means to such a level that this Dutch breed can compete alongside Belgium, German and French working dog breeds, both nationally and international as well as in the top of the working dog breeds.
To be able to realise this we need to consider the following"
As you can read from this the FCI Dutchie is below the standards of a Malinois and German Shepherd for instance. But as has been said before, the FCI Dutch Shepherd people are under no illusion of the quality of their dogs.
The KNPV unregistered Dutchies however are not behind the GSD and Mali. In the KNPV, and police and military around the world they are sort after as working dogs. This is not the case with the FCI dogs.

For me, I just want the strongest working Dutch Shepherds that I can get. I could have got fake pedigrees but then I would be unable to show the dogs pedigrees full of Police dogs, it would be a pedigree with a whole heap of untitled, unknown dogs that had nothing to do with my actual dogs. I have no love of the canine councils here in Australia and their percecution of people who want to work their dogs, so why would I then go back into their system?
I am happy with my dogs. I have found my breed. I dont want pedigrees, nor the approval of a kennel organisation. Is there some downside to not having pedigrees? Yeah, I cant show them and I cant compete at IPO at an international level.
In the end the dogs will speak for themselfs. I want people to be aware of the different types of Dutch Shepherds, and to do their homework about what they want from their dog. I dont want my dogs to be judged by what people have seen of the FCI dogs, just as the FCI dogs should be judged on what they are and produce, and not the KNPV dogs.
So the moral of the story is simple. Work out what type of dog you want (Police or Show or SAR or IPO or Pet) then find out which bloodlines produce it then go that way.