Dutch Shepherd Dog
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| Dutch Shepherd Dog | ||||||||||||||||
 A short-coated gold brindle Dutch Shepherd Dog |
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| Other names | Hollandse Herder Dutch Shepherd Holland Shepherd |
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| Country of origin | The Netherlands | |||||||||||||||
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| This breed is also accepted by ARBA | ||||||||||||||||
The Dutch Shepherd Dog is a breed of dog. The breed is an old land-breed, of Dutch origins. In times gone by, shepherds and farmers needed a versatile dog. A jack-of-all-trades, with few demands and adapted to the harsh and sparse existence of the time.
From those working dogs the Dutch Shepherd Dog as we know it today, evolved. This also explains the character traits that have been preserved virtually unchanged to the present day.
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[edit] Description
[edit] Appearance
A medium-sized, middleweight, well-proportioned, well-muscled dog of powerful, well-balanced structure, with intelligent expression and lively temperament.
The length of the body exceeds the height at the withers in a ration of ten to nine.
[edit] Coat varieties
The Dutch Shepherd Dog comes in three varieties: short-haired, long-haired, and rough haired.The long haired and rough haired (or wire haired) types are less common than the short-haired.
Short Coat: all over the body a quite hard coat, not too short, with a woolly undercoat. Ruff, trousers and feathered tail must be apparent. Colour: more or less pronounced brindle on a brown ground (gold brindle) or on a grey ground (silver brindle). Brindle all over the body, also in ruff, trousers and tail. Much black in the uppercoat is undesirable. A black mask preferred.
Long Coat: all over the body a long, straight close-lying coat harsh to the touch, without curls or waves, with a woolly undercoat. Head, ears, feet and the hindlegs below the hocks should be covered with short, dense hair. The back of forelegs show a strongly developed coat, which becomes shorter towards the feet (feathers). The tail is heavily coated all over. No feathering on ears. Colour: same colours as for the short coat.
Rough coat: all over the body, a thick, rough, harsh, tousled coat with a dense, woolly undercoat. The coat should be dense. Upper lip and under lip should be well furnished with hair, not soft but off-standing (whiskers and beard). Eyebrows are rough and off-standing. The hair on the skull and on the cheeks and ears is less strongly developed. Tail heavily coated. Well-developed culottes are required (breeching). Colour: blue-grey and pepper-and-salt, silver-or gold-brindle. Brindle less pronounced in the topcoat compared to the other variations.
[edit] Colours
The colours vary from silver to gold brindle and in the roughhaired variety the colours blue-grey and pepper-and-salt are allowed.
[edit] Size
- Height: 57 - 62 cm (dogs) 55 - 60 cm (bitches)
- Weight: 28kg (dogs) 23 kg (bitches)
[edit] Temperament
The breed standard mentions about disposition: affectionate, obedient, tractable, alert, faithful and reliable. The breed standard also mentions “intelligent expression and lively temperament”. And this intelligence and temperament should not be underestimated.
It is not a dog for everyone. It needs clear guidance and leadership. If that leadership is not given, the dog will try to take over. The dog cannot be blamed for this and it is even desirable to some extent, since it comes from all of those traits that the true working dog needed.
There is even the legendary story of a Dutch Shepherd Dog who returned an entire herd of lambs to the farmer, after the farmer had sold the lambs and they had been taken elsewhere.
[edit] Working Ability
The short-haired Dutch Shepherd is used extensively throughout Europe and the United States as a working dog, primarily in police service, although they are also used in search and rescue as well. One reason Dutch Shepherds are increasingly popular with police agencies is because they are smaller than German Shepherds, and therefore easier for handlers to pick up and carry, when duty necessitates doing so. The courage of Dutch Shepherds is quickly becoming legendary among police K9 handlers. Another reason for this increase in popularity is that the Dutch Shepherd breed has not been subject to extensive breeding for type as has the German Shepherd. This type of breeding can adversely affect the health and temperament of the individual dog as well as the breed. For example the preference for the German Shepherd's sloping back has resulted in a 10% incidence of hip dysplasia compared to a 1% incidence found among the Dutch Shepherd breed.
[edit] Care
[edit] Exercise
Dutch Shepherds are very active dogs. They need an activity to do in order to be happy, and easily become bored and destructive[citation needed]. They have a strong "work ethic", constantly wanting to work and move. Thus, it is exceptionally suited for all types of dog sports, particularly schutzhund, competitive obedience, agility, flyball, and sheepdog trials. The Dutch Shepherd is also used as a police dog and a sniffer dog in Europe. It makes an excellent guard dog, and is loyal, determined[citation needed], and brave when it feels that its master is threatened.
[edit] Grooming
The long-haired variety needs to be groomed about once a week, or more frequently depending on work and environment. The short coated variety needs to be brushed and combed several times a week during the spring shedding period. Other times of the year, they only need occasional combing. Over-bathing this breed should be avoided to prevent dryness in the coat which may cause the dog to chew or scratch.
[edit] Health
This breed typically lives 12 to 14 years.
[edit] External links
The Breed Club:
The Dutch Shepherd Dog Club was founded in 1898 and is one of the oldest breedclubs of The Netherlands.
Several activities are organised throughout the year, such as clubmatches, litter-days, lectures, variety-section meetings etc.
There are three breeding advice committees, a magazine and groups where the Dutch Shepherd Dogs can follow training courses.
In 1998 the Centenary Book “Allemaal Hollanders” (“Dutchies All”) was published with information on history, character and training the Dutchy.
For more informations you can contact:
secretariaat@hollandseherder.nl
