The Belgian Ring/Ring sport is a Protection- or "Police"-dogsport, organized by the "NVBK" (Nationaal Verbond van Belgische Kynologen), "KKUSH" (Koninklijke Kynologische Unie Sint-Hubertus) as well as the "KCB" (Kennel Club Belge). It's the oldest and one of the hardest defense-dogsports in the world and is completely dominated by the Malinois (Mechelse dog). Ringsport is also very closely related with the Belgian Police and Army Forces because most of the service dogs are bought and trained in the Belgian Ringsport-circuit.
Around 1700, people in Belgium start to use non-trained dogs to help and companion the city guards. At that time, they also used a middle sized, fast and very intelligent dog with all kind of colors and coats, for herding sheep. This is the start because the Belgian Shepherd is the foundation of Ring sport.
In 1880, some people began to give demonstrations with their Belgian Shepherds. Not for the sport, but to earn some money. It was very simple: attract people to your "Ring" (closed area) and get money out of them. One of those man, "Edmond Moecheron", called "The father of the Ringsport", was the first man who had success with his demonstrations of "Police dogs" together with his 3 Belgian Shepherds (Dax, Nic & Miss) and his helper (decoy). Soon he became an attraction on all possible events, newspapers wrote spectacular story's and other people began to copy his shows. He, and many other, gave a lot of demonstrations everywhere in Belgium, Holland, France, etc...
Impressed by the capabilities of the Belgian Shepherds and their trainers, Ernest Van Wezemael, Chief Commissioner of the police in Ghent at that time, formed the first police dog-school, also in Ghent in 1899. He even wrote a book about the use of police dogs and soon, several countries such as France, England, United States, Brasil, etc... send people to see and learn those training methods, even to buy trained dogs.
The first Ringsport trial took place in Mechelen, Belgium in 1903 and is probably the oldest Ringsport trial ever. It wasn't well defined, but each team did what they could the best.
The first "real defined" Ringsport trial was signed in 1908. The program held in:
There were a total of 90 points to earn.
The first "National Ringsport Championship" was organized by the KCB in Brussels on 21 and 22 June 1913. The first "Belgian Champion" was the famous Groenendael "Jules du Moulin (LOB 2884)". He was also the champion in 1914. (Since then the program has changed several times but all the exercises are still present in one way or another in the modern trials)
Note: From World War I to 2000, only a Belgian Shepherd (Malinois) won the title with the following 2 exceptions:
The best result for another breed than the Belgian Shepherd, was the second place of the Bouvier des Flandres "Sicky der Begijntjes (LOB 56425)" in 1950.
In 1926, the KMSH (now part of the KKUSH) organized its own championship for the first time under the name "Grand Prix of Belgium". The first winner was the Malinois bitch "Sadi (LOSH 13537)". Meanwhile, France had his own Ring-program (French Ring) and Holland KNPV.
Note: From 1926 to 2000, always a Malinois won the "Grand Prix of Belgium" with the following 2 exceptions:
The best result for another breed than the Belgian Shepherd was the second place of the German Shepherd "Swito (LOSH 61915)" in 1935 and the Bouvier des Flandres "Vuw (LOSH 141222)" obtained also the second place in 1952.
At the end of 1963, after months of incidents (a.o. about the rules of ring competition), a definite split occurred in the world of working dogs of the KMSH. A lot of working clubs of ring decided to become independent under the name of "Nationaal Verbond van Belgische Kynologen" (NVBK). Since then the Malinois "Kiener (LOSH 197867)", who won the "Grand Prix of Belgium" in 1963, takes his place in this new organization and won the first "NVBK-title" in 1964. He also won the NVBK-titel in 1966 and 1967. (Kiener was an ace in ring competition. Born in 1961, he won the "Grand Prix of Belgium" in 1963 before the age of 2!!!)
Note: From 1964 to 2007, only a Malinois won the NVBK-title with no exception. The NVBK uses only Malinois because it's the only breed who can compete for the title in the NVBK-ring as a result of the difficult program. A few people have tried to compete with another breed but they were never successful.