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Featured Breed - Bouvier des Flandres

The Bouvier des Flandres is a powerfully built, rough-coated dog breed with a truly remarkable past.

Owned by farmers and livestock guardians living in the Flemish region of Belgium and Northern France, these dogs served as an, "everyday-man's," cattle-drover, sheep-herder, and cart-puller. The majority of people at this time couldn't afford to buy a horse of their own, and the Bouvier proved an invaluable tool in helping to alleviate this widely-felt hardship.

Knowledge of the breed's endurance and loyalty grew within the pet and show-community well into the 1900’s. Just as with many other breeds, however, further development for the Bouvier came to a halt with the start of WWI. Such few Bouvier remained by the year 1920 that the bloodline faced near extinction.

Fortunately, a special niche was discovered that only these dogs could fulfill. Dangerous tasks otherwise impossible to accomplish accounted for the Bouvier’s resilient and courageous efforts as a member of the resistance- a role that would again be resumed during WWII.

Paired with the added ingenuity of a woman named Edmee Bowles, the Bouvier was used to support a communication network in which bits of information were fastened to the underside of Bouvier collars. By 1946, Bowles had escaped from Europe into the U.S., where she continued her work with the breed and their participation in the, "Dogs for Defense," training program.

Today's Bouvier lives a relatively simple life in comparison to its forefathers, though many still retain the same diligent work-ethic.
Our 40th American President, Ronald Reagan, owned a Bouvier des Flandres named, "Lucky."