Bouvier des Ardennes is a rare dog breed originated in Belgium.

History

In the past, all the dogs that worked with cattle were called Bouvier (bovine herder). Each region throughout the area had its own type. From ancient rough-coated stock, these dogs were prized guardians and drovers. As the motorized age arrived, the need for driving cattle to the market was gone and so was the call that helped with the drives. The Bouviers were almost eliminated after the bloody fighting of World War I. Many of the rarer types were lost altogether. The breeds that are a memory include: Bouvier de Roulers, Bouvier de Moerman, and Bouvier de Paret. Still remaining are the Bouvier de Ardennes and Bouvier des Flandres. Both France and Belgium have claimed the dog of Flandres, and the FCI has actually dubbed it "Franco-Belgian".

The Bouvier des Flandres is a herding dog dog breed originating in Flanders. They were originally used for general farm work including cattle Drover (Australian), Livestock guardian dog, and dogcart (dog-drawn), and nowadays as guard dogs and police dogs, as well as being kept as pets. The French language name of the breed means, literally, "Cow Herder of Flanders", referring to the Flemish origin of the breed. Other names for the breed are Toucheur de Boeuf (cattle driver), Vlaamse Koehond (Flemish cow dog), and Vuilbaard (dirty beard).

History

The monks at the Ter Duinen monastery in Flanders were among the earliest known breeders of Flanders. The bouviers bred by them are recorded as having been bred from imports such as Irish wolfhounds and Scottish deerhounds with local farm dogs, until a breed considered to be the predecessor of the modern Bouvier des Flandres was obtained. This became a working dog able to perform tirelessly, herding and guarding cattle and even pulling cargo carts, thanks to its strength and temperament, and to withstand the local weather conditions due to its thick coat.Historically, the ear cropping and tail docking could have been done for practical reasons, avoiding accidental amputations in the course of work or to indicate the dog was working stock and not a pet subject to taxation. In the area of origin (Flanders, Belgium) cropping was made illegal in 2006. The weight of males ranges from 80 to 120 pounds or 36 to 54 kilograms, slightly smaller for females. They are powerfully built, with a thick coat#Texture, which can be fawn, black, grey brindle or "pepper and salt" in color. Bouviers are sometimes considered non-shedding, but in fact do lose hair, like all dogs. Most of the hair that they lose is caught within the double coat which results in matting. They require weekly brushing and combing to maintain the coat. In addition to weekly brushing, the coat should be trimmed approximately every 3–5 weeks if it is to be a show dog. Trimming requires practice to achieve the proper look.

Temperament

Bouviers des Flandres are rational, gentle, loyal, and protective by nature. The breed's particular blend of characteristics makes them good family pets, as well as keen guard dogs. Unlike some animals bred for aggressive nature and power, the Bouvier possesses sophisticated traits, such as complex control, intelligence, and accountability.The Bouvier des Flandres is an obedient dog with a pleasant nature. They look intimidating, but are actually calm and gentle. They are enthusiastic, responsible, even-tempered, and fearless, and are excellent guard and watchdogs that are easy to train. This breed learns commands relatively fast. However, Bouviers get bored easily and learn best when repetition is limited.They require well-balanced training that remains consistent in nature. Without being harsh, it is important to consistently make the dog aware that the owner will remain the boss. This breed needs an experienced owner to prevent dominance and over-protectiveness problems. These dogs poorly trained can become inappropriately dominant towards humans. An un-socialized Bouvier can become fearful and pose a problem when introduced to new situations in which they do not feel comfortable.Bouviers should be socialized well, preferably starting at an early age, to avoid shyness, suspiciousness, and being overly reserved with strangers (although the breed is naturally aloof with strangers). Protection of the family when danger is present is not something that needs to be taught, nor is it something one can train out of them. The dog will rise to the occasion if needed. A good family dog, the Bouvier likes, and is excellent with, children. The Bouvier is very adaptable and goes about its business quietly and calmly. Obedience training starts when they are young. Their behavior depends on the owner's ability to communicate what is expected, and on the individual dominance level of the dog. They are usually good with other dogs if they are raised with them from puppyhood. Dominant individuals can be dog-aggressive if the owners are not assertive and do not communicate to the dog that fighting is unwanted. Slow to mature both in body and mind, the Bouvier does not fully mature until the age of 2–3 years.

Activities

Bouviers des Flandres can compete in dog agility trials, carting, obedience training, dog showmanship, Schutzhund, tracking, and herding events. Herding instincts and trainability can be measured at noncompetitive herding tests. Bouviers exhibiting basic herding instincts can then be trained to compete in herding trials.

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The Boxer is a breed of medium-sized, short-haired dogs developed in Germany. Their coat is smooth and tight-fitting; colors are fawn or brindled, with or without white markings, which may cover the entire body, and white. Boxers are brachycephalic (they have broad, short skulls), have a square muzzle, mandibular prognathism (an underbite), very strong jaws, and a powerful bite ideal for hanging on to large prey. The Boxer was bred from the Old English Bulldog and the now extinct Bullenbeisser, and is part of the Molosser group. The Boxer is a member of the Working Group.

Boxers were first exhibited in a dog show for St. Bernards in Munich in 1895, the first Boxer club being founded the next year. Based on 2013 American Kennel Club statistics, Boxers held steady as the seventh most popular breed of dog in the United States for the fourth consecutive year.

History

The Boxer is part of the Molosser dog group, developed in Germany in the late 19th century from the now extinct Bullenbeisser, a dog of Mastiff descent, and Bulldogs brought in from Great Britain. The Bullenbeisser had been working as a hunting dog for centuries, employed in the pursuit of bear, wild boar, and deer. Its task was to seize the prey and hold it until the hunters arrived. In later years, faster dogs were favored and a smaller Bullenbeisser was bred in Brabant, in northern Belgium. It is generally accepted that the Brabanter Bullenbeisser was a direct ancestor of today's Boxer. In 1894, three Germans by the names of Friedrich Robert, Elard König, and R. Höpner decided to stabilize the breed and put it on exhibition at a dog show. This was done in Munich in 1895, and the next year they founded the first Boxer Club, the Deutscher Boxer Club. The Club went on to publish the first Boxer breed standard in 1902, a detailed document that has not been changed much to this day.

The breed was introduced to other parts of Europe in the late 19th century and to the United States around the turn of the 20th century. The American Kennel Club (AKC) registered the first Boxer in 1904, and recognized the first Boxer champion, Dampf vom Dom, in 1915. During World War I, the Boxer was co-opted for military work, acting as a valuable messenger dog, pack-carrier, attack dog, and guard dog. It was not until after World War II that the Boxer became popular around the world. Taken home by returning soldiers, they introduced the dog to a wider audience and soon became a favorite as a companion, a show dog, and a guard dog.

Early genealogy

The German citizen George Alt, a Munich resident, mated a brindle-colored bitch imported from France named Flora with a local dog of unknown ancestry, known simply as "Boxer", resulting in a fawn-and-white male, named "Lechner's Box" after its owner. This dog was mated with his own dam Flora, and one of its offspring was a bitch called Alt's Schecken. George Alt mated Schecken with a Bulldog named Dr. Toneissen's Tom to produce the historically significant dog Mühlbauer's Flocki. Flocki was the first Boxer to enter the German Stud Book after winning the aforementioned show for St. Bernards in Munich 1895, which was the first event to have a class specific for Boxers.

The white bitch Ch. Blanka von Angertor, Flocki's sister, was even more influential when mated with Piccolo von Angertor (Lechner's Box grandson) to produce the predominantly white (parti-colored) bitch Meta von der Passage, which, even bearing little resemblance with the modern Boxer standard (early photographs depicts her as too long, weak-backed and down-faced), is considered the mother of the breed. John Wagner, in The Boxer (first published in 1939) said the following regarding this bitch:

Meta von der Passage played the most important role of the five original ancestors. Our great line of sires all trace directly back to this female. She was a substantially built, low to the ground, brindle and white parti-color, lacking in underjaw and exceedingly lippy. As a producing female few in any breed can match her record. She consistently whelped puppies of marvelous type and rare quality. Those of her offspring sired by Flock St. Salvator and Wotan dominate all present-day pedigrees. Combined with Wotan and Mirzl children, they made the Boxer.

Breed name

The name "Boxer" is supposedly derived from the breed's tendency to play by standing on its hind legs and "boxing" with its front paws. According to Andrew H. Brace's Pet owner's guide to the Boxer, this theory is the least plausible explanation. He claims "it's unlikely that a nation so permeated with nationalism would give to one of its most famous breeds a name so obviously anglicised".

German linguistic and historical evidence find the earliest written source for the word Boxer in the 18th century, where it is found in a text in the Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch (The German Dictionary of Foreign Words), which cites an author named Musäus of 1782 writing "daß er aus Furcht vor dem großen Baxer Salmonet ... sich auf einige Tage in ein geräumiges Packfaß ... absentiret hatte". At that time the spelling "baxer" equalled "boxer". Both the verb (boxen [English "to box, to punch, to jab"]) and the noun (Boxer) were common German words as early as the late 18th century. The term Boxl, also written Buxn or Buchsen in the Bavarian dialect, means "short (leather) trousers" or "underwear". The very similar-sounding term Boxerl, also from the Bavarian dialect, is an endearing term for Boxer. More in line with historical facts, Brace states that there exist many other theories to explain the origin of the breed name, from which he favors the one claiming the smaller Bullenbeisser (Brabanter) were also known as "Boxl" and that Boxer is just a corruption of that word.

In the same vein runs a theory based on the fact that there were a group of dogs known as Bierboxer in Munich by the time of the breed's development. These dogs were the result from mixes of Bullenbeisser and other similar breeds. Bier (beer) probably refers to the Biergarten, the typical Munich beergarden, an open-air restaurant where people used to take their dogs along. The nickname "Deutscher Boxer" was derived from bierboxer and Boxer could also be a corruption of the former or a contraction of the latter.

A passage from the book "The Complete Boxer" by Milo G Denlinger states:

It has been claimed that the name "Boxer" was jokingly applied by an English traveler who noted a tendency of the dog to use its paws in fighting. This seems improbable. Any such action would likely result in a badly bitten if not broken leg. On the other hand, a German breeder of forty years' experience states positively that the Boxer does not use his feet, except to try and extinguish a small flame such as a burning match. But a Boxer does box with his head. He will hit (not bite) a cat with his muzzle hard enough to knock it out and he will box a ball with his nose. Or perhaps, since the German dictionary translates 'boxer' as 'prize-fighter' the name was bestowed in appreciation of the fighting qualities of the breed rather than its technique.

Boxer is also the name of a dog owned by John Peerybingle, the main character in the best-selling 1845 book The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens, which is evidence that "Boxer" was commonly used as a dog name by the early 19th century, before the establishment of the breed by the end of that same century.

The name of the breed could also be simply due to the names of the very first known specimens of the breed (Lechner's Box, for instance).

Health

Leading health issues to which Boxers are prone include cancers, heart conditions such as Aortic Stenosis and Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (the so-called "Boxer Cardiomyopathy"), hypothyroidism, hip dysplasia, and degenerative myelopathy and epilepsy; other conditions that may be seen are gastric dilatation and torsion (bloat), intestinal problems, and allergies (although these may be more related to diet than breed). Entropion, a malformation of the eyelid requiring surgical correction, is occasionally seen, and some lines have a tendency toward spondylosis deformans, a fusing of the spine, or dystocia. Other conditions that are less common but occur more often in Boxers than other breeds are hystiocytic ulcerative colitis (sometimes called Boxer colitis), an invasive E. coli infection, and indolent corneal ulcers, often called Boxer eye ulcers.

According to a UK Kennel Club health survey, cancer accounts for 38.5% of Boxer deaths, followed by old age (21.5%), cardiac (6.9%) and gastrointestinal (6.9%) related issues. Median lifespan was 10.25 years. Responsible breeders use available tests to screen their breeding stock before breeding, and in some cases throughout the life of the dog, in an attempt to minimize the occurrence of these diseases in future generations.

Boxers are known to be very sensitive to the hypotensive and bradycardiac effects of a commonly used veterinary sedative, acepromazine. It is recommended that the drug be avoided in the Boxer breed.

As an athletic breed, proper exercise and conditioning is important for the continued health and longevity of the Boxer. Care must be taken not to over-exercise young dogs, as this may damage growing bones; however once mature Boxers can be excellent jogging or running companions. Because of their brachycephalic head, they do not do well with high heat or humidity, and common sense should prevail when exercising a Boxer in these conditions.

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Discovered and further developed by South Carolina hunters for hunters in the 1900s, the Boykin Spaniel is a medium-sized Dog breed of dog, a Spaniel bred for hunting wild turkeys and ducks in the Wateree River of South Carolina, in the United States. It is the List of U.S. state mammals of South Carolina.

The Bracco Italiano is a breed of dog developed in Italy as a pointing breed.

History

The Bracco Italiano originated in Italy, and there are writings concerning the breed that date back to the 4th and 5th centuries BC. It is believed to be a cross between a Segugio Italiano (a coursing hound) and the Asiatic Mastiff. Others claim the breed goes back to the St. Hubert Hound. Undoubtedly, both hounds and gundogs are in the breed's ancestry for there was an old practice of mating these together to produce a dog capable of pointing, but with more stamina.There are two variations of the breed. The first originated in Piedmont, and was for that reason known as the Piedmontese Pointer. The other originated in Lombardy, and was known as the Lombard Pointer. The Bracco from Piedmont is lighter in color and build than the Lombard variety, probably due to the mountainous terrain there. It was well established by the Middle Ages. The Bracco thrived during the Renaissance and was bred by both the Medici and House of Gonzaga families.They were sought out by the aristocracy and used to hunt feathered game. At the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century the breed nearly became extinct. Later, it was saved primarily by the combined efforts of the Italian breeder Ferdinando Delor de Ferrabouc and - during the later World Wars - of a few staunch Italian breeders whose families had already dedicated themselves to the Bracco over several centuries.The Italian standard for the breed was released in 1949 from the S.A.B.I. (Societá Amatori Bracco Italiano) in Lodi, Lombardy. It came to England in 1989.

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The Braque d'Auvergne is a breed of dog originating in the mountain area of Cantal, in the historic Auvergne (province) province in the mid-south of France. It is a Pointer and versatile gundog. The breed descends from ancient regional types of hunting dogs.

The Braque du Bourbonnais is a breed of gundog, of rustic appearance, sometimes born with a short tail, with a coat ticked with liver or fawn.

The Braque du Puy was an old breed of hunting dog in France, bred for hunting in the lowlands and known for being fast and flexible. The breed was created in Poitou in the 19th century by crossing other Braques with greyhound-type dogs. One story is that two brothers named du Puy crossbreed their Braque Francais dog with a Sloughi brought back from Africa by a French soldier. Colour of the Braque du Puy was white with orange or liver coloured marks, and was a medium to large size. The breed has now either died out or has died out in its original form, although the type may be reconstituted from other breeds and called Braque du Puy (or variants of the name) for the rare breed pet market in various parts of the world.

The Braques français (FCI breeds No. 133/134) are hunting dogs, from a very old type of gun dog used for Pointing breed the location of game birds for a hunter. There are two breeds of Braque français, both from the south of France, the Braque français, type Gascogne (French Pointing Dog - Gascogne type, larger size, No. 133) and the Braque français, type Pyrénées (French Pointing Dog - Pyrenean type, smaller size, No. 134.) They are popular hunting dogs in France, but are seldom seen elsewhere.

The Braque Saint-Germain (FCI No. 115) (translated into English as the St. Germain Pointing Dog) is a medium-large dog breed of dog, a versatile hunter used for hunting as a gun dog and Pointing breed as well as for hunting other small game. Braque is a term meaning pointing dogs. The breed was created around 1830 by crossing English and French pointing type dogs.