Ursa

3 year old female Bouvier des Flandres. Seasonal farm/herding dog in Alberta, Canada

[creekfiend]

JUST health testing, doing due diligence regarding related dogs, carefully pairing dogs based on their strengths & weaknesses, evaluating for temperament and functional structure, helping match puppies to buyers based on observations of energy levels etc, raising puppies thoughtfully & with science based enrichment and socialization protocols, standing behind the dogs you produce for life & being willing to take them back at any time, being totally transparent with potential buyers about if your dogs are a good fit for them or not, and offering 24/7 breeder support DOESN'T MAKE YOU A RESPONSIBLE BREEDER!!! The other things that make you a responsible breeder are nebulous, arbitrary, ALWAYS changing based on my mood, and have nothing whatsoever to do with the actual wellbeing of the dogs produced or the humans who live with them. You idiot, you fool, you evil backyard breeder!!!!

[ipushedtimmyinthewell]

Got sick of telling people that not all dogs who wear muzzles are aggressive.

[blueboyluca]

In the land of its birth, Belgium, a Bouvier des Flandres cannot become a bench show champion unless it holds a working title (as a police, defense or army dog). This is similar to the working degree (Schutzhund degree) which a German Shepherd must have in its homeland to be eligible to compete in a dog show, and is one of the most laudable laws a parent club can make to keep its breed a working one with all the intelligence, strength, character and aptitudes necessary to perform its hereditary tasks, intact.

The Bouvier has had many names; Dirty Bear (Vuilbaard), Cow Dog (Koe hond), Cattle Driver (Toucheur de Boeuf), and finally the name it bears today. They were the farmers’ herders, cattle drovers, watch dogs, draft dogs, and, in fact, performed any and all the many tasks a dog can do around a farm, though the breed’s chief aptitude was cattle-driving. Early Bouviers stood over 26 inches at the shoulder and were very powerful animals.

The breed first came to the attention of dog fanciers when exhibited at the Brussels International show in 1910. A standard was adopted in 1912 and a society of Bouvier breeders was formed that same year in Flanders. The breed was on its way to take its place in the sun of dogdom. Then World War I broke out and the parts of the country where the Bouvier was mostly being bred were bombed out and overrun and most of the dogs were lost.

A very few were saved and one, owned by Veterinarian Captain Darby of the Belgian Army, was the progenitor of a group of dogs that, almost by themselves, revived the breed.

— Ernest H. Hart, Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds (1968)

[herdingbear]

First post before work starts in a few days! This is Ursa's current condition on May 29, 2021. Hope to see some big improvements this summer as she gets fitter!