For the Belgian breeds, apart from the few representatives of hunting dogs, the St. Hubert Hound, Belgian Braques and Spaniels [these two breeds have been long extinct], the inscriptions in the Saint-Hubert [LOSH] studbook essentially deal with Schipperkes and Brussels Griffons.

There is no trace of the Belgian Shepherd apart from one inscription in 1883, under the heading of 'Sheepdogs, with long hair of the country', a female called 'Lionne' with pearly grey streaked color.

On Sunday 25 October 1896 a meeting of forty Belgian sheepdogs took place in the public medicine-veterinary school in order to allow the committee of the Royal St-Hubert Society to come to a conclusion about the request to enter Belgian sheepdogs in the studbook [see Journal of History N° 3  - article of Chasse et Pêche dated 1 November 1896].  Only in 1901 does the first inscriptions appear of shepherds with fawn-coloured short hair with black overlay and black mask, with dark ashy grey hair hard and black long hair.

April 1, 1900 the "Club du Chien de berger belge" adopted a motion for inscription in the club's studbook. The "Berger Belge Club", founded July 18, 1898, also had a book studbook but, there is no longer any trace of these.

2 Groenendaels can never produce anything but long-haired dogs. They can only produce Groenendaels or Tervueren, never Malinois, nor black short-haired dogs (this last variety has never received a proper name). In other words, this dogs is pure for the length of the hair. In fact, if the dog would possess a gene for short hair, the dog would no longer be a Groenendael but short-haired, since the gene for short hair is dominant.

Tervueren
Since both the long hair and the fawn color are recessive, it is natural that this dog is "pure" for the two characteristics. The mating of Tervueren with another Tervueren (AyAy) will always give a Tervueren. We can hereby conclude that the Tervueren is a dog without surprises as far as the reproduction is concerned. But there are fawn  Tervuerens and there are "grey" Tervuerens. These last dogs carries the recessive gene "i" ( first letter of the locus "intensive") that reduces the intensity of the fawn color. The impression of "grey" is given by the intensity of the overlay. The gene "i" does not alter the black color, this means that a Groenendael may posses the gene.

Malinois
We know that the fawn color is recessive, so two Malinois will only produce fawn. On the other hand, there is the length of the hair, short hair is "dominant" over long hair and may hide recessive long hair. Three different cases may occur.

Mating of two "pure" short-haired:

- In this case, only short hair can be expected

Mating between a 'pure' short-haired and a 'dominant' short-haired:

- The offspring will be short-haired, but only half of them will be 'pure'.

Mating between two 'dominant' short-haired

On four dogs, one will be 'pure' short-haired and another one will be "pure" long-haired (a Tervueren),the other two will be "dominant" short-haired or hybrid.This explains why a Malinois sometimes gives Tervueren. He carries the long-hair genes, obtained from a for ancestor,and is mated with a dog in the same case. The long-hair gene finds its equal and produces one Tervueren on four, rarely two.

The amateurs of Tervueren recognize immediately a Tervueren offspring from Malinois. They have a rather thin undercoat. The standard prescribes that the shepherd dogs should have good undercoat to protect them against the weather, but it is a fact that our Groenendaels and Tervuerens have a better undercoat then the Malinois, and the rough-haired have very little undercoat. The lack of undercoat is dominant over a good undercoat, breeders should bear that in mind.

Matings
How is it possible that some dogs are genetically non pure [homozygotic], why is a certain Groenendael apparently black but also carries the fawn genes? Intervariety breeding is the cause of this.

Before dog clubs and stud books existed, before man started to select and register breeds, the shepherds and farmers mated black dogs with fawn dogs, long-haired dogs with short-haired dogs. I would like to analyze the results of those matings.

Groenendael with a Tervueren
Only long-haired dogs can come out of this. Since black is dominant, the first generation will be completely black, but hybrid (heterozygotic) and will hide the fawn color.

A hybrid dog KBAy mated with a "pure" fawn (AyAy) will give 50% black hybrids KBAy and 50% "pure" fawns (AyAy).

It sometimes happens that Tervuerens coming from Groenendaels do not have a black mask, but the standard mentions that the absence of a black mask means disqualification of the dog. This is due to the absence of the dominant gene "Em ". This gene is responsible for the mask and produces black hairs that cover the face, the ears and the tail, where it forms a triangle half-way and blackens the end of the tail.

Groenendael with Malinois
Black is dominant over fawn and short hair is dominant over long hair. It is obvious that a "pure" Groenendael  (KBKB) mated with a "pure" Malinois will only give black short-haired dogs in the first generation. The two main characteristics of the short-haired black, the black color and the short hair, can always hide long hair and the fawn color without being noticed. There is a large number of combination and this probably explains why the breeding of this dog has never been very successful.

On the condition of taking place between two "pure" dogs, the mating between a Groenendael and a black short-haired gives quite regular results. At the first generation, it will give black short-haired dogs. At the second generation, there will be the following proportion : one "pure" Groenendael, one "pure" black short-haired and two hybrid black short-haired, these last ones will be divided in the same way for the next generation. But if, by accident, one of the dogs or both dogs should carry a recessive gene, it would be a very complicated and endless puzzle.

Tervueren with Malinois
A mating between the two, can only give fawn dogs. The first generation will be totally short-haired, that is Malinois, only in appearance however. But in the second generation there will be the mendelian proportion of one "pure" Tervueren, two hybrid Malinois and one "pure" Malinois. This is the moment to talk about another peculiarity. Sometimes it occurs at the first generation that the short hair dominates the long haired badly, the hair is not as short as it should be for a "pure" Malinois. The length of the hair is somewhere in between short and long and requires a new selection during several generations (normally three) before the pure variety is found in one or the other way.

Provided it takes places between two genetically "pure"' dogs, the mating of a Malinois with a black short-haired can only produces black short-haired dogs at the first generation. At the second generation, there will be one "pure" Malinois, one "pure" black short-haired and two hybrid black short-haired. But if the reproducers are themselves both hybrid, they can produces a Groenendael or a Tervueren, but always strictly according to the laws of dominance formulated by Mendel.

Now we have talked about the different varieties of the sleek-haired Belgian shepherds that form a really characteristics whole. In this article the color and the length of the air has been stressed because they define to which variety of the Belgian shepherds a dog belongs. The Belgian shepherd is one breed only. There is only ONE standard and not a standard separately for the Malinois that differs from the one for the Tervueren or the Groenendael.