LEGENDARY WORKING MALINOIS IN THE NETHERLANDS
AND THEIR HISTORICAL BLOODLINES (1997)

-a retrospective on the last Dutch decades till the nineties by Theo Dijkman (H&S)-

 

From today's working breeds there are some with a rich and long history. Almost 100 years ago the breed of Malinois originated from practical needs in daily life, namely the herding of sheep and protecting this sheep against predators. During the end of the 19th century there were several sheep herding dogbreeds active in Belgium.
These dogs had lots of temperament but ...... were also a bit reserved towards people. The last characteristic made them extremely suitable to function also as dogs for guarding and defense. In 1891 people tried to stimulate the breeding with these dogs with pedigree. About 8 years later four varieties of the Belgian Shepherd dog were born : the Groenendaeler, the Tervueren Shepherd, the Laekenois and ...... the Malinois.

From the start Belgium, Holland and France are in historically view, the countries where the evolution of an outstanding breed has developed.
Since then the Malinois has developed as an outstanding working dog, not only for sporting but also as a practical police- and patroldog.
The character of the working Malinois is to be classified as full of temperament but also stable and social in interaction with people, a characteristic which cannot be said of many other nowadays breeds. The ultimate condition on the statement before is that this type of dog and specific characterstics has to be well-understood and interpreted by the handler/owner.

SCHEME 1 "super-inheritance Malinois in the Netherlands"  
name  date of birth father grandfather great-grandfather
Cabiel (photo right) 30-11-1953 Sirol
Nopi 04-02-1964 Cabil
Narcilo 12-05-1964 Gladdy v/d Purpere Heide Cabil
Kastor v/d Rita's Home 16-03-1969 Narcilo Cabil
Carlo van Kristalhof 06-10-1973 Narcilo Cabil
Marco v/d Veldmolen 15-01-1972 Nopi Cabil
Marko v/d Veldmolen 15-01-1972 Nopi Cabil
Joerie 27-08-1983 Dekx
Bicou 28-07-1977 Traf


In this article I will mention legendary Malinois and their bloodlines from the sixties, seventies and eighties in Holland. Let me tell you in advance that I won't go back to the beginning of this century and also not to the actual decade although there has been a recent ‘rich' development. The reason why some recent kennels and names won't be mentioned is because of this perspective. That will be something for later on to get in detail in the future issues of the magazine ‘Hondensport & Sporthonden'. Surrounding countries (especially Belgium and France) also have their historical bloodlines but we will report about this also later in the magazine ‘Hondensport & Sporthonden'.

Registered and Mixed Malinois
André Noël, owner of the well-known French kennel ‘de la Noaillerie' and in my personal view a very important and highly respected connaisseur, has once responded on the question why the Malinois is so outstandig as working dog : "The reason of the supremacy of the Malinois is that this breed has always been a working breed. The Malinois is made by and for handlers".
Compared to France, the history of the Dutch Malinois is very different. Since the beginning only registered Malinois were bred in France.
Holland is the only country where mixed Malinois were also bred.
Especially within the KNPV (Royal Dutch Police Dog Association) and the professional sector the mixed Malinois was more used than the registered one.
One of the reasons for this was the awkward financial position of the doghandler directly after the Second Worldwar. Money had to be spent for daily needs. A good example of the circumstances in these days is a kennel named "de laatste Stuiver" which means "the last Penny". Everything had to be as cheap as possible and people did not want to make extra expenses for registering pedigrees even if both parent dogs were in the possession of a pedigree.
Another reason is the culture around the KNPV traingsprogram. The handlers did not acknowledge any surplus value by using registered Malinois. Nowadays the mixed Malinois has proven his value in the KNPV trainingsprogram but especially the last years more and more registered Malinois appear on the KNPV-trainingfields. Also on the KNPV-nationals, the yearly highlights of the KNPV, registered Malinois appear one of the best. Given the fact that from each province in Holland only one can be qualified for the Nationals, this proves that registered Malinois fully compete with the mixed.
In 1998 there were even 4 registered Malinois among the competitors. One must consider also that were several very good Malinois who were just one point away from selection for the KNPV-Nationals in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. In 1998 mister Nico Poen and his Malinois Tjek became even Dutch Champion PH-I. Main conclusion : the registered Malinois is in no way inferior to the mixed one. Insiders with lots of experience even forecast an increasing use of registered Malinois in the KNPV-program.

IPO
The registered Malinois have the upperhand over the mixed Malinois in the IPO- trainingsprogram.
Mixed are very exceptional, the reason for this are the official rules by FCI which allow only Malinois with pedigree on championships. Competing with a mixed Malinois in matches is restricted to participating at local matches. So from now on when we talk bout the Malinois we mean the registered Malinois with pedigree.
The Malinois has dominated the yearly ‘All Breeds Championship' in Holland. More than once only Malinois occupied the stand.
Mister Frans Janssen and his Malinois Arco (bloodline Eik des Deux Pottois) were three times winner of this important title in Holland. Together with handlers like Fred Tichelaar (Malinois Robby, bloodline Joerie and G'Vitou), Hans en Sonja van Rossum (Malinois Halusetha's Igor, bloodline Eik des Deux Pottois and Joerie) and Erik Kopp (Malinois Tico v/h Stokeind, bloodline Eik des Deux Pottois), they dominated in the all breed IPO-III competition.
Since 1995 there are the FMBB World championships for Belgian Shepherds, in 1998 Sonja van Rossum and Halusetha's Igor became Worldchampion and the whole Dutch team achieved the same. All these dogs have distinctive bloodlines.

Pioneers in registered Malinois
A small number of Malinois in Holland have played an important role in establishing today's supremacy as the best working dog in several programmes. Famous names are Nopi, Narcilo, Kastor van de Rita's Home, Marco and Marko van de Veldmolen (from the same litter), Carlo van Kristalhof, Joerie and Eik des Deux Pottois.
Without doubt someone will come up with another name but check your long-period pedigree and you will agree that the dogs mentioned above have layed the foundation for today's working Malinois in the Netherlands. Persons related to this foundation are Bert Lamers, Hans van Rossum, Theo Lemmers, Willem Gepken, Jan Tinnemans and Mart Bos. Of course there are many other names from the last decade and it's not our purpose to neglect them but we are talking about the decades till the nineties.

The names of the dogs mentioned above will return (even in the 4th, 5th or higher line) on almost 100 % of the actual Dutch pedigrees. If you have doubts : check your pedigree and in particular the lines before the ones that are printed !).
In particular Cabil (father of Nopi, grandfather of Narcilo, Marco and Marko van de Veldmolen, and great grandfather of Kastor van de Rita's Home en Carlo van Kristalhof) has been very important for today's bloodlines just like his son Narcilo !. Other important super-inheritance dogs are Bicou and G'Vitou des Deux Pottois. G'Vitou was the son of the legendary Clip, multiple champion of Belgium. Bicou also has Belgian parents. The pedigree of the World Champion IPO-III, Halusetha's Igor (Sonja van Rossum) is an outstanding example, because looking at the pedigree of this dog you will find several of the names that I mentioned before:

SCHEME 2 "bloodlines of Worldchampion IPO-III 1998 Halusetha's Igor"

name some grandparents some great-grandparents
Halusetha's Igor Eik des Deux Pottois G'Vitou des Deux Pottois
Joerie Dekx
Joenda (daughter of Bicou)
Remy-Lea van het Baantje (daughter of Carlo van Kristalhof)

SCHEME 3 "some bloodlines of the 1998 Dutch national winners in KNPV and IPO"

name bloodlines
Tjek (winner PH-I 1998 G'Vitou des Deux Pottois (2x), Clip
Arco (winner IPO-III all breeds ‘94/'95/'98) Eik des Deux Pottois, Dekx, Carlo van Kristalhof, Kastor van de Rita's Home, Marko v/d Veldmolen, Narcilo, Nopi, Cabil
Banjer (winner Dutch Malinois Nationals ‘98) Eik des Deux Pottois, Joerie, Marco v/d Veldmolen
Robby (PH-I, winner IPO-III all breeds ‘96) Joerie, Dekx, G'Vitou, Clip


By the way, the Malinois Novak du Boscaille (winner of several national IPO-contests during the first half of the nineties) seems to be the exception which proves the rule. That's, none of the dogs mentioned before seems to appear on the pedigree of this Belgium made very good Malinois ....... .
But ... if you study and go back in time you'll find the name of the well-known French Malinois Qu'rack du Bois D'Emblise and it won't surprise you if I mention that Qu'rack is also in the 5th line of Halusetha's Igor !
So, all lines comes together in an actual superb workingdog, the Malinois !!

 

Theo Dijkman (H&S)

P.S. >> See also the article about mixed Malinois in KNPV