Schipperkes

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Schipperkes - History

The origins of Schipperkes are rather obscure. They were known as companions to captains and rat hunters on the Dutch and Belgian ships. But British breeders who adopted Schipperkes in the 19th century invented this story. The fact is that Schipperkes are the smallest of Belgian shepherds.

This breed has existed for centuries around the Flemish city of Leuven. The first record of a Schipperke in reference to this tailless black dog as an impersonation of the Devil was made in the 15th century. At that time peasants who owned Schipperkes used the biggest ones as shepherd dogs and the rest as rat hunters. These dogs were ancestors of 4 modern varieties of Belgian Shepherds (the Groenendael, the Mechelaar, the Tervueren and the Laeken).

Schipperkes - Pictures

Picture source:
Cascade Schipperke Club Rescue

By the end of the 19th century, Schipperkes spread throughout Belgian cities as well as the countryside. It was fashionable to cut the tail of Schipperkes, only in 1994 did this practice become illegal.

The British began to import Schipperkes at the end of the 19th century. The standards of the breed were established in 1888. The first British Schipperkes club was founded in 1890, whose members exclusively imported the dogs from Belgium. At that time Schipperkes were of different colors, and only in the middle of the 20th century did the Schipperkes Club of North America impose that only the jet-black color was allowed.