Griffon de Bruselas"Origenes"

The breed in Belgium

Bouboule and Marquis de Carabas
Property of the Countess Henri de Bilandt. Brussels
By Mme S. Pir

After 1880, the story is fairly clear. Between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries, the breed, whatever it may have been called, from being the pet of kings, had become the "chien d´écurie" of the Belgian capital, the small rough ratting dog of the Brussels hackney coachmen. After the success of 1880, however, interest grew. A Mons. Notermans bred a bitch called Miss, which produced the first Belgian champion, Fox, sometimes known as Fox van Vleurgaat. Another famous dog was bred at about the same time, Petit Waterloo. Waterloo in turn sired Tom (out of a Pug bitch) and this line proved to be one of the most important in the breed, and one of the two male lines which survive in Greta Britain today.
Soon after 1880, a Committee met to draw up a breed standard, and in 1883 breed classes were first scheduled. Interest continued, and by 1890, Griffon Bruxellois had become quite the rage, and had gone up in the social scale!
As so often happens when a breed became fashionable, exhibitors of other varieties became interested, and started to work on the Griffon, efforts were made to gild the lily by introducing crosses of various kinds. The main cross of the time was with the Pug which produced many of the breed´s present day good points, the large heads and eyes, the cobby bodies and wide deep chest. At the same time it brought the black colour and smooth coat, and also improved the texture of the rough coat. At first smooth pups were discarded, but when it was discovered what excellent qualities theses smooth often had, it was decided to recognise them as separate variety, under the name of Griffons Brabançon. Later still, blacks were recognised as Griffons Belges, and later, Black and Tans.
At an even later date, there was a good deal of crossing with the ruby Toy Spaniel, which introduced the very flat noses, and the lovely red colour, but at the same time it brought the domed skull, the large ears and so-called web-foot which, though there have been no Toy Spaniel crosses for at least twenty years, unfortunately still crop up now and again.
About the mid 90´s, breeders in Great Britain became interested, and from then on exports to this country increased to considerable proportions, and this flight of the best dogs gave cause for concern to Belgian breeders. A large number of dogs were export annually up to 1914, both to Great Britain and the USA, and Belgian judges were much in demand in this country.
The 1914-18 war hit the Belgian breeders badly, but there was some recovery and quite a number of dogs were exported to this country after 1918. Later, however, at some period between the wars, it was decided in Belgium to make a stand against the "web-foot". It was declared a disqualification, and breeding from "web-foot" stock was no longer permitted. As a result, though this fault was successfully eradicated, the bred became sadly depleted, and quality deteriorated. It was unfortunately the best headed dogs, the dogs with the very large nostrilled flat noses, obviously bearing Toy Spaniel blood, which also produced the Toy spaniel web-foot, and with the best breeding stock eliminated, there was not much left to work on. By 1939, there were few Griffons left, World War II stopped all breeding, and by the end of it the breed had practically ceased to exist in its native land. The only large kennel, when shows started again, was the Chenil du Clos des Orchidées, the property of Mlle Warzée. From this strain the breed started to grow again and there are now signs of its return to popularity. The tables are now turned, however, and instead of a flow of Belgian dogs to England there is now quite a steady trickle of British dogs to the continent.
In this article of 1919, Sir Howard Handley Spicer mentions many of the early Belgian breeders, together with some of main characteristics of their strains. The owner of the hero of 1880, who first put Griffons "on the map" was an unnamed policimen. After him came Mons. Notermans, a hackney coach driver who became a noted breeder. The eventual owner of Ch Fox, was Mons. Delvaux; the first Tom was the property of Mons. Seghers, a well known judge who officiated several times in England up to 1914. Others names in the first Belgian Stud Books were Mme. Boderus (or Boderis), Mons. Tielemans, Mons. Gheude, Mons. Rombaut and, in the 1890´s Mons. Devoghel who was the first to bring dogs over to this country just exhibition.
Of the strains established in Great Britain from famous Belgian kennels, Sir Howard wrote: "Dogs of the D'Jeck type (Mons. Jadoul) have beautiful bodies, legs and feet, good underjaws and full eyes, but are inclined to be light in colour and soft in coat. The Loustic type (Mons.Martin) have good bodies and coat, well proportioned heads, very large eyes, and a warmth of colour lacking in other strains. Tom and Charles type (Mons. Polfliet) are very strongly built dogs, cobby, biggish bone, big broad skulls, and possessing strong vitality. Their colour is, in the writer´s view, the best colour of all, being a rich golden wheaten tint, with a harsh coat of good length. The Typsy type (Mons. Pasteels) is a very neat, lightly built dog, with good underjaw, and excellent muzzle, somewhat narrow in head, but possessing prominent small eye, good texture coat, though lacking in clearness of colour".
The description of the Tom and Charles type might be that of the great modern Champion Skibbereen Victor of Campfield and his progeny, and the other types are still to be seen today in this country.