Help ID a Dog Breed.

Losthwy said:

Yes I did go to those links, and from drawings, photos and reading the coat descriptions not sure which variety of Belgian Shepard it was. It's toss up between a solid black Teruven or the Groenendael. Those dogs looked like the drawing of the Teruven, though just imagine it being solid black. The photo of the Teruven has a more pointed face than what I saw or the drawing.

Click to expand...

A solid black Tervuren IS a Groenendael aka "Belgian Shepherd" in AKC.

As Gina pointed out, they are all Belgian Shepherds and there are 4 varieties of the breed distinguished by coat and color.

Groenendael - solid black, long coat
Tervuren - fawn, red or gray with black overlay, long coat
Malinois, fawn, red or gray with black overlay, short coat
Lakenois, fawn or red with traces of black overlay, wire coat

Only in the AKC are the varieties considered to be "breeds" and cross-breeding among varieties is not permitted. However, Groen litters can produce Terv pups, and Terv litters can produce Mal pups. In other countries the puppy is simply registered as the proper variety, but in the US they are considered DQ's. As a result of AKC not allowing the varieties to cross, US Belgian varieties have become more distinct. Many US breeders choose to import European stock to add to the small gene pool as cross-breeding is still allowed there, even though it may not be done very often.

The Belgians are a wonderful breed, and one of my favorites of all the non-retrievers.

Latisha