An era is passing almost unnoticed as the Bouvier des Flandres slips into history. Chastel, Bowles and Semler are gone and their heritage, won with such struggle, is increasingly slipping away from the callow bureaucrats, conformation handlers and show breeders who have become by default the Bouvier establishment world wide.
Now Paul DeRycke is gone. Perhaps his only American peer was Edmee Bowles. Both were iconoclasts by default, both persevered, both contributed, both came from Belgium under stress. But in other ways it is hard to imagine people more different. Bowles, with an English father and long years of school in England , was distant and formal, a throw back to the rigid class society of the nineteenth century. Paul was a man of his people, a Belgian by temperament and heritage rather than just an accident of birth, a “common man” made uncommon by personal force.
Paul DeRycke is respected and loved. Erik Houttuin, along with DeRycke and Andy Prinsen the Canadian foundation, regarded him as mentor, leader and friend. His high regard was universal, unique in the Canadian and American Bouvier world.
Paul DeRycke was a character. With his leather jackets, western style hats and jocular manner of speech, none of it entirely uncalculated, he made a strong and lasting impression on everyone he came in contact with. Before an audience he was in his natural element, and one on one he made an admirer out of everyone he met.
The "Chenil de Bolshoy" Bouvier kennel of Paul and Pauline DeRycke began in 1968 at Oxford Station in Ontario, and was destined to become one of the strongest and most influential Canadian programs. The first litter produced Arlon de Bolshoy, out of a French male called Quito and Roxanne's Peanuts, which went to Thea Bossart. Arlon achieved the CD and began what was to become a distinguished career in working competition for Thea. In 1971 Dirk de Bolshoy became the first Canadian bred to win Best in Show, at the Club Canin in Quebec City. In 1972 Sigurd de la Thudinie also achieved a best in show and became top Canadian Show Bouvier.
The significance of these wins, beyond putting the Bolshoy name on the map, was the introduction of modern Belgian lines, particularly those of Justin Chastel, into the Canadian Bouvier scene.
From the beginning, the Bolshoy program involved a lot more than beautiful show dogs. As a child and youth in Belgium Paul DeRycke knew the Bouvier, knew that above all else he was a working dog, a farm and family protector. He understood that for the Bouvier to flourish in America that importing and showing dogs is not enough, that this working heritage must be made to take root here.
The question of course was how to accomplish this. There were no Ring clubs to send people to, not even much support for the German Schutzhund sport. Protection work was not always understood and appreciated in America, and the police canine programs were not nearly so advanced as in Europe. Many Americans and Canadians looked upon protection work as demeaning and dangerous, believed that only police and military personnel should be allowed to participate.
The DeRycke's began obedience and protection training on the Bolshoy grounds, which became a center for Bouvier activity. Ch. Sigurd de la Thudinie was among those trained. He and his son, Ch. Hobo de Bolshoy, took part in many demonstrations staged to show the public and Bouvier enthusiasts that properly trained protection dogs are not "salvage, half mad attack dogs." In 1978 a male out of Max de Bolshoy and Olah de Bolshoy, called "Quechtor", became the first Canadian Bouvier to achieve Schutzhund I.
In October of 1977, at the American Bouvier Club specialty in Philadelphia, a break through was made. Paul and Pauline had been invited to come down and show what they had been up to, show what a well trained Bouvier could do. Many of those present had never seen anything like it, were astounded at what they saw.
The genie was out of the bottle, and although many would try no one would ever quite get it back in. Within three years Erik Houttuin, one of many who credit Paul DeRycke with igniting their working dog interest, would hold the first Working Championships in Missouri, which would change the North American Bouvier world forever.
Yes, Paul DeRycke is gone. But his work is not gone, and the people he inspired persist, so his heritage remains to carry into the uncertain future. Few men in Bouvier history have left a more substantial legacy.