In the beginning, on the Flemish plane adjacent to the North Sea, there were cattlemen with their rustic herding and guardian dogs which had evolved in terms of structure and character according to the requirements of their agrarian way of life. Early in the twentieth century the founders of the formal breed gathered such dogs together in order to preserve this age old heritage, and those who breed these dogs today are merely the guardians of this heritage, obligated to preserve and protect it. Thus in this sense no one founds a breeding line or can take full credit for what comes from his kennel, for ultimately we must acknowledge those age old cattlemen and their dogs, whose names we do not know, and the generations of breeders who have been faithful onto the heritage and passed on to us not only the foundation, but the obligation. Thus the most credit must be allocated to these unnamed progenitors and those with names such as Moermon, Scharlaken, Gryson, Chastel, Bowles, Houttuin and Krijnse-Locker.