Can Cheating be the Only Way?
Jim Engel
In 1963 the Flemish ring sport community, predominantly Belgian Malinois breeders and trainers,
was finally driven to the realization that in the long run viable police level working dog breeding,
training and deployment is virtually impossible under the oppressive thumb of the FCI establishment,
in this case Societe Royale Saint-Hubert the Belgian equivalent of the AKC. In response they
finally established their own independent, working oriented governing body, that is the National Verbond der Belgische Kynologen or NVBK.
For several decades they flourished—flew under the radar—evolving one of the finest breeding programs for serious working dogs ever. The world at large was oblivious, in America most of us had no idea at all what a Malinois is let alone actually seen one at work.
A generation later, in the 1990s, the growing international popularity of German Schutzhund and the essentially equivalent FCI IPO program led forward looking trainers to think in terms of alternative breeds, particularly the Belgian Malinois. In surveying the field it was evident, hands down, that the best candidates were the NVBK dogs.
But there was one small problem. Schutzhund and IPO were only open to FCI registered dogs, which excluded the NVBK. Not to worry, resourceful Malinois breeders —we all know the names—began to breed to NBPK dogs but use the name and number of an FCI recognized dog for the registration. This was particularly convenient for German breeders close to the Belgian border, not to mention any names.
Does the end justify the means? In my mind it does, but this is a complex moral question that each of us must answer for ourselves.
The rest is history; so widespread are such dogs today that if they were eliminated the breed as an ongoing competitive entity would essentially cease to exist. Yet there is a problematic downside to all of this; when you have to cheat to succeed or even survive the underlying integrity of the entire working dog world is compromised and eventually the price is going to come due. Sure the people involved today are aware of the real pedigrees, but in time this knowledge will be lost. Although an enterprise based on a compromised foundation may endure and even appear to prosper for a time eventually collapse is inevitable.
We need to clean this mess up once and for all and fully integrate this invaluable gene pool into the above board canine world. The best way would be for the FCI to retroactively recognize NVBK registration followed by a general revision of the records.
Historically the FCI was a quasi-commercial cartel whose hegemony was based on the ironclad principle of one all-powerful monopolistic member club per nation, which would have rejected such a suggestion out of hand as patently absurd. Power does indeed corrupt, and the overriding power of the kennel clubs more often than not led to overriding corruption.
But the monopoly was breached when the European courts forced the FCI and VDH to accept a second German Shepherd club in Germany and dealt a fatal blow when the courts went on to slap the FCI down hard on the issue of SV judges going to USCA and other non FCI organizations on the basis of restraint of trade.
FCI refusal to recognize NVBK registration is even more egregious restraint of trade and the long term ramifications seriously compromise the effective breeding, training and deployment of police level service dogs.
If the FCI continues down this road of hostility and obstruction to the working dog community society as a whole will need to step in and provide a viable alternative such as an equivalent of the KNPV, that is the Dutch police program, in all nations.
Perhaps we need a white knight, someone with the courage and cash to provide the means of taking it to the courts. Or perhaps Tamás Jakkel, realizing that time is not on his side, will be able to summon the wisdom and courage to take the initiative and do the right thing.
Who Owns the House of von Stephanitz?
SV Power Corrupts
Orginizations and Conflicts
German Shepherd History
GSD Police Dog Heritage Repudiated by SV
SV Abandons Schutzhund as Breeding Prerequisite
World Unions Rising
AWDF, Stillborn American Elite
Supreme Authority of the Canine World?
Legacy Lost, the Other Breeds
The Americans
Style and Opinion Sports
How We Play the Game
Commercialization of Schutzhund
The Mother State
Glossary