The Belgian cynologist Charles Huge, who was an authority on shepherd dogs around the end of the 19th century, wrote articles about black wolf-like shepherd dogs that were widespread in the Flemish province of Brabant (in Belgium).

He wrote that they existed in all heights. The biggest were sheepdogs and the smallest functioned as mouse and rat catchers and guards of the farm's poultry.

It would seem that Mr. Huge was describing the ancestors of today's Groenendaelers Belgian Sheepdogs and Schipperkes.

The Schipperke has a common origin with the larger Belgian breeds butowes its existance in part to laws passed in the 14th century by the French ruling class that restricted the owning of large dogs to the aristocrats. However ordinary people still needed dogs for protection and livestock work. Two small working shepherd types were developed. the Leuvernaar and Schipperke (meaning little shepherd in Flemish), the Schipperke being the smaller of the two.

Schipperkes were first recognized as a formal breed in the 1880s, their standard being written in 1889. Much of what is known of their origins and early history comes from a French "Hunting and Fishing".

The breed name of "Schipperke", in English-speaking nations, was thought to mean "little boatman". However while they were occasionally seen on barges it was not their original or primary function, and in the areas of Leuven and Brussels "schipper" was the word for shepherd, making the name translate as "little shepherd".

Schipperkes in New Zealand

Research has shown there were three distinct and separate phases of Schipperke breeding in New Zealand in the twentieth century since their introduction from England in 1907.

Between each phase the breed apparently died out or at least weakened to the extent that there was no significant breeding or showing.

Evidence of the first Schipperke imports was discovered in the archives of the Canterbury Public Library among leather-bound volumes of newspapers, published since the 1850s, and stored for reference.
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"Schipperke" From The Book of the Dog  by Brian Seymour Vesey-FitzGerald
Borden Pub Co, 1st edition (1948)

The native Belgian breeds of dog appear to be mostly either quite large or quite small. This is rather unusual, for most other countries have a wealth of medium sized types with but few miniature or outsize breeds. However, in contrast to the tall Groenendael, Tervuren and Malinois Sheepdogs the Schipperke is indeed a fascinating little dog.

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