Our Breeding Goals
The ideal Belgian Shepherd I am breeding will be environmentally rock solid, lacking sound sensitivity and stress to environmental/social situations. They should be confident and social with other dogs and behave appropriately towards friendly strangers.
I hope to see dogs I produce continue to perform real jobs such as wildlife or medical detection, search and rescue, bomb or narcotics detection, police work and work as service dogs for disabled people.
Confident dogs don’t have to worry about defending themselves. I expect the dogs I breed to have the confidence and solid nerve to do their job in any environment, under pressure. They should be able to perform at top competition levels in sports such as IPO/schutzhund, the ringsports, agility, tracking, obedience, flyball, freestyle, dock diving, and whatever else you can think of!
Good health is a strong consideration and I have chosen
to outcross by incorporating European working lines which go back to Belgian Shepherds varieties outside of the Groenendael. Only time will prove whether I’ve been able to increase the life and working expectancy of these dogs.
Good structure to perform is critical. I want a strong and balanced dog
that can jump and move well. My litters thus far have consistently
produced strong rear ends, with well developed muscles with the power to perform well.
My search continues around the world for the right Belgian Shepherds to
breed. I have produced some incredible males and am looking for
compatible females to combine them with.
History & Philosophy
My first three Belgians inspired me to develop Volant Kennel. I was amazed by their intelligence and capabilities to work in many real world applications. I was also taken by their majestic presence and beauty, combined with great character.My passion for breeding is particularly in producing "groenendaels" (the Groenendael registered as Belgian Sheepdog by the American Kennel Club, has long hair and is solid black), with the substance and character of the malinois but maintaining the intelligence and thought process.
I was so impressed with, with my first two groenendaels. When I first met Guy Blancke and Unia d’Ajelpajo, I know only saw the most dynamic team I’d ever seen and the most extraordinary dog I’d ever seen in heart, athletic ability and focus. I went to Belgium to meet the pups from Unia’s only litter and found the litter to be incredibly consistent with wonderful temperaments, stable nerves and balanced drives.
I selected DISCO, the “alpha female” shipped to me who arrived at Los Angeles Airport after 16 hours of flying, coming into a very hectic and noisy freight terminal, tail wagging so hard and eager to go home
with anyone. She leaped out of her crate into the arms of the first person she saw. I knew I had made the right choice.
My search really began looking for the right dog to breed to Disco. I found that dog in Orsam de Salte Cabre. I went to France in September 2005 to meet him and his owner/handler at the French Mondio Ring Finals where Orsam competed. He was more dog than I had hoped for. I saw the confidence, power and courage of a strong malinois working with a longer and black coat on the field. During the “defense of handler” where the dog can only bite the decoy that touches the handler (decoy #2, hiding behind a wall) while decoy #1 is taunting the dog, trying to make the dog bite him and loose the 30 points.
Like many of the strongest dogs competing, Orsam just had to take that bite, lost his 30 points but immediately ran behind the wall and took a bite on decoy #2! The crowd roared and as I applauded I saw the “groenendael” in Orsam. Always thinking… While walking around among many other competitors, Orsam wags his tail and is very social with other dogs when they greet him. Orsam was bred down from strong working malinois lines and was not bred to be a show dog. He’s produced some wonderful offspring which have achieved titles in French ringsport, mondio ringsport, IPO, police work, search work or they have been top performers in agility or obedience.
Uvar was another dog I always admired for his wonderful work ethic and stable nerves. I observed Uvar over the years working cattle and sheep, multiple advanced runs in one day, working under a lot of pressure and doing his job well. I wanted to bring his qualities into my breeding lines.
Uvar and Disco produced 8 wonderful pups. These pups were very pretty, smaller and more suitable for herding and agility, than protection sports or police work. Several of Uvar’s offspring perform jobs every day working side by side with their handlers, locating scents.
