The Belgian Shepherd Dogs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Groenendael

The Groenendael has long hair and is completely black. The Tervueren and Malinois can be red, fawn and grey with black markings, differing only by the type of coat they have. The Laekenois can be red or fawn with black markings. It has a wiry coat.

Answer: Towns and villages

The Groenendael and Tervuren were both named for villages. The Groenendael variety was probably bred by the owner of the Château de Groenendael, Tervuren is in Flanders, in northern Belgium close to the border with the Netherlands.

The Malinois is named for the city of Malines. the French name for Mechelen as the city is now known. The Laekenois derives its name from the town of Laeken, which has now largely been swallowed up by Brussels.

Answer: True

Although the dogs had been used for herding for centuries, little effort had been made to breed them to a specific standard. In 1891, a veterinary surgeon named Adolph Ruel started classifying the dogs according to their characteristics and established standards for the different varieties he found. He originally divided them by the coat type before including colour as an additional criterion.

Even in the twenty-first century, there is much debate about how, or even if, the different breeds should be distinguished from each other.

Answer: Osama bin Laden

Cairo sprang to wider fame when his handler wrote a book, called 'No Ordinary Dog', about him in 2020, although the dog's part in the Operation Neptune Spear was already well known. Cairo had already served in Afghanistan and been severely injured when he was shot and nearly died.

In 2011, Cairo was part of the Navy SEALS force that attacked the compound where bin Laden was in hiding. The dog was set to patrol the perimeter to ensure nobody escaped and bin Laden was killed during the operation.

Hussein was already dead by then and Ortega became President of Nicaragua in 2007 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed himself in 2019 while under attack by special forces. A Belgian Malinois was involved in this mission too - his name was Conan.

Answer: Laekenois

The Laekenois is the least common of the four. While generally the same shape as the other three, its coat is very different being wiry and with a rough finish which is noticeable even by sight. The colours it comes in are red, fawn and grey with black around the muzzle.

Temperament wise, the Laekenois is the same as the other Belgian shepherd dogs and is just as intelligent. It was the last of the four to be accepted by the American Kennel Club as a separate breed, which happened only in 2020. According to the AKC website, worldwide the Laekenois is rarer than the giant panda.

Answer: True

The Canadian Kennel Club, for example, just classes them all as Belgian shepherd dogs, with four varieties distinguished by their different coats. They use the accepted names to describe them, with their website describing them as two long-haired versions, one short-haired and one which is rough-coated.

The American Kennel Club website calls the Groenendael a Belgian shepherd, with separate entries for the other three varieties listed as Belgian, followed by the specific names by which they are known elsewhere. If you're American, check the photos carefully before buying a dog of this breed - it might not be quite what you're expecting.

Answer: Malinois

The Malinois is the short haired dog among the four Belgian shepherd dogs. It is also the one most often chosen to serve in the forces and with the police - the first ones to join the police in New York were as long ago as 1908. Special Forces, such as the UK's SAS, often have Malinois as well and the dogs are even able to parachute from aircraft.

They also tend to be healthier than German shepherds who have developed several issues due to inbreeding. The Malinois has coat colours in shades of brown from fawn to mahogany, and is the only one to have short hair.

Answer: Herbert Hoover

Not only did Hoover own King Tut, a Malinois, the dog was used in his election campaign to show a softer side of Hoover to the public. Photographs of him with his dog were signed and sent out to woo voters who were used to Hoover's dour nature. Whether King Tut was the main reason or not, Hoover was elected in 1928 with the misfortune of being faced with the Wall Street crash the following year, and was not re-elected for a second term.

Sadly, King Tut did not fare much better. He found living in the White House and the stress of protecting the President too much and died at the early age of eight. He was not the only dog owned by President Hoover, but was, according to many reports, his favourite.

Answer: Malinois

The Malinois is a regular choice for both police work and in the military. As you'd expect, they were first used by Belgian police forces for this role. You will often see a Malinois working at an airport or other transport hub to sniff out drugs, explosives or firearms. Some sources say their reaction time is even faster than that of the German shepherd dog, and they can move faster as they are a lighter breed.

London's Metropolitan Police website refers to new dog handlers being assigned either a German shepherd or a Malinois. Next time I see a police dog, I'll take a closer look (maybe not too close) to see which breed it is.

Answer: German shepherd dog

The Tuervuren looks like the German shepherd at a superficial glance as they are similar in colour. The German shepherd dog is bulkier in build with a different coat texture and style from that of the Tervueren.

All the Belgian shepherd dogs are more slightly built, but they share the work ethic and devotion to their owners with the German shepherd. These herding breeds are intelligent, very trainable and eager to please. They need to work, though, and aren't a suitable choice if you want a couch potato.