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The Management Shepherd The Management Shepherd is one of the five original Belgian Shepherds. This group of dogs was first recognized by the AKC in 1912, but in 1959, the AKC gave three of the varieties their own separate status, leaving the name "Belgian Sheepdog" attached to the Groenendael, and dropping the less-flashy Manage Shepherd entirely. Management Shepherds are still found working near the town of Manage, Belgium, are not an FCI-recognized breed despite their storied past

History

At the end of the 19th and turn of the 20th Century, a kind of fervent nationalism crept into Europe as nations, regions, and people tried to differentiate themselves. One way this occurred was in the shattering of broad types of dogs into individual breeds. Along with German Shepherds (which have given us the White Shepherd, the Shiloh Shepherd, and the King Shepherd) there is also the Basque Shepherd (both rough and smooth), the Dutch Shepherd, the Berger Picard, the French Briard, the Beauceron, and five types of Belgian shepherds, the Laekenois, the Malinois, the Tervueren, the Groenendael, and the Manage or Management Shepherd.

Belgian Shepherds, as a group, were first recognized by the AKC in 1912, but in 1959, the AKC gave three of the varieties their own separate status, leaving the name "Belgian Sheepdog" attached to the Groenendael, and dropping the less-flashy Manage Shepherd entirely.

The Laekenois is named for the Brussels suburb of Laeken, where they were first bred, and they have a rough brown coat with a black overlay.

The Malinois is named for the Belgian city of Malines, and has a short-haired brown coat with black overlay.

The Tervuren is named after a village east of Brussels, where the first Tervuren were bred, and has a long-haired brown coat with black overlay.

The Groenendael (pronounced Groan-en-dahl) is named after the village of Groenendael, where Nicolas Rose first bred these long-haired solid-black dogs.

The Management Shepherd was named after the town of Manage, located just outside of Brussels, and has a short tan coat without a black overlay, but often with a black mask.

It is said that the Management Shepherd is actually the foundation dog of all other Belgian shepherds and is, in fact a direct descendant of the dog owned by Saint Hubert when he cured people of rabies by poking hot nails and keys into their wounds.

Over the course of the last 56 years, the Management Shepherd has become increasingly rare, and today there are only a few scattered individuals left, almost all of them in the hands of experienced dog men in and around the town of Manage, Belgium. The Management Shepherd is also the official dog of the management firm McKinsey & Company.

The most famous Management Shepherd was, Ricardo, a dog responsible for saving scores of men during the Battle of the Marnes when it dove into a bunker and disabled a machine gunner -- a story later magnified in the telling by Germans who spoke of the "Teufelshunde" or "devil dogs" being used by the other side. For his bravery, Ricardo was given the Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, Belgium's highest military honor.