Francis Lecae is a Bouvier breeder from Esplechin Belgium. He has the distinction of training and trialing one of the few female Bouviers to a French Ringsport 3 as well as winning the French Specialty in 1997 with a homebred dog and the Belgian Specialty in 2005 with a homebred bitch. He graciously agreed to this interview as he stands foremost in being successful where many of us wish to be; a working dog enthusiast producing good looking, strong working Bouviers!
DBQ: Mr. Lecae, how did you come to meet the Bouvier?
Mr. Lecae:I was a young boy when I met my first Bouvier, it was in a restaurant where my parents used to have lunch on the weekends. At this restaurant, in a kennel at the corner of the garden, a big black terrible dog barked incessantly. Only one of the cooks could feed him. One Sunday, during one of those too long French meals, I wandered to the back of the garden and looked at the kennel; the door was open and the terrible dog was…just near me! He came to me to get in touch, we became good friends so that I could do whatever I wanted until one day….he disappeared. He had bitten the cook. I never forgot “Ozo” (this was the name of a famous French race horse)as in my memory he stayed a kind and strong giant, a new version of what Dr. LeLann called “le sage hardi.” (loosely translated: ‘wise and brave’)
Twenty years later, I found myself as an adult with a family, a vineyard and a house in the country. In 1986 we bought our first Bouvier, a pure Thudinie dog we named Bacchus to guard our vines and to jog with me. This dog was kind with my family and was also a good housedog. But this dog was far from Ozo in my mind; he was nothing terrible, he didn’t like to play and would not have protected me. How could such a difference be explained? How could these two dogs have been so different?
DBQ: So you have Thudinie dogs; how did you discover the ‘working’ Bouvier you were looking for?
Mr. Lecae:Sitting here today, in retrospect, whenI fully face the past I understand that I had been searching for the true Bouvier for ten years ...Poor man will you say? Indeed, I'll answer!
I thought that perhaps the club was wrong, or the decoys were bad ...I even began to produce my own dogs, I had two litters under the Thudiniekennel name...but they were a disappointment. Nothing! Not Bouviers able to earn even the brevet! ( DBQ: In French Ringsport, the brevet is the first level.) The time had come for me to decide whether I was wrongorif it were true that the Bouvier was good for nothing!Studying J. Chastel's genealogiesI had decidedto buy a female out of Belgian or French conformation lines but as my search continued, I saw manykennels, and trip after trip the sameworking blood appeared;Doerak, Tomba, Chico, all were good working dogs. Finally I made a decision; In 1996 I bought a black “working” puppy: Moon from Rini Dahluisen’s v.Assenrade kennel. (DBQ: Working Bouvier owners know this was an important litter from Tomba and Shaba Nora)From the beginning this female was different. Well built, with intelligent eyes, Moon was afraid of nothing, she was playing with everything, tracking for hours in the garden and furiously guarding our house: at last, a real Bouvier! She never changed, but I've forgotten a detail: who would be able to handle such a dog? I had no experience! A problem became a solution as Moon brought me to my future mentor, Leon Destailleurs, the best in French Ringsport I have ever met in my life!
During one meal in Justin Chastel's house Dr. LeLann turned to me and remarked: "Get in touch with Léon Destailleur, he is a marvelous man." Mr. Destailleur was avery well known decoy after the Second World War, he learned to decoy with two Flemish police menand their Malinois, and he haddecoyed at the Belgian and the French Cup. (DBQ: These are French Ringsport competitions at the highest level.) With him the dogs must bite in the legs, a revolution...at the same time he became a Malinois breederand imported old flemish workingMalinois lines in France, another revolution. Behind hiscafé, in his garden, opened a Ringsport Club, there he was trainingand many, many people came there duringthe 60s to get a lesson from the Master. Everymonth I meet old ringers who havelearned there, well known people of the French Malinois came there each week suchas A. Lelevier 28 finals of the cup and A.Noël well known Malinois breeder from the kennelname"de la Noaillerie.” So Leon Destailleur became a well knownring judge.
On December 24th 1997 I had the privilege to meet this institution; we spoke for 7 hours, only about dogs! He was 80 years old, and each time he was standing up to show me how to hold a leash or where to place a dogthen I remember, I could see the dog easily even if we were only two in the room. We decided he would see Moon at work. One month after he saw her in a club near his home, he told me I had a very good working dog and agreed to help me. We worked together for two years, Moon became a good ring dogand I learned a lot because our club, Léon Destailleurs ring club in Grande Synthe, was two hours away from my home. We spoke during this time and on the drive back to our home we spoke about the recent and past trainings.
Léon taught me which is a good dog, how to evaluate him and how to work him. We still meet sometimes when his health allows it and he is happy to see my new dogs!
DBQ: Many of us have heard of Moon and her wonderful accomplishments; where did you take your breeding program from there?
Mr. Lecae:The 20th century was finishingand I was thinking about the way to make a synthesis of all I had been learning. Matt was going to show me the road, he was born to us in 1996 from a Haifa du Bas Berry (a famous french show lines kennel) female and Elk de Marvelyse (a son of Spencer Jordina v Boevers garden) finalist of the French IPO championship in 1993. Matt was a single puppy litter; from the beginning I knew he was a true Bouvier, strong in his characterbut very well built, proving it when he won the French Specialty in 1997! Not only was Matt a good looking dog, but he excels in the extreme dog sport of Mondioring where he wonin Langenthal with more than 280/300 points. Naturally the way was to breedhim with Moon; this I did in 1998, producing CHCS Opale or Omer IPO 3 and winner of the French Speciality 2004, the father of CHCS Patt de la Saulaie Maraiche, French Champion 2003 and winner of the Challenge Le Lann to the best ring dog of the French Speciality 2004; my kennel was taking a new direction. True dogsbut intelligent dogs who understand what they live and follow their owners during their life as my beauty dogsonly chose their own way even against me. What a chance to get such dogs!
DBQ:Where do you see the challenge of breeding?
Mr. Lecae: How to keep the strength that has been developed from the bloodline and, ideally to get even better Bouviers. This is the goal because true working Bouviers are so few; by this I don't mean the IPO bouvs who work six months in their life so that they may compete in the working class...I mean dogs who are training the complete IPO or French Ringsport program and lose only a few points. I think there are three answers. The first one must be health, a workingdogmust have good hips and never be sick; the second is the Standard, I think that J. Chastel wrote a very good Standard which allows breeders to producegoodworking dogs. By this I mean medium standard dogs who are 65-66 cm (25-26”) and35-40 kg (75-85#) to have sufficient stamina (a ring 3 is 45 minutes long), I mean straight angulated dogs to be good jumpers(in French Ringsport 3 long jumps are 4.5m long or palisades are 2.5m) and I mean light-weight coats so that the Bouvier is able to compete during the summer.
Then I seein my head the dog who figured on the Belgian Journal when Mr. Chastel was president of the Belgian club in 1982,
I mean also working blood issued from high level dogs; bouvs working on complete and difficult programs. If you breed with low level dogs the working qualitieswill be only few and diluted, but if you find a high level dog he will be able to transmit more of the qualities which are necessary for your program!
DBQ:What do you see at the future of the breed in modern society?
Mr. Lecae:I think the ideal future of our Bouvier would be in a complete anduseful dog. Tradition, the Standardand Character don't allow us to produce extreme dogs such as the Malinois, we should not imagine bouvsonly sleeping in an arm chair all day long, in the same way I can't imagine a police bouv jumping on the roof of a car to arrest a gangster.
To me we must develop what I used to call ‘true friends,’ a dog who can do everything, a 21st Century utility dogadapted to our new societies, a bouv ready to have a good evening in the house with his family, to protect the house during the night, to play with the kids in the morning, to run with the mother in the countryduring the afternoon and to train in dog sports at the end of the day You'll understand a well built, active, balanced, healthy, brave Bouvier! As Breeders, we must keep on the same way, close to the same standard and far from competition excess! Maybe Arry,a son of Patt, who is trained right now on ring 3 biting exercises as he is only ten months...
Arry when he was three months old, decoyed by David Debosscher.
I could conclude:
“The Standard: but all the Standard for a better Bouvier!”
DBQ:Thank you, Mr. Lecae. We hope to meet you when you travel to North Carolina this fall.
Resources: website of the North American Ringsport Association