Schapendoes

Introduction

The Schapendoes were everywhere in the Netherlands during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but their numbers dwindled drastically when Border Collies were imported. When the breed club for Nederlandse Schapendoes was founded in 1947, the Schapendoes breed was resuscitated.

The Schapendoes is a lightly-built, long-coated, medium-sized dog. His movements are effortless and springy and his astounding ability to jump makes him excel at agility and other dog sports. With an attentive and courageous character, he is intelligent, watchful, lively, friendly and high-spirited. Towards people familiar to him, he develops great affection and loyalty.'

General Appearance

The Scapando is similar to many other long-coated European herding breeds, and in many ways can be said to resemble a much smaller, darker-skinned Old English Sheepdog. Schapendoes are a small to medium sized breed. Most males stand between 17 and 20 inches at the shoulder, and most females stand between 16 and 18 inches. Although weight is greatly affected by gender, height, build and condition, most members of the breed weigh between 25 and 55 pounds. Schapendoes are a well-proportioned breed, but most members of the breed are tall from floor to shoulder, from chest to rump. Much of the Scapando's body is obscured by its long, dense coat, but underneath is a very muscular and athletically fit dog. Schapendoes are quite fine-boned and elastic. The Scapendo has a fairly long tail and its unique carriage is characteristic of the breed. The tail should be carried down when the dog is resting, somewhat up and down when the dog is running, back and straight when the dog is running, and high when the dog is jumping but back when the dog is jumping But not out loud.

Like the body of the breed, most of the Scapando's facial features are obscured by its coat. Schapendoes have a fairly flat skull. The skull of the breed is quite short for a shepherd dog, and in fact it is wider than it is long. The snout of the scapando is also quite short, usually much shorter than its skull. The muzzle is both deep and wide, and remains so with very little tapering towards the end. The nose of Schapendoes is located slightly below the skull line and is colored according to the color of the dog's coat. Scapendo's ears are medium in size, fairly mobile, and hang freely, though not close to the head. The eyes of the Scapando are large, round, facing forward and brown in color. The overall expression of most breed members is honest, open and lively.

The Scapando has a double coat, which means it consists of a longer, thicker outer coat and a shorter, softer and denser, undercoat. The outer coat is quite long, although its length varies in different parts of the body. Hair should never be tightly curled or frizzy, but usually very wavy and/or slightly frizzy. The tufts of hair often stand out from any part of the body, and there is a clear braid, mustache and beard. There are also significant feathers on the back of the legs and tail.

Scapendo breeders initially cared little about the color of their dog, so any color or pattern on the breed is perfectly acceptable. Some preference is given to dogs with blue-gray to black markings, although the extent of this preference varies greatly from country to country. Most members of the breed are white with bluish-gray, black or brown markings, although other colors are often seen such as solid black or solid brown.

Breeding

The gestation period in lasts for 60-64 days The primary period of the reproductive cycle of the female is called Proestrus and goes on for around 9 days. During this time the females begin to draw in males. The subsequent part is the Estrus when the bitch is receptive to the male. It goes on for around 3 to 11 days. The third part is the Diestrus. Usually, it happens around day 14. In this period the bitch's discharge changes for distinctive red and reaching its end. The vulva gets back to average, and she will no longer allow mating. The fourth part called the Anestrus. The time span between heat periods ordinarily keeps going around a half year. The litter size ranges between 6 to 8 puppies at a time'