(Doerack, Ph 1 met lof x Balou Doetska v.d. Gravenhoeve)

Tomba v Assenrade, PH1 met lof, PH2 met lof, Obj. Guarding met lof (NHSB 1862861), a large, imposing black Bouvier, was born January 25, 1993. During his lifetime, he has not only proven himself on the trial field, but also as a prolific sire of capable working dogs. Tomba's offspring can be found competing in almost every major protection sport available. Tomba has been tested as kynologically excellent, hips are HD TC (equivalent to approximately [)FA good), bone malformation 0, Norber value 40. A Bouvier with the right combination of phenotype and genotype.

The mother of Tomba was Balou Doetska v.d. Gravenhoeve (NHSB 1583951). She had been offered to Marinus Dalhuisen of van Assenrade kennel when she was 4.5 years old because of a divorce settlement. Unfortunately, after the divorce, Balou would not allow her mistress' new companion into the house. She had decided that she was the sole protector of home and family and she meant it for real.

Her owner offered her to Marinus several times, but since she was now too old to train for KNPV he declined. Then the phone call came with the firm message that if he did not take the dog, Balou would be put to sleep. Although Marinus tried to explain the dog's behavior and reason with the owner, her mind was made up. Faced with the ultimatum, Marinus agreed to take her to either offer her another chance or face having to have her put down.

Despite her age, Balou had several factors in her favor for a working enthusiast. Her pedigree impressed Marinus, to say the least.

Her father, Quintus Maroesca v.d. Omimak (NHSB 1361987) was KNPV certified, as was his father Chico, PH1 met lof (NHSB 11360651). Out of Tessa Viana Alsin Hof (NHSB 163070), Quintus' son (Balou's ¹/2 brother), Boy Tessa v.d. Market-stein Hoeve (NHSB 1706758) had achieved his PHI and object guarding titles with met lof (honors) scores. Her paternal great grandfather, Kastor, PHI met lof, PH2 met lof (NHSB 676673), also known as Barry, especially interested Marinus. Owned by Mr. W. Gepken, Kastor was entered twice for the Netherlands KNPV championships and had done well.

  KASTOR

While her maternal side did not boast the same level of certified dogs, it was still intriguing and her lines did go back to Remo v h Kloosterzicht, PHI (NHSB 379702). Her great grandfather Remo, was a participant in the Netherlands KNPV championships 5 times with owner Mr. P. van Dijk. He was also the sire of Sarbo, PHI (NHSB 664387), who in turn, was the sire of Alma v. Emelwarde, PHI (NHSB 918734) of the Fokrohof kennel. Remo's sister, Astrid v h Kloosterzicht (NHSB 379706) was the dam of Preston, PHI met lof (NHSB 590069) who, of course, was the sire of Bartono Keulse Barriere PHI met lof (NHSB 1143556), Mr. van Dijk's son, G. van Dijk, started his own kennel of Bouviers, the well known v.d. Remon Hoeve (named after Remo).

After studying the pedigree, Balou's temperament was explained. These dogs had all earned the reputation of attaching themselves to one person and their family. If she followed her genetics with possessiveness, would her working ability be there as well? After she had been at the van Assenrade kennel for 4 or 5 hours, Marinus spent some quiet time with her and went for an hour walk. "She adjusted beautifully and was alert, spontaneous, obedient and not afraid of the devil himself", he recalls. The next day, he introduced her to the KNPV exercises. "Searching, work with the decoy, hold and bark, working in water, jumping, retrieving — everything was purely natural".

The Bouvier that Marinus had been looking for was in his hands, but she was too old to start to do the necessary "point" training required for competition level KNPV. So, of course, the next best thing was to breed her. But, to which dog?

  BOEDHA

After much searching, the sire of Balou's litter was soon found in Boedha Doescha Alsin Hof, PHI met lof, PH2 met lof (NHSB 1630767). Boedha was known for an iron hard bite and had several KNPV victories to his name. Many of these wins were while competing against and amidst all the noise about the Mechelse Herder (Malinois). Boedha came from some of the best KNPV bloodlines available at that time.

His grandfather was the legendary Arno, PHI met lof x 2 (NHSB 968380). Arno now appears in most working Bouvier pedigrees. In addition to   Boedha's father, Boy, PHI met lof (NHSB 1276136), he also sired Blitz PHI met lof (NHSB 1276134) out of Doescha v.d. Plantage, Iwan PHI met lof, PH2 met lof, Object guarding met lof (NHSB 128250) out of Xandra v Zonnetij (NHSB 1092861) and Cindy v Fokrohof, Phl (NHSB 1324380) out of Alma v. Emelwarde (NHSB 198734) for the Fokrohof kennel. Cindy went on to give the Fokrohof kennel many successful working dogs in her five litters, including her last sired by Boedha. This litter of 2 puppies produced Eiko Anya Cindy v Fokrohof, SchH 3, FH (NHSB 1885410) and Edgar Cindy v Fokrohof, PHI (NHSB 1885411). Blitz went on to sire the likes of Boris Blitz v d Viana Hoeve, PHI met lof, IPO 3 (NHSB 1641717) out of Loes, PHI (NHSB 1130313), Vzorro Peggy v. Caya's home IPO3, CQN, VZH, UV (NHSB 1648956) out of Peggy, PHI Met lof, Object guarding, IP03, VZH (NHSB 190431) and Bram Anoeska v't Heukske, IPO 3, Police Brigade (NHSB 1743954) out of Anoeska, PH 1 (NHSB 1371269). Boedha's mother was more successful in the KNPV arena than his father was. This was extremely rare, as it was a time where females were used primarily for breeding and many trainers would not even consider to work with a bitch. Doescha v d Plantage (NHSB 1286903) earned not only her PHI, but also her PH2 and object guarding titles met lof! An impressive feat for a female. Her lineage would have forecast her success as she was the daughter of Condor v h Mansbachof, PHI, PH2 (NHSB 661614) and her mother Chantal v d Plantage (NHSB 1189743) was the daughter of Bruno v d Boerenhof PHI met lof (NHSB 801147) sire of the above mentioned Peggy and her littermate, Argos v d Boerenhof, PHI (NHSB 801146) who went on to be used as a sire for the Statorhof, Fokrohof and Meeuwhorst kennels.

Alas, as most breeders know, there may be a 90% success rate with breeding dogs, but that means there must be some in the other 10%. The breeding did not take. In the meantime, Boedha was tragically lost to bloat, so Balou was taken on her next season to Boedha's littermate, Doerak v Alsin Hof, PHI met lof (NHSB 1630766). While many people felt that Boedha was the better of the 2 dogs, Doerak, nonetheless, was a capable dog and certainly able to hold his own, also receiving his PHI certification with honors.

Tomba was born and showed himself decisively in the litter. He was the "alpha" puppy, unapproachable for strangers and a biter from the word "go". Like his mother, he was a "one man" dog. At 8 weeks old, Tomba started in the KNPV training. A quick study, he learned all the PHI exercises in 1.5 years, but he was still too young to be tested. Marinus used this time to train for the object program.

The training and waiting for Tomba to mature paid off. He was entered for PH I and object guarding in the same week and received his certificates at the tender age of 2.5 years. Only 8 short months later, Tomba earned his PH2. only rarely does a Bouvier earn these titles so young, and Tomba did it with honors scores:

October 3, 1995 Object 314 pts.

October 6, 1995 PHI 427 pts.

May 6, 1996 PH2 439 pts.

Tomba had the phenotype as well as the genotype of a great working Bouvier. But would he be able to help the breed by reproducing himself?

When bred to outside bitches, Tomba did quite well. Among others, he went on to sire:

Timo v d Dorpaschhoeve, PH2, female (Tomba x Vento 't Grueske)

Quicksilver Casa de Mandingos, SchH 3, male (Tomba x Lotje Casa de Mandingos).

Quinta Demi Christiene, IPO 3, female (Tomba x Demi)

Quesera Casa de Mandingos SchH 1, female (Tomba x Lotje)

Astor Kelly v d Vlardinga Hoeve, IPO 1, male (Tomba x Kelly Sheila v h Waterschip)

In order to establish a breeding program for the van Assenrade kennel, Marinus needed a bitch. He found her in Shaba Nora v d Remon Hoeve (NHSB 1865510). Shaba was a daughter of Boedha Doescha Alsin Hof out of a very well known working bitch, Nora 't Grueske, PHI met lof (NHSB 1362894). Nora is currently the last Bouvier in history to enter the KNPV nationals. She was also a great brood bitch, producing several KNPV titled offspring for the Remon Hoeve kennel, such as Benno, Roy, Anoieska and Tinka. Nora came from a well proven pedigree. Her mother, Tessa (NHSB 1243614), while not titled herself, was a daughter of Wilson v d Boerenhof PHI met lof and a half sister of Peggy, PHI met lof, Object guarding, IPO 3, VZH. Her father was Bartone Kuelse Barriere, PHI met lof. You've read about these dogs at the beginning of the article. Needless to say, Shaba had an outstanding pedigree and while not having the opportunity to title herself, she had many brothers and sisters who succeeded in competition. Using Shaba would be a tight line breeding on Boy and Arno and it would prove to be one of the best producing combinations in recent times.

The litter produced, in Holland, the highest scoring Bouvier in KNPV history, Zigo King v Assenrade, PHI met lof, PH2 met lof, object guarding, as well as his brother, Max v. Assenrade, PHI. In France, a female, Moon v. Assenrade,  French Ring 3. In Germany, the new Schutzhund 3 champion is Raska v. Assenrade, another female, Noeska v. Assenrade also has her IPO title.

top photo Zigo, bottom photo Moon

Marinus went on to lease the bitch, Nona 't Grueske, KNPV Rescue dog (NHSB 1905020) and bred to Tomba she produced:

Loco v. Assenrade, PHI, PH2 met lof, Object (NHSB 2057766)

Anton Timmers with Zigo and Ari 't Hart with Loco are hoping to take part in the selection contest for PH2 for the Netherlands in 2002.

Tomba is now 9 years old, still going strong and in his element when he once more is allowed to bite. Last year, he participated in the Count of Flanders International Bouvier Day, demonstrating object guard (with one of Marinus' children as the object), as well as face attacks.

Photos of him at this event have been seen in Hondesport, the NAWBA Journal, the NAWBA calendar and have even graced the cover of Dog Sports' magazine.

This truly is a dog we are proud to call a Bouvier and worthy to be called a "working dog of merit".

Author's notes:

This piece is based on an interview that was done with Tomba's breeder/owner/handler Marinus Dalhuissen and his wife, Gerda. They are the owners of the Assenrade kennel, a premier working Bouvier kennel located in Holland. While many trainers have switched to the Malinois, they remain loyal to the Bouvier. Tomba stands at stud at their kennel,

I would like to extend my thanks to Rini and Gerda for their insight and information in allowing me to introduce you to Tomba. Thanks also to Herman de Vos for proofing this article, to Carla van Dijvenbode for supplying me with extra information and to everyone who has sent pictures to us over the years for our collection! Special thanks to Richard Carsen and Kareen Carruthers, who were kind enough to offer "word for word" Dutch translation for me.