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, when I 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 Thudinie kennel 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
wrong or if it were true that the Bouvier was good for nothing! Studying J. Chastel's
genealogies I had decided to buy a female out of Belgian or French conformation lines but
as my search continued, I saw many kennels, and trip after trip the same working 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 a very well known
decoy after the Second World War, he learned to decoy with two Flemish police men and
their Malinois, and he had decoyed 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 breeder and imported old flemish
working Malinois lines in France, another revolution. Behind his café, in his garden, opened
a Ringsport Club, there he was training and many, many people came there during the 60s to
get a lesson from the Master. Every month I meet old ringers who have learned there, well
known people of the French Malinois came there each week such as 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 known ring 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 dog then 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 dog and 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 finishing and 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 character but 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 won in Langenthal with more than 280/300 points. Naturally
the way was to breed him 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 dogs but
intelligent dogs who understand what they live and follow their owners during their life as
my beauty dogs only 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 working dog must 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
produce good working dogs. By this I mean medium standard dogs who are 65-66 cm (2526”) and 35-40 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 see in 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 qualities will 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 and useful
dog. Tradition, the Standard and Character don't allow us to produce extreme dogs such as
the Malinois, we should not imagine bouvs only 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 dog adapted 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 country during 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:
www.ringsport.org website of the North American Ringsport Association