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Beauceron Dog Breed Introduction
Beauceron is a large-sized distinct herding breed from France. It is also known as Bas Rouge (red-stockings) or Berger de Beauce (sheepdog from Beauce). They are noted as one of the breed used as foundation stock for Doberman Pinscher. This breed was used in World War I and II as a supply transport dog, rescue dog, messenger dog, police dog, and land mine detection dog.
The breed is popular for its harlequin( grey, black, and tan ) and black and tan coat as well as the double dewclaws. The Beaucerons’ dewclaws are connected by bone. Therefore, some dogs are able to flex each of the dew claws individually. Beauceron is a spirited, sensitive, smart, versatile, fearless, calm, gentle, and protective dog. Generally, mature Beaucerons are excellent natural guard dogs that are suspicious of strangers. Although, they take cue from their owners when it comes to greeting strangers. They are neither shy nor sharp.
Beauceron History | Origin
The Beauceron originated in France dating back as far as the 16th century. The name of the breed has been derived from Southwest of Paris, Beauce, a vast agricultural region. Since the breed emerged, it has been used as bodyguard, competitor, soldier, peerless mover of livestock, prankster, and companion. Both the Beaucerons and Briards share the same progenitors. For this reason, they both possess double dewclaws. The French breed club, the Club des Amis Du Beauceron was founded in 1922. This breed was also used by the French army during World War I and II. Currently, Beaucerons are also used as police dogs in search and rescue missions. This breed has been part of AKC’s FSS program since 1998. However, AKC inducted Beaucerons into its herding group in 2007.
Beauceron Lifespan
The Beaucerons have a lifespan of 10 to 12 years.
Beauceron Grooming
A Beauceron has a dense double coat that sheds all-year round at moderate levels. Weekly brushing helps to remove loose hair, dirt, and keeps the coat looking healthy and glossy. Beaucerons also shed heavily twice a year while blowing off their coats in Spring and Fall. Brush the coat on a daily basis using a grooming mitt, hound glove, or a medium-bristle brush to remove the dead hair before it can fall onto the furniture or floor.
The Beaucerons need a bath every 6 weeks unless they roll in something stinky. While bathing the coat use a hypoallergenic dog shampoo and conditioner to bath and moisturize the coat. After a bath, thoroughly rinse off the grooming products from the coat using lukewarm water to prevent skin irritation. Make a habit of wiping the eye corners using a damp washcloth or unscented canine wipes on a daily basis.
Trim the nails of a Beaucerons every 3 to 5 weeks using nail clippers or grinders to prevent cracking, splitting, and overgrowth. While trimming the nails don’t forget the double dewclaws on the rear legs. Brush the teeth of a Beauceron on a daily basis or at least twice a week to remove tartar buildup using a tasty canine toothpaste and finger toothbrush. Clean the ears once a week using cotton balls and an ear cleanser solution to remove wax or debris buildup. While cleaning the ears, check out for signs of dog’s ear infection such as odor, redness, or a dark discharge.
Beauceron Shedding
A Beauceron has a double layered coat that sheds all-year round at moderate levels and heavily while blowing off its coat in Spring and Fall.
Beauceron Coat
The Beauceron has a double coat consisting of an outer coat and undercoat. The former is dense, coarse and lying close to the body while the latter is fine, short, dense, and downy. The undercoat has a mouse gray color which does not show through the outer coat.
Beauceron Hypoallergenic
A Beauceron is not a hypoallergenic dog. It sheds all-year round at moderate levels and heavily in Spring and Fall. A moulting coat allows dander and fur to spread around the house aggravating allergies. Apart from fur and dander, Beauceron’s saliva, urine, and mucus also contain a protein allergen that triggers an allergic inflammation.
Beauceron Training
The Beauceron is an intelligent, loving, loyal, and strongly devoted to their owners which makes them fairly easy to train. Beaucerons are also eager learners that can be trained to a high level. However, this breed can be reserved with strangers which makes socialization training a must do. Some Beaucerons may also display a certain independence. Although, assuming pack leadership will help ease the training process.
Dogs are social creatures that thrive where a successful pecking order has been established. Pack leadership allows the canines to reach their full potential since they know they are under the leadership of a caring, loving, trusted, and respected leader who will make decisions for the well-being of the entire pack. Socialization training starts from an early age of 3 weeks while the pup is with the breeder until the age of 16 weeks after the puppy has already settled in its new home. However, it can be a life-long process for Beaucerons to ensure they mature to have a well-rounded temperament. Normally fur parents take their puppies home from the age of 8 weeks.
To socialize Beaucerons, expose them to a wide variety of people, surfaces, animals, sight, places, situations, smell, experiences, and sounds such as baby crying sounds, washing machine, lawn mowers, door bells, vacuum cleaners, sirens, and whistles. Enrolling a Beauceron in a puppy class will also serve as a form of socialization. These classes create a controlled environment where canines interact with each other building on their social skills. A puppy class is also beneficial to the pet parents. It not only allows them to identify and correct bad habits such as jumping on people and resource guarding but also have access to training information and assistance.
Make use of positive reinforcements methods to encourage positive behaviors through the use of treats, verbal praise, petting, toys, and playtime. The Beaucerons do not respond well to harsh training methods especially physical correction such as kicking, shoving, beating and use of choke or prong collars. Keep the training sessions short, fun, and challenging for a span of 5 to 10 minutes especially for puppies under the age of 3 years. This is because the mental and physical development of this breed is slow relative to other similar breeds. Beaucerons are not physically or mentally mature until the age of 3 years. Therefore, their training should not be rushed. Short training sessions will achieve much more than long tedious training sessions.
Start teaching basic command words like come, sit, stay, lie down, wait, drop it, heel, etc. immediately the puppy joins you home. Teach one basic command at a time until the Beauceron is well-acquainted before proceeding to the next command word. Avoid issuing a command word while too excited or frustrated since it no longer sounds the same for your pet. Effectively housebreak a Beauceron by creating a feeding schedule, crate training, and potty training. Patience and consistency are key while housebreaking.
Beauceron Personality | Temperament | Traits
- Confident.
- Fearless.
- Intelligent.
- Discerning.
- Gentle.
- Obedient.
- Faithful.
- Eager to please the owner.
- Loyal.
- Loving.
- Reserved with strangers.
- Athletic.
- Powerful.
- Calm.
- Protective.
- Alert.
Beauceron Exercise
This is an athletic breed that needs lots of mental and physical challenges. Beaucerons need a variety of exercise each day and outdoor locations. They are best suited to an active and experienced owner who can provide the physical and mental activity that the breed needs. Beaucerons are not great pets for novice owners. This breed can also be trained to participate in agility trials, herding events, and activities such as skijoring, mushing, and carting.
Beauceron Bark
This is a protective breed that makes a great guard and watch dog. However, it has a low tendency of barking. Beaucerons only bark when alerting the owners of approaching people.
Beauceron Height
A mature male Beauceron has a height of 25.5 to 27.5 inches ( approx. 64.8 to 70 cm ) while its female counterpart has a height of 24 to 26.5 inches ( approx. 61 to 67 cm ).
Beauceron Weight
Mature Beaucerons have a weight of 70 to 110 pounds ( approx. 32 to 50 kg ).
Beauceron Size
The Beaucerons are large-sized herding dogs that have a weight of 70 to 110 pounds ( approx. 32 to 50 kg ) and a height of 24 to 27.5 inches ( approx. 61 to 70 cm ).
Beauceron Aggressive
According to the breeds standards, Beaucerons should be confident and discerning( being able to distinguish between a for and a friend). A Beauceron is also loving and loyal to the people he knows. Even though they are reserved with strangers, Beaucerons are not aggressive dogs.
Beauceron Bite Force
A Beauceron may have a bite force of between 225 to 228 PSI.
Beauceron Health Issues
A Beauceron is a healthy and robust breed that has a lifespan of 10 to 12 years. However, it is prone to gastric torsion or bloat as any deep-chested or large-sized animal. Therefore, owners should avoid feeding Beauceron one large meal a day, exercising vigorously one hour before or after meals, or allowing the dog to drink large amounts of water after meals. Apart from bloating, Beaucerons may also suffer from hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, Dilated Cardiomyopathy, and osteochondrosis Dessicans.
Apart from Beaucerons, other dog breeds include:
Beauceron Names
A Beauceron parent may decide to get a name for the pet before it joins them home from the breeder or days after the pet settles home to ensure they understand the personality of a particular dog. Owners may get name inspirations from the French heritage of the breed, coat color and texture, personality, celebrity Beaucerons, movies, books, songs, historical figures, or nature.
Regardless of where the Beauceron owner sources the name, he or she should ensure the name freely rolls off the tongue and will not make them embarrassed if uttered out loud in the public places. The Beaucerons and other dog breeds better understand names that have vowels. Avoid giving your pup a name that rhymes with the command word to avoid confusion.
If the parent settles with a long name, he or she should ensure they find a cute nickname for the Beauceron. If this breed shares a name with any family member or guest who frequent the home it may cause chaos. Some of the names that Beauceron owners give to their pets include:
- Duke.
- Teddy.
- Phoebe.
- Pepper.
- Hunter.
- Cassie.
- Mia.
- Sadie.
- Rosy.
- Lucy.
- Duke.
- Rex.
- Max, etc.
Beauceron Feeding | Food
The amount of food that a Beauceron feeds on depends on its age, activity level, metabolism, size, and body build. Youngsters tend to eat small portions of food 3 or 4 times a day due to high metabolism rates from when they start weaning until the age of 6 months. From the age of 6 months, Beaucerons should feed on a total two meals a day. Remember to closely monitor the weight level and calorie consumption to avoid overfeeding especially with treats.
Beaucerons may feed on dry food, wet food, home made, or a raw diet depending on the budget and time of the pet parent. Although, they should avoid kibbles with low-quality ingredients since they are not digestible. Regardless of the food type, parents should ensure that food is unique to the digestive needs throughout the various phases of life. If a Beauceron parent decides to feed the pet with the commercial dry or wet food, he or she should ensure the first three ingredients are proteins from a known source.
The commercial dog food should neither contain preservatives, chemicals, additives, meat by-products, generic meat products, nor fillers. The same goes to the snacks. Dry or wet food should also be formulated for large sized puppies, adults, and senior depending on the age of your Beauceron. Check the physique of your pet to tell whether it is overweight or underweight.
If you can see the ribs, chances are the pooch is underweight. However, if the ribs are not visible but can be felt without pressing hard, a Beauceron has an ideal weight. If the ribs can’t be felt, the pet is overweight and should be exercised. Pet owners who want to switch to another quality food should gradually change the food type over a period of one month by mixing both new food and old food. As the weeks progresses, the amount of old food reduces as the new food increases until the Beauceron is only feeding on new food during the fourth week.
Beauceron Colors
A Beauceron may either have a black and tan color or gray, black and tan ( harlequin).
Beauceron Harlequin
A Beauceron may either have a harlequin or black and tan color. The harlequin is composed of three colors; gray, black, and tan. The base color is black and tan with a pattern of blue-gray patches distributed evenly over the body. The pattern markings should be balanced with the base color.
Beauceron Cropped Ears | Natural Ears | Ears
A Beauceron may either have natural or cropped ears. The natural ears may either be drop or half pricked whereas the cropped ears are carried upright neither divergent nor convergent.
Beauceron Dew Claws
One of the distinctive feature of a Beauceron is the double dew claws on the rear legs. The dewclaws should form well-separated thumbs with nails on each rear leg. Some dogs may be able to flex each of the dew claw individually since the dew claws are connected by bone.
Are Beauceron Aggressive
No, although they are wary of strangers. Beaucerons should be discerning and confident hence able to differentiate between a foe and a friend.
Do Beaucerons Shed
Yes. Beaucerons have a double coat that sheds all-year round at moderate levels and heavily while experiencing seasonal change in Spring and Fall.
Beaucerons Quick Facts
- They have distinctive double claws on the rear legs.
- Despite being an old breed, Beaucerons are relatively unknown outside their native country.
- A Beauceron is an eager learner that can be trained to a higher level.
