I've got to say I really am enjoying this thread as I have been going back and forth on getting a beauceron for quite some time now. That dog that Katie mentioned with whom is a FR3 in southern ca, I have also seen the dog, and it made me really consider getting one way back then. His breeder is very nice and was willing to work with me and supply me with information in regards to getting a higher drive dog. She has also bred beauceron who do well in agility, S&R, and even one who is working in dock diving. That FR3 dog is a great dog, but when it comes down to it, a rarity I find with the breed.

There are quite a few search and rescue dogs mainly that I know of. I have also talked to a breeder who works more along the lines of conformation and the dogs, though seemingly not as lively as I like, still look fantastic. They have the double dew claw look though that will definitely have to get some getting used to on my part.

I remember as of a year or two ago, I have only known of one being used in the U.S. for police work and I am sure that number might have changed by now. I have no clue as to what you will end up doing with this dog, but they do seem great. Not to take away from the other post about them being used in the french police unit, but that is news to me. There are a lot of people I have talked to who work their dogs in mainly Schutzhund who are constantly saying that the breed looks great but if they were so good, then why aren't they used by the french police. I have, as to not take away from this heard of them being used in multiple different police canine units all around Europe. This is what I have been told, and I remember countless times trying to figure out if the french police thing were true and I have no information yet to dispute it. By all means correct me if I am wrong.

The reason that I personally haven't gotten one is simply because I haven't had time to finish researching enough to feel comfortable with buying a puppy. The breedings by the most recommended breeders around the world actually include a lot of S&R dogs which are mainly female and with the males being used in Schutzhund. The Schutzhund males have either just a BH or sometimes a SchH 1.

Well I know I have left out many things that I have heard about this breed, mainly good but some bad, and as it comes I will try and add a little bit more to this thread. I know I will eventually get a dog from this breed, but I will say I will never give up owning my rottweilers. And I have only intentions to own a black and tan as I am partial to it, but that can always change.

Louise, you have a great looking dog right there. I look forward to hearing how he grows and develops. How much does he weight now? And what do you plan to do with him as he gets older?

-Lamarr

Vienna is real cute, we were looking at rott before but I had researched a bit the Beauceron 7 years ago before I got my dobie
and it seems like an attractive breed.
Dack is 71 pounds now and was born march 23/2009, he is quite strong (the broken toe is not easy) I had him in 2 classes of obedience and plan to do agility, I am open to other sports as well but I did not find much info in my area (Capital district of NY) I also heard that hey were trained as french police dogs but they are herders and Dack sure demonstrate this trait.

 Quote: Katie Finlay

Their ears are cropped, but I'm sure you can ask them not to (at least I think...).

The standard for these dogs are for the ears to NOT be cropped. I do FR with a fellow who just put a Brevet on his female who is a daughter of the famous Seneque from the 2005 French Ring Coupe. Here is a link to info on the dog with a video of her Brevet in Montreal last month. http://www.beauceron.ca/cherie2.html

He is writing a book on the history of the breed and a lot of other information can be found by looking through his website.

 Quote: Geoff Empey

 Quote: Katie Finlay

Their ears are cropped, but I'm sure you can ask them not to (at least I think...).

The standard for these dogs are for the ears to NOT be cropped.

It really depends on where you are. AKC calls for cropped or natural which is usually another way of saying cropped if you want to win in confirmation.

UKC is pretty much the same as AKC in their definition although I can pretty much guarantee you could finish in UKC.

It's hard to say what is and what is not in standard. Generally as a rule you won't find a standard that calls for a cropped ear or docked tails in a country where it is illegal. Wikipedia has a pretty good entry upon where that is the case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docking_%28dog%29

You should be able to ask for ears to be uncropped because it's done usually after puppy goes to their new home. It's usually up to the owner to decide what kind of crop if any to give the dog and to find a vet skilled enough to do a decent crop. This rule of course can vary from breeder to breeder, there are dobie folks who crop ears as young as 7 weeks.

 Quote: Melissa Thom

It really depends on where you are. AKC calls for cropped or natural which is usually another way of saying cropped if you want to win in confirmation.

UKC is pretty much the same as AKC in their definition although I can pretty much guarantee you could finish in UKC.

It's hard to say what is and what is not in standard. Generally as a rule you won't find a standard that calls for a cropped ear or docked tails in a country where it is illegal. Wikipedia has a pretty good entry upon where that is the case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docking_%28dog%29

In France where the origin of the breed is the standard is for uncropped. For me the breeds home country is the standard and if they say uncropped you'd think that the rest of the world would follow. France is one of those countries that it is illegal and frowned upon for surgically altering dogs to make them more pretty in the eye of the beholder for conformation.

Frankly it is the conformists who consistently take the work of of working dogs. Purdy does what purdy is. For the sake of what? All to get a ribbon that says CH so they can breed more purdy dogs. I find it really warped actually.

 Quote: Louise Ruggiero

Vienna is real cute, we were looking at rott before but I had researched a bit the Beauceron 7 years ago before I got my dobie and it seems like an attractive breed.

Thank you. Vienna is a great dog and has turned out to so far have everything I have been looking for in my rottweilers. As for your boy Dack, he is definitely large. I like that though, especially when you can get a larger dog who is very agile and athletic. As for finding things in your area, sometimes you might have to go outside of there in order to get a full range of things to do with your dogs. I have gotten into the habit of driving at least an hour one way in order to get to each of the training venues I like to do with my dogs.

I am also with Geoff with the ears thing. I believe the breeds country of origin determines the standard so there for the ears should not be cropped.

-Lamarr

My Beauceron obtained at 7 months had ears cropped already. IMO the flop ears somehow would have better suited her character: as an intelligent, sort of humourous, loyal, moderate yet courageous and dignified "farmdog" sort of dog.

At the same time I had her spayed I had the rear dew claws removed because I cringed as she ripped through the underbrush: a torn rear dew claw would have been a painful injury.

So for this dog 3 procedures before 7 months. This is a dog, not Pamela Anderson. IMO the unnecessary one was the cropping of ears.

Also, the way the beauceron flop ears sit is unlikely an infection problem like you can see in labs and cocker spaniels: so no good health argument for cropping.

There are a few older threads on beauceron here.

IMO Beauceron is a fantastic companion animal. My own came from two parents with "excellent" temperament evaluation in breed survey, and guess what, she is steadfast, reliable dog with my young family, other dogs, etc. She can be dominant with other dogs. She has pinned a dog or two that showed her aggression but has never hurt another dog. This is a rare event. She will "knock it off". She can accept other dogs on our property, even same sex if they are friendly.

She is a sensitive soft dog. She impresses the hell out of everyone. She is a "silent shadow" sort of dog much of the time but vigourous and physical in play. She is no trouble at all with our horses. She is very physically capable: 4' stall door: no problem: six foot fence: no problem. I can walk her at heel off leash within 100m of moose. recall: reliable.

In obedience, work is required to keep her "up." She can be environmentally sensitive. She can be enervated from time to time and does best with lots of exercise. this is IMO representive of the breed: Malik, a dog in most beauceron pedigrees as sire of Roi and grandsire of Ce, is reputed to have been viewed as having enervated temperament, but 30km a day of running worked a charm. At age two I skied with her 50km all off trail: on that day I am dead sure she ran more than 100km, and after a curl in the footwell of the car on the way home, was good to go with no evident fatigue. I skijor, mountain bike, run with this dog.

If you want a performance obedience or protection sport dog get something else. performance lines of beauceron tend to be highly inbred.

My beauceron was a near total outcross at 10 generations: a show dog bred to a working herding dog with ring titles within a couple of generations. nevertheless the %blood of key ancestors is still very high due to WWII bottle neck. rgds Andrew May

Well the breeder in MO didn't call her back so she found one in California. She sent her a deposit already for a "pet quality" dog. If you're interested in the name private message me and I'll let you know. The breeder in MO called her back after she'd sent the deposit to the California one. I don't think she was very smart about the whole thing myself. For as much money as she's spending I think she should have researched the breeder not just trust something she found on line. I'm frustrated at this point as she's going by just talking on the phone and seeing the dogs on the website. Anybody and set out a line of BS and set up a website. And the lady only took money orderss. Hello? She's supposed to try Shutzhund with it we'll see. Hopefully she'll find someone reputable. She's in a South Suburb of Chicago so if anyone has a line on a good trainer please let me know. Aye Vey!

Beaucerons are definately not the breed for everyone ( as others have already posted ).
They do have their quirks .
They do not like repetition and quickly become either 'flat' , wild 'n goofy or create their own version of what you were working on. ESPECIALLY on trial day !!!
My girl is VERY active and doesn't seem to have an off switch. She's always leaping, running and climbing everything.
We're having fun in agility where she has multiple titles. This spring she got her AKC TD.
The hardest thing has been getting prolonged focus and precision out of her. We're working very hard on this and she did manage to get her BH and TR1 recently. How much further we can go in SchH is hard to tell but I suspect it won't be much beyond a TR2 and OB2. Her protection work is something she clearly enjoys but I don't think she has the stuff to make it to a trial.

Anyway........ I think Beaucerons are a fun dog for an active person. If you want a high scoring show/trial winner then another breed would most likely be better suited .

Regardless of the breeder your friend chooses please remind her to do the health clearances research. Hip dysplasia is a concern in this breed.
Breeding stock should have their hips and elbows OFA'd or Pennhip certified. The breeder should be able to provide you with proof of this. Don't just take their word for it. Ask for proof and verify it.
There are also some cardiac issues starting to reported in the breed.
"Pet quality" ? Might want to check with the breeder on what they consider pet quality. Sometimes it's a conformation flaw ( white spot, poor tail set etc ) sometimes it's because of a lack of drive. Do they still offer a health guarentee on pet quality ? Not all breeders do.

Maybe you could get your friend to join the forum. She'll get lots of help with how to find a reputable breeder and then puppy raising stuff.
Good luck with the pup search.
Please be sure to share photos when it arrives

Below is my natural eared harlequin Beauceron having fun zooming through the agility course.

Actually it's my mother and the plan is in motion. I'm going with her to the airport to pick the puppy up at the beginning of Jan, I don't remember the exact date at the moment. My mother says the breeder has already cropped the ears which I think sounds odd, but I'm not current with the modern crops. I'll post a pic on photo bucket after we get her. Hopefully it won't be some kind of unkouwn hound dog