- All colours are acceptable except white and the colour of the undercoat varies according to the shade of the top coat.
- A white mark on the chest or the tips of the toes is acceptable without being sought after.
- The coat is often formed from a mixture of grey, black and fawn hairs
- a grey coat going from pale grey to dark grey
- a brownish, red or straw coloured coat
About the Bouvier des Ardennes
Origin: Belgium
- Typical life span
- 10-12 years
- Size
- Large — from its typical weight
- Weight
- Male
- 27-34 kg
- Female
- 23-29 kg
- Height
- Male
- 56-61 cm
- Female
- 52-56 cm
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Sheepdogs and Cattledogs (except Swiss Cattledogs)
- Origin
- Belgium
- Also called
- Boyero de Las Ardenas
- Known hereditary risks
- Not researched yet
About
What is a Bouvier des Ardennes?
Medium-sized, hardy and rustic herding dog from the Belgian Ardennes, characterized by a harsh, shaggy double coat, robust build, and impressive endurance with a courageous temperament
Bouvier des Ardennes history and origins
Ancient Belgian herding breed from the Ardennes region, traditionally used to drove cattle and pigs. Nearly extinct after the World Wars due to mechanization of farming but successfully revived by enthusiasts in the late 1980s
Bouvier des Ardennes appearance and size
Males typically weigh 27-34 kg and stand 56-61 cm at the shoulder; females 23-29 kg and 52-56 cm.
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Originally a true cattle dog, used to the open air and to the tough work of rounding-up, guarding and driving cattle. Even today with a minimum of training for maximum efficacity, it is a good all-purpose working dog and a specialised guard of stock and property
- Behaviour and temperament
“The Bouvier des Ardennes is a dog which shows much endurance and energy. It is playful, curious, agile and sociable and its main quality is its adaptability, so that it feels at ease in every situation. It is obstinate and extremely courageous when it comes to defending its people, its belongings and its territory”
Quoted from FCI standard n°171. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Characteristics
- Size
- Large
- Exercise needs
- —
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- 5 of 5
- Grooming needs
- 4 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- Not researched yet
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Bouvier des Ardennes
What you get with the Bouvier des Ardennes
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Originally a true cattle dog, used to the open air and to the tough work of rounding-up, guarding and driving cattle”
- The standard describes the breed as: “The Bouvier des Ardennes is a dog which shows much endurance and energy”
What you are taking on
- High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “The forearms are covered by shorter dry hair, a little shaggy, giving them a somewhat…”
- Expect a lot of shedding — “The undercoat is very dense whatever the season and even more abundant in winter,…”
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
FCI standard · Bouvier des Ardennes
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording.
Coat
The coat must allow the dog to live outside, to guard and drive herds, however extreme its local atmospheric conditions may be.
The topcoat must be dry, coarse and tousled, about 6 cm long over all the body but shorter and flatter on the skull, even with the presence of eyebrows.
The hair must form a moustache and a little beard about 5-6 cm long and hide the internal corner of eye.
The forearms are covered by shorter dry hair, a little shaggy, giving them a somewhat cylindrical aspect with the addition of short fringes on the back of the limbs.
The back of the thighs has longer hair making the breeches.
The outer side of the ears is covered with soft straight short hair with occasional longer hairs.
The auditory canal is protected by longer hairs which blend with those from the collar effect of backward sloping hairs around the neck.
The spaces between the pads are filled with very short hairs.
The undercoat is very dense whatever the season and even more abundant in winter, protecting the dog from extremes of weather.
It is also present on the limbs.
Its length is about half that of the top coat
Colour
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Shortened from FCI standard n°171 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
What the breed standard says
- Size
- “Height at withers: 56 - 62 cm for males. 52 - 56 cm for females. With a tolerance of plus or minus one centimetre. Weight: 28 - 35 kg for males. - 28 kg for females”
- FCI states a tolerance around the figure.
Quoted from FCI standard n°171. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Bouvier des Ardennes in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
What to ask for in a Bouvier des Ardennes
No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the Bouvier des Ardennes on this platform yet. That is a gap in our records, not a clean bill of health — ask the breeder which hereditary conditions their lines are tested for, and ask to see the results for both parents, dated and from a named laboratory.
Gallery
No photographs yet
This is where Bouvier des Ardennes owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.
A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.
Puppies
No puppies listed right now
No Bouvier des Ardennes breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.