THIS IS THE STORY OF VAN'T BELGISCH SCHOON
written by Angela Barbe

Cassius, born 1975		Welcome to our home

Our house		The Board

   My Grandfather had Groenendaels, without pedigrees, just after World War II. They were less typical, longer bodied and short coated, but definitely Groenendaels.

When Barry and I were just married, in 1972, Grandfather bought another one. This time again without a pedigree because he thought this was a waste of money. She was a beautiful puppy with an excellent character. We saw Anoeska grow up to be a magnificent dog and we loved her very much. We had to have one just like her, but with a pedigree.  

    However, in the early seventies there were just a few Groenendaels and we had never heard of the existence of a Belgian Shepherd Dog Club. We watched all the For Sale advertisements. We were looking for a puppy but we only found one who was an adult female of 18 months. After we contacted the owner we left from Lelystad to Amsterdam by bus as we didn't have our drivers licence yet.

   What we found was a female of a completely different type than what we were used to seeing from Grandfathers dogs. She was much smaller, shorter in body with a different coat and tiny ears. She was of a much better type but that we didn't know at the time and we liked Grandfathers Anoeska a lot better.

   Because it was hard to find a Groenendael in those days we bought her anyway and we went home with our first Groenendael "Anoescha van't Amstelhof".  The poor dog had already had 7 different owners, could not walk on a lead and every now and then, on her rear legs, she would do a complete somersault through the air. We arrived at the tramway station in rush hour and standing in a crowded tram Anoescha almost ate the fur coat off the lady next to us. We were thinking "what did we begin with?". It was a journey I will never forget. 

   When we arrived home we called a number attached to the pedigree, which was the number of the Dutch Belgian Shepherd Dog Club (N.V.B.H.)

   Anoescha had a lot of free space in the new, growing town of Lelystad and started a strict education. She became a great dog with lots of character and a very good but strong temperament. In the year 1975, after a few shows and lot more richer from the experience , we mated her to Ch. Santa v. h. Skepershoes. Anoescha had two puppies, one female and one male. We kept the male ourselves and he became our first Dutch Ch. Cassius, without a kennelname but from there we were carried away with breeding Groenendaels.

   So, the kennelname "van't Belgisch Schoon" was born.

Honey-Black & Lann Moria		A proud Barry with Iris, Xurits and Honey-Black

   Many other dogs followed, mostly from Belgium where people could find us on a regular basis. Later on of course and in France, by means of our top results from the French Specialties, our name and dogs became known all over the world. Our major breakthrough came with Multi-Ch. HD- Honey-Black van't Belgisch Schoon. She was a very fine show- and breedingdog who gave birth to many Champions with the most known to be Multi-Ch. Othiz van't Belgisch Schoon. 

   After Barry and I bred many Champions, who were all handled by Barry, the worst thing in my life happened; On January 26, 1998, Barry passed away by means of a heart attack, just like that. From one moment to another, he was gone. He was my life, the father of our children, the grandfather of our grandchild and the best friend one can have. He was only 44 years old.

   At first I could not understand why this was happening to me and I almost lost my mind for a period of time. I had to go on with my life, for my children, grandchildren and my dogs. It was a very difficult period of my life!

Angela

   Note: Angela Barbé had still much hope for her future and the future of the kennel. She found a new partner but then she got ill and Angela died in August 21, 2004. The story of Angela and Barry Barbe ends here.
With all the great dogs Angela and Barry bred, the story of van 't Belgisch Schoon will live on. Many top dogs today and in the future will proudly carry the Belgisch Schoon name in their pedigree.