Belgian Laekenois Dog Names

The Belgian Laekenois is a rare breed within the United States and Canada and is fully recognized by the United Kennel Club (UKC) and has finally been accepted into the American Kennel Club’s Foundation Stock Service (AKC FSS). Finding a breeder within North America can be a challenge, but there are several breeders within Europe including Casa Mont’Alves where Keapper, or Instant Devotion Da Casa Mont’Alves, was born. Keapper was born in October of 2012 and has been making a splash in the dog show world since 2014 when he won Best of Opposite Sex at the V PT BSD Regional Club Show under FCI judge Kelly Lawless. He went back to the V PT BSD Regional Club Show in 2016 and won Reserve Best in Show, meaning he was considered to be the second best dog entered at these shows in 2016. Keapper went on to earn his Portuguese Championship and was a PORTO Dog Show winner in 2017. Because of his successes in the show ring throughout Europe, Keapper was invited to attend the Crufts Dog Show in 2018. Crufts is the biggest dog show within Europe and is an invitational show where only dogs that have earned a certain number of points are awarded an invitation. While Keapper did not win anything big at Crufts, it was a big honor just to earn the invitation to go. Keapper does not live at Casa Mont’Alves Kennels; instead, he lives in a home in northern Portugal with a female Belgian Laekenois named Alicia, also from Casa Mont’Alves Kennels.

The Belgian Laekenois was not the first love of the owners of Casa Mont’Alves Kennels. They became a breed of interest when Degas, the first Belgian Tervuren at Casa Mont’Alves died suddenly. They knew they wanted another Belgian breed but were not ready to bring home another Tervuren. Their first Belgian Laekenois was a female named Christine, in honor of their friend Christine who helped them find a breeder. Unfortunately, Christine the Belgian Laekenois died while still very young due to severe health problems. After the death of Christine, they were gifted another Belgian Laekenois named Bugatti and then later purchased Denyah. Currently, Casa Mont’Alves has two female Belgian Laekenois, Denyah and Freyia. They also own a female named India who lives with the local fire department and is employed as their search and rescue dog. Their breeding male, James, lives with Bugatti at another kennel they co-breed in northern Portugal.