Wayne Katie Jess This is a subject that fascinates me. I'm engaging in Globalring because originally these protection sports were breed tests for police dogs. In North-Western Europe (predominantly Belgium, Germany, Holland, parts of France and later Britain) in the late 1800s and early 1900s farm dogs began to be used and selected for police dog programs. There was a massive variety in type and (I'm sure) attitude and working style. Think of the 'Belgian Shepherd'. To this day, there are 4 types/breeds- although only the malinois/mechelse herder is still a legitimate worker. Von Stephanitz worked for consistency in type and working ability in the Deutsche Schäferhund. A feature of that breed has been selecting for increasingly bigger dogs, and an increasing pressure by the show world and the FCI (This has also greatly effected Schutzhund/IPO). Bart Bellon mentioned that a famous dog he won the NVBK trials with was a Belgian/German cross, and most people know that modern Dutch KNPV dogs are a mix of Northern European shepherd breeds (along with pitbull and other stuff). For reasons of selection, the breeds have gone in different directions, but historically they were probably much more similar. None of this changes the fact that the mechelse herder (malinois) is the number 1 breed in the world, and NVBK Ring the best sport!!!