ln 1973 the first Belgian Tervuren entered our family Fabyola van Jaheneku's Hof. In that period there were very few Belgian Tervuren in the Netherlands and hardly any breeding, most dogs came from France or Belgium. Within the Netherlands there were only about 5 breeders of Belgian Tervuren. One of them was mister Jonkman, living in the tiny village Hoogeveen in the Northern part of our country, using the kennel name "Van Jaheneku's Hof". He also bred our Faby. I remember it was his F-litter and therefore my father decided to name her after the then Belgium queen Fabiola. Faby was a very brave and kind dog and always remained the queen of the "de la Tourbe". Latter dogs were always compared a little bit to her.
In 1975 my father Evert Everts registered the kennel name "De la Tourbe" with the Dutch kennelclub and bred his first litter of puppies. This litter was succeeded by a whole lot more, from which several succesful champions originated, like Endor de la Tourbe and Fedor de la Tourbe. After 1990 for personal reasons my father stopped breeding Belgian Tervurens, but he always kept one in his home. This holds for my whole family, as within my sisters and brothers homes one or more Tervurens are present.
So, I grew up surrounded by Belgian tervurens from my childhood and I'm wholehearted committed to these beautiful and nice dogs. Because of busy jobs, for a long time it was not possible for Karin and myself to keep one. We think it's a necessity to have sufficient time for a dog. Especially a Belgium shepherd needs a lot of time and attention to become a stable and nice dog.
In 2015 circumstances changed and Shirah (Sensi Djaïpur van 't Groenveld) became part of our family. As soon as she came to us, we started making plans to revive "De la Tourbe", but we waited to see how Shirah would grow up and evolve. She is mature now and became a beautiful and very nice Belgium Tervuren.
So we finally restarted and we hope to bring new, healthy, beautiful and kind "De la Tourbe"s into the world, that will bring a lot of joy to their families during the, as we hope, long years they live within their homes.
De la Tourbe is French for "out of peat". My father originates from the area where in the past peat was dug in Drenthe and now lives in the part of Frisia, where peat was dug in the past too. (Drenthe and Frisia are two Dutch provinces). Since breeding Belgian Shepherds in the past was based on a lot of French dogs a French kennelname seemed appropriate for a Belgian Shepherd kennel. All Belgian Tervuren born within our family received this kennel name behind their surname on the pedigrees and we now hope the extend this lineage.
Nice detail: my father breeds horses nowadays and alle horses are registered into the studbook with "DLT" at the end of their names.
