Established:  July 1995

Welcome to the Schipperke Pages! Those of you who have never met a Schipperke before are in for a treat! It is unfortunate that this page cannot do more justice to this delightful breed of dogs than to simply show you pictures. But we're bound by the nature of the media (and a limited amount of file storage space).

The maintainer of the Schipperke Pages is not a Schipperke breeder. These are breed pages as opposed to breeder pages. Since I cannot check out all the breeders personally, I believe it best for you to contact the NSCA Breeder Referal Representative if you want to contact a responsible Schip breeder.

The purpose of these pages is to introduce "Schipperke Basics" to those who are not aquainted with the breed. Schipperkes are unusual dogs, and it is important that potential owners are fully aware of their characteristics before considering the purchase of one.

Schip Info from Belgium

For those of you who don't know... the Schipperke breed originated in Belgium.

I have been in contact with a wonderful man in Belgium who is providing me with all sorts of tidbits about Schipperkes - including the correct pronounciation of the breed name.  Being the generous sort that he is, Mr. Wally Horemans even took the time to record a wav file for us.  Click on the button to download the file and hear him pronounce "Schipperke":

So, regarding the pronounciation of "Schipperke": most Americans pronounce it skipperkey although some prefer the more accurate shipperkey.   My preference?  My last name is of German descent and I took some German a few years back, so I automatically began pronouncing it it shipperkey when I first got my pup.  I feel that, in general, it's a more accurate pronounciation.  As it turns out, the correct pronounciation is a sort of combination of the two.  It's pronounced sort of like sh-kee-ip-er-kuh, and actually means "small shepherd" in Flemish.   There's no real English equivalent for the correct pronounciation, but we can get close.

I received a letter from the maintainers of the AKC webpages, confirming that Schipperke means "small shepherd" rather than "little captain".

Wally has created some beautiful Belgian Shepherd pages in Belgium, which includes yet more information on the real history behind Schipperkes.  The Schipperke is part of the family of Belgian Shepherds, along with the Mechelse, Groenendaeler, Tervuren, and Laekense Shepherds.

Regarding the Schip Pics page... to those who have sent me notes and cute Schip pics: thank you!  These pages haven't been updated in quite some time, but I hope to get to them soon.  My own pup has been keeping me pretty busy.  :)

To those who intend to send me Schip pics in the future: I appreciate your contributions! Please, if you send me pics via email, choose the best pic you have and only send one. I love seeing your pics, but getting them from downloaded email is slow on my connection.   Also, when sending them as attachments to email make sure the are attached separately rather than as part of the text.  Please give the attachments a name other than schip.gif, skip.gif, and other common Schip-terms - it make the pics a lot easier for me to keep track of, and to know who is who.  Perhaps use your last name rather than your dog's name.  Thanks!

The Basics  Basic information about the Schipperke breed.  Do you have questions about Schipperkes?  If so, please read this section.  I cannot, however, refer you to breeders of Schips.  I do not keep a breeder list.  Please go to the Resources page for information about breeder referral.  The AKC has a page with basic Schip info and the AKC breed standards, too.

Schipperke History  Info about the origins of our beloved Schipperkes.  Apparently it's not what we'd thought it was after all!

Schipperke Pictures

Schipperke Letters  Letters from readers of the Schipperke Pages.

Other Schipperkes Online!   A list of some Schipperkes with webpages on the Internet.

Schipperke and Dog Related Resources   Here is where to go if you have questions about breeders, Schip rescue, clubs and associations, written resources, and other canine resources. Also, how to subscribe to the various Schipperke email lists.  I do not maintain a Schipperke email list myself.  If you have questions about Schipperkes you need to ask, please subscribe to one of the mailing lists and ask your questions there.  Due to the tremendous amount of email these webpages generate, I am unable to respond to questions about Schipperkes in email.

Schipperke Stuff   A list of some vendors with Schip products.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dogs. An excellent resource maintained by Cindy Tittle More.

Some Other Dog Related WWW Sites

Other Miscellaneous Dog Topics...

• I learned of a breed of dog that was bred from Alaska Huskies, American Eskimo, and Schipperkes:  the Klee Kai.  I know, as yet, little about the breed but wanted to include a link to some pages that I've found regarding them. The Klee Kai Kennellette.

The Schip drawings on this page are the kind contribution of Anthony Waters.  Thanks, Anthony!  If you would like to send him comments about his graphics, email them to me at  baubo@eskimo.com  and I will forward them on to him.  If you're interested in seeing him do more Schipperke pictures, let me know... because I'm interested in them and would like to see more, too.  Stationery, tshirts, stamps - there are all sorts of possibilities.