We started "Van Het Berkenmeer" kennel in 1985 and bred two litters of German Shepherds. We trained one of them, Max van het Berkenmeer.
In 1994 we bought our first Malinois, his name was Nobody. Jeannine competed with him in 1995 at the Championnat DMC, 1995 Reserve dog EK Belgium Shepherd in Bredene and competed in WC FMBB 1996 in Parma Italy. We started our Malinois breeding program in 1998 with a very strong female Claire v. Greifenring. In 2003 together with their son they started Negundor kennel.
Van Het Berkenmeer and Negundor is a small and exclusive kennel. We only breed a few times a year. Our dogs are competing on National IPO teams, also working with Special Ops military teams, Border Police, and Special Forces, worldwide. Some people have had them as pets, and they become part of the family..
Marc and I started working with dogs in 1979, first with German Shepherds then with Malinois. We are dedicated to breeding, to consistently breed working dogs that excel in not only sport, but in police work. It takes a lot of time and energy. We are very critical and hard in choosing our females. The female is everything the puppies are influenced by when they are born. We will not breed with any nervous dogs, some people confuse temperment with a nervous dog. We want a dog with a lot of temperament, but stable with strong solid nerves. We want our dogs to have what nature brings to them from proper breeding, not from what is learned. A dog cannot give to their puppies what they have learned but only what comes from inside them.
We train our dogs in IPO and in Mondio. We have brought our dogs to the World Championships, and are very proud for Marc to have won the prestigious Belgium National Championship 2 times for all breeds. First with his German Shepherd Feherretid Harri in 1996 and in 2009 with Malinois Negundor Cobe. And we are double proud because I have won the Belgium Championship for Malinois with Cobe. This is the first time in history that a husband and wife have won both titles in one year, both trials being held 1 month apart.
Marc and I are a team training together 6 or 7 days a week. Early mornings are set aside for tracking. We start with puppies when they are very young. We train at our club 3 times a week. On days we are not at our club we visit other clubs and train with them. Obedience and protection training is mostly done at the clubs. When we prepare for a trial our schedule changes and fine tune all three phases of the IPO trial hoping to peak the dog for the day of trial. If you are in any dog sport you understand the time and devotion it takes to excel. Working with dogs is not easy, we try to train each dog different, depending on their temperament and character, every dog is different the same as people. In training it is very important that you always respect your dog, he is your friend. If you do not have this attitude, do not expect your dog to respect you.
Our next generation, our granddaugther Noa is learning to love and work the dogs.
We thank our friend Fred Fitzgerald to support us always, also many thanks to our helper for many years, Marc Adriaens. We also thank both our recent helpers Mario Geerts & Matty Berghuis !
I will keep on breeding healthy and strong dogs - Marc & Noa also going to work with German Shepherds.
Our kennelname Van het Berkenmeer we wil use for Malinois and Negundor for Miniature Schnauzer
Onze fokkerij starte in 1985 met 2 nestjes Duitse Herders. In 1994 kochten we onze eerste Mechelaar "Nobody" waarmee Jeannine in 1995 deelnam aan het Championnat DMC, in 1995 ook reserve was op het EK Belgische Herders te Bredene en in 1996 deelnam aan het WK FMBB te Parma Italië waar we een 25ste plaats behaalden.
in 1998 starten we onze Mechelfokkerij met Claire van Greifenring. Hiermee bouwden we onze kennel op. Claire was een zeer temperamentvolle en sterke teef die haar eigenschappen uitstekende doorgaf aan haar nakomelingen.
Marc was verschillende malen deelnemer aan de Wereldkampioenschappen FCI en FMBB met onze eigen fok Negundor Cobe, in 1996 won hij de Grote Prijs van België met zijn Duitse Herder Feherretid Harrie en in 2009 won hij deze titel met Negundor Cobe, Jeannine won ditzelfde jaar met Negundor Cobe het Kampioenschap Belgische Herders.
Onze kleindochter Noa vergezelt ons reeds jaren naar de werldkampioenschappen en kan reeds aardig overweg met onze honden. Zeker willen we onze vriend Fred Fitzgerald bedanken, maar op de eerste plaats willen we zeker onze jarenlange pakwerker Marc Adriaens bedanken voor zijn werk, we willen onze huidige pakwerkers Mario Geerts & Matty Berghuis reeds bedanken voor het werk dat ze nu leveren.
Ikzelf blijf proberen sterke gezonde honden te fokken, Noa en Marc gaan zich ook bezighouden met Duitse Herders, de naam Van het Berkenmeer blijft behouden bij de Mechelaar en Negundor voor de fok van de Dwergschnauzer
Onze hondenvoeding: Pro Plan: https://www.purina.be/nl/merken/pro-plan
Ons vervoer wordt gedaan door: http://www.wt-metall.be
Marc & Jeannine Heylen-Geentjens
Phone: +32 (0)477/572 367
e-mail: vhberkenmeer@gmail.com