MEET FORTUNE

The Fortune (Belgian Tervuren) Outcross

Although we had one F1 Boeke puppy in America from our European outcross, North America needed to get their own outcross going.

We chose Fortune, a Belgian Tervuren, for this endeavor.

The Tervuren was on our radar as a potential outcross because, though they look a lot like Shilohs, their genetics are very different. The German Shepherd (and derived breeds) score closer to the Mastiff and guardian breeds on DNA-typing than to the herding breeds, an oddity that scientists think might have resulted by breeding for guardian and military use in the early GSD. Being able to use a breed that would allow our dogs to return to breed type quickly, yet bring so much diversity, was a huge plus for us.

In addition, the Tervuren breed is less prone to (or free of) some of the more common diseases in Shilohs, like EPI and GSDIVA, allowing us to breed away from those disorders with this line.

Physically, the Tervuren brings shorter body proportions, longer neck, and small, strong ears, all things that are in our Shiloh breed standard that we felt we needed to reinforce.

Fortune himself was brought to our attention through our ISSA Vice President, who had owned Tervurens for many years herself, and was still in touch with her previous breeder. That breeder had been involved with Tervurens for multiple decades of breeding and training, and was extremely familiar with the breed—her own lines in particular regarding health and temperament. She was able to suggest Fortune for our program as he was a dog with moderate energy and drive for his breed, with above-average size (27” at the shoulder) and good health data (heart, hips, and elbows) behind his lines.

We tried breeding Fortune for 2 years and experienced many setbacks, but the Mixal/Fortune litter finally happened! The pups were born in early 2022, two males and two females. Keep an eye on this page to read about how they are turning out! We’ve organized the information from most-recent to oldest to help you keep up with the latest news.

• You can go to our Breeders page here!


• Looking for your own Shiloh Shepherd puppy? Read about our upcoming litters--including outcross litters--here!