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Beauceron breeders

About the Beauceron The Beauceron is a large French herding breed in the Royal Kennel Club (RKC) Pastoral group.

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Advertise your Beauceron puppies, litters and stud dogs

Breeding Beaucerons? Put your kennel on caninebreeder.co.uk, the independent UK breeder directory, so people searching for Beauceron puppies for sale can see your litters, planned matings and contact details. You can advertise Beauceron puppies for sale, list a Beauceron stud dog, and add your hip scores, breed club membership and location to your profile. A basic breeder profile is free. Add your kennel or see pricing for featured options.

No breeders are listed here yet, so the first profiles get the page to themselves.

  • Free basic profile: your breeder or company name, website, social media, location, breeds and industries.
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  • Sponsored articles about your breed or industry, written and published by our team.
  • Featured placement at the top of this page, labelled as sponsored.

Create your free breeder profile Advertise a litter Advertise a stud dog

Is it free to advertise here?

Yes. A breeder profile and your litter and stud dog adverts are free. Premium profiles, featured placement and sponsored articles are optional paid extras; see pricing.

Do I need a licence to advertise puppies?

In England you need a dog breeding licence from your council if you breed three or more litters in 12 months or breed and sell dogs as a business, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes. Licensed breeders show their licence number and issuing council on every advert. Puppies must be at least eight weeks old before they go to new homes.

Is my listing already here?

We add licensed breeders from councils' public registers. Search for your kennel name; if it is listed you can claim it and edit everything.

About the Beauceron

About the Beauceron

The Beauceron is a large French herding breed in the Royal Kennel Club (RKC) Pastoral group. The RKC traces it to the sheepdogs of the Beauce plains, though the Beauceron Club UK notes that it was found across northern France. Farmers used it to herd and guard sheep and cattle, and the club dates the breed back to around 1560. French names for it include Berger de Beauce and Bas Rouge ("red stockings"), the second taken from the tan on its legs.

The short-coated Beauceron and the long-coated Briard come from similar stock. A French vet separated the two types in 1893, and the Beauceron gained its own French breed club in 1911. Beaucerons served in both world wars, including as messenger and search and rescue dogs.

The first Beaucerons came to the UK in 1990. The breed was recorded on the Kennel Club's Import Register until 1 July 2014, then transferred to the Breed Register and the Pastoral group.

Size and build

The standard calls for a large, solid, muscular dog without heaviness. Dogs measure 65 to 70 cm at the withers and bitches 61 to 68 cm. A distinctive requirement is double dewclaws on the hind legs, set close to the foot; a dog without them is unacceptable under the standard. The RKC gives a lifespan of over 10 years.

Coat and grooming

The outer coat is coarse and lies flat, about 3 to 4 cm long on the body and shorter on the head, over a soft, dense undercoat. Two colours are accepted: black and tan, and harlequin, which has grey and black patches with the same tan markings. The RKC records that the breed sheds and suggests grooming more than once a week.

Exercise and home

The RKC lists more than two hours of exercise a day, a large house with a large garden, and a country rather than town setting.

Temperament and suitability

The RKC describes a quiet, confident loyal companion and guard dog, and the standard asks for a bold, fearless and intelligent temperament. The breed club stresses firm but gentle training, close contact with people and plenty of socialisation from puppyhood, and notes that Beaucerons today take part in tracking, agility and obedience. Browse Beauceron breeders, the wider Pastoral group, or our guides to dog sports and farm and working dogs.

Beauceron health tests

Health and screening

The RKC's health guidance for the Beauceron sets one Good Practice priority, prioritising genetic diversity, and one Best Practice test, hip scoring under the BVA/KC Hip Dysplasia Scheme. It asks responsible breeders to complete both. The RKC does not currently offer a breed-specific DNA test package for the Beauceron.

For the hip scheme, a dog must be at least a year old and microchipped. Each hip is scored from 0 to 53, so totals run from 0 to 106, and a lower score is better. The BVA's Canine Health Schemes advise breeding only from dogs whose scores are under, or near, the breed median.

The breed is in Breed Watch Category 1, so no breed-specific points of concern have been flagged to show judges.

There is also a registration rule. The RKC will not register puppies whelped on or after 6 July 2010 from a tricolour-to-tricolour mating, citing risks to sight and hearing. The Beauceron Club UK, whose history page calls the harlequin colour tricolour, says it worked with the Kennel Club to ban harlequin-to-harlequin matings. Recorded results for RKC-registered dogs appear on the Health Test Results Finder.

  • Genetic diversity: check the inbreeding coefficient of a planned mating (RKC Good Practice)
  • BVA/KC Hip Dysplasia Scheme (RKC Best Practice)
  • No RKC breed-specific DNA test package currently offered
  • Registration restriction: no RKC registration for puppies from tricolour-to-tricolour matings whelped on or after 6 July 2010
  • Breed Watch: Category 1

Choosing a Beauceron breeder

Choosing a Beauceron breeder

A responsible Beauceron breeder has both parents hip scored under the BVA/KC scheme before mating and can show you the results, which you can also look up on the RKC Health Test Results Finder. Because the RKC names genetic diversity as Good Practice for this breed, expect the breeder to have checked the inbreeding coefficient of the pairing. They should also be able to tell you the colour of each parent, since the RKC will not register puppies from a tricolour-to-tricolour mating.

You should see the puppies with their mother, and every puppy must be microchipped and registered by eight weeks old. In England, a council licence is needed by anyone who runs a dog breeding business advertising dogs for sale, or who breeds three or more litters in 12 months and sells any of the puppies. Expect a good breeder to ask about your home, your time and your experience, because this is a large herding and guarding breed. Read our buyer safety guide before you pay anything.

  • Can I see both parents' BVA/KC hip scores, and how do they compare with the breed median?
  • What is the inbreeding coefficient of this mating?
  • What colour are the sire and dam?
  • How have the puppies been socialised so far, and what support do you offer after collection?
  • Are you a Beauceron Club UK member, and do you hold a breeding licence?

Beauceron questions

Why do Beaucerons have double dewclaws?

The breed standard requires double dewclaws on the hind legs, set close to the foot, and treats their absence as unacceptable. The Beauceron Club UK explains that they are true toe joints rather than simple dewclaws, and that French farmers saw them as the mark of a genuine working Beauceron.

How much exercise does a Beauceron need?

The RKC lists more than two hours a day. It also suggests a large house and a large garden, with a country home preferred to a town one, which reflects the breed's background as a farm dog.

What health tests should a Beauceron breeder have done?

The RKC lists prioritising genetic diversity as Good Practice and hip scoring under the BVA/KC Hip Dysplasia Scheme as Best Practice, and asks breeders to do both. It offers no breed-specific DNA test package at present. It also refuses to register puppies whelped from 6 July 2010 onwards from tricolour-to-tricolour matings.

What colours do Beaucerons come in?

The breed standard accepts black and tan, and harlequin, which combines grey and black patches with the usual tan markings. A faint white spot on the chest is tolerated, but any other colour is unacceptable. The tan on the legs gives the breed its French nickname, Bas Rouge.

More for Beauceron owners and breeders

Official sources