The Breed

The Kennel Club Breed Standard

The basis of breed shows is the judging of dogs against the 'Breed Standard', which is the prescribed blueprint of the particular breed of dog. For all licensed breed shows, The Kennel Club Breed Standards must be used for the judging of dogs.

General Appearance
A small, active and graceful dog; medium- to fine-boned, smooth hairless body, with hair on feet, head and tail only; or covered with a soft veil of hair.

Characteristics
Two distinct types of this breed; Deer type, racy and fine boned, and Cobby type, heavier in body and bone.

Temperament
Happy, never vicious.

Head and Skull
Slightly rounded and elongated skull. Cheeks cleanly chiselled, lean and flat, tapering into muzzle. Stop slightly pronounced but not extreme. Head smooth, without excess wrinkles. Distance from base of skull to stop equal to distance from stop to tip of nose. Muzzle tapering slightly but never pointed, lean without flews. Nose a prominent feature, narrow in keeping with muzzle. Any colour nose acceptable. Head presenting graceful appearance, with alert expression. Lips tight and thin. An ideal crest begins at the stop and tapers off down neck. Long and flowing crest preferred, but sparse acceptable.

Eyes
So dark as to appear black. Little or no white showing. Medium size, almond in shape. Set wide apart.

Ears
Set low: highest point of base of ear level with outside corner of eye. Large and erect, with or without fringe, except in Powder Puffs where drop ears are permissible.

Mouth
Jaws strong, with perfect, regular scissor bite, i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws.

Neck
Lean, free from throatiness, long and sloping gracefully into strong shoulders. When moving, carried high and slightly arched.

Forequarters
Shoulders clean, narrow and well laid back. Legs long and slender, set well under body. Elbows held close to body. Pasterns fine, strong, nearly vertical. Toes turned neither in nor out.

Body
Medium to long. Supple. Chest rather broad and deep, not barrel-ribbed. Breast bone not prominent. Brisket extending to elbows; moderate tuck-up.

Hindquarters
Rump well rounded and muscular, loins taut, stifles firm and long, sweeping smoothly into the well let down hocks. Angulation of the rear limbs must be such as to produce a level back. Hind legs set wide apart.

Feet
Extreme hare-foot, narrow and very long, with unique elongation of small bones between joints, especially in forefeet, which almost appear to possess an extra joint. Nails any colour, moderately long. Socks ideally confined to toes, but not extending above top of pastern. Feet turning neither in nor out.

Tail
Set high, carried up or out when in motion. Long and tapering, fairly straight, not curled or twisted to either side, falling naturally when at rest. Plume long and flowing, confined to lower two-thirds of tail. Sparse plume acceptable.

Gait/Movement
Long, flowing and elegant with good reach and plenty of drive.

Coat
No large patches of hair anywhere on body. Skin fine-grained, smooth, warm to the touch. In Powder Puffs coat consists of an undercoat with soft veil of long hair, veil coat a feature.

Colour
Any colour or combination of colours.

Size
Ideal height in dogs: 28-33 cms (11-13 ins) at withers; bitches: 23-30 cms (9-12 ins) at withers. Weight varies considerably, but should not be over 5.4 kgs (12 lbs).

Faults
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog.

Note
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.