General Appearance

A strong, compact-looking dog of great symmetry, practically the same in measurement from shoulder to stern in height, absolutely free from legginess or weaselness, very elastic in his gallop, but in walking or trotting he has a characteristic ambling or pacing movement, and his bark should be loud, with a peculiar "pot-casse" ring in it. Taking him all round, he is a profusely, but not excessively coated, thick-set, muscular, able-bodied dog with a most intelligent expression, free from all Poodle or Deerhound character. Soundness should be considered of greatest importance.

Size

Twenty-two inches (56 cm) and upwards for dogs and slightly less for bitches. Type, character, and symmetry are of the greatest importance and are on no account to be sacrificed to size alone.

Coat and Colour

Coat profuse, but not so excessive as to give the impression of the dog being overfat, and of a good hard texture; not straight, but shaggy and free from curl. Quality and texture of coat to be considered above mere profuseness. Softness or flatness of coat to be considered a fault. The undercoat should be a waterproof pile, when not removed by grooming or season. Colour any shade of grey, grizzle, blue or blue-merled with or without white markings or in reverse. Any shade of brown or fawn to be considered distinctly objectionable and not to be encouraged.

Head

Skull: Capacious and rather squarely formed, giving plenty of room for brain power. The parts over the eyes should be well arched and the whole well covered with hair.

Muzzle: Fairly long, strong, square, and truncated. The stop should be well defined to avoid a Deerhound face. (The attention of judges is particularly called to the above properties as a long, narrow head is a deformity.)

Nose: Always black, large and capacious.

Mouth: Teeth strong and large, evenly placed and level in opposition. Eyes: Vary according to the colour of the dog. Very dark preferred, but in the glaucous or blue dogs a pearl, walleye, or china eye is considered typical. (A light eye is most objectionable.)

Ears: Medium sized, and carried flat to side of the head, coated moderately.

Neck

The neck should be fairly long, arched gracefully and well coated with hair.

Forequarters

The shoulders sloping and narrow at the points. The forelegs should be dead straight, with plenty of bone, removing the body a medium height from the ground, without approaching legginess, and well coated all around.

Body

The dogs stands lower at the shoulder than at the loin. Rather short and very compact, ribs well sprung and brisket deep and capacious. Slab-sidedness highly undesirable. The loin be very stout and gently arched.

Hindquarters

Should be round and muscular and with well-let-down hocks, and the hams densely coated with a thick, long jacket in excess of any other part. Feet small, round; toes well arched, and pads thick and hard.

Tail

It is preferable that there should be none. Should never, however, exceed 1 1/2 - 2 inches (4 - 5 cm) in grown dogs. When not natural-born bobtails, puppies should be docked at the first joint from the body and the operation performed when they are from three to four days old.

Faults

Softness or flatness of coat to be considered a fault. Any shade of brown or fawn to be considered distinctly objectionable and not to be encouraged. A long, narrow head is a deformity. A light eye is most objectionable. Slabsidedness highly undesirable.

Scale of Points

Skull	5
Eyes	5
Ears	5
Teeth	5
Nose	5
Jaw	5
Foreface	5
Neck and Shoulders	5
Body and Loin	10
Hindquarters	10
Legs	10
Coat (texture, quality and condition)	15
General Appearance and Movement	15
TOTAL	100