General appearance
Largest of
the terriers, a muscular, active, fairly cobby dog, without suspicion of legginess
or undue length of body.
Characteristics
Keen of expression, quick of movement, on the tip-toe of expectation at any
movement. Character denoted and shown by expression of eyes, and by carriage
of ears and erect tail.
Temperament
Outgoing and confident, friendly, courageous and intelligent.
Alert
at all times, not aggressive but fearless.
Gait-Movement
Legs carried straight forward. Forelegs move freely parallel to
the sides.
When approaching forelegs should form a continuation of the straight line
of the front, feet being same distance apart as elbows.
Propulsive power is furnished by hind legs.
Head
and skull
Skull long and flat, not too broad between ears, and narrowing
slightly to eyes.
Well balanced, with no apparent difference in lenght between skull and foreface.
Free from wrinkles, with stop hardly visible; cheeks level and free from fullness.
Foreface well filled up before eyes, not dishfaced or falling away quickly
below eyes, but a delicate chiselling prevents appearance of wedginess or
plainness.
Upper and lower jaws deep, powerfull, strong and muscular, as strength of
foreface is greatly desired.
No excess development of the jaws to give a rounded or bulging appearance
to the cheeks, as "cheekiness" is undesirable.
Lips tight, nose black.
Eyes
Dark in colour, small, not prominent, full of terrier expression, keeness
and intelligence.
Light or bold eye higly undesirable.
Ears
"V" shaped with a side carriage small but not out of proportion
to size of dog.
Top line of folded ear slightly above level of skull.
Pendulous ears or ears too high undesirable.
Mouth
Teeth strong. Jaws
strong . Scissor bite, i.e,Upper teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth
and set square to the jaws preferable, but vice-like bite acceptable. An overshot
or undershot mouth undesirable.
Neck
Clean, muscular, of moderate length and thickness, gradually widening towards
shoulders, and free from throatiness.
Forequarters
Shoulders long, well laid back, sloping obliquely, shoulder blades
flat.
Forelegs perfectly straight, with good bone.
Elbows perpendicular to body, working free of sides.
Body
Black short, strong,
straight and level, showing no slacknesss.
Loins muscular.
Ribs well sprung. In short-coupled and well ribbed-up dogs there is little
space between ribs and hips.
When dog is long in couplings some slackness will be shown here.
Chest deep (i.e. approximately level with elbows), but not broad.
Hindquarters
Thighs long and powerfull with muscular second thigh, stifles well
bent, turned neither in nor out. Hocks well let down, parrallel with each
other when viewed from behind.
Feet
Small, round and compact, with a good depth of pad, well cushioned,
and toes moderately arched, turning neither in nor out.
Tail
Set on high and carried gaily, not curled over back.
Good strength and substance.
Customarily docked.
Tip approximatively at the same height as top of skull.
Coat
Hard, dense and wiry, not so long as to appear ragged.
Lying straight and close, covering body and legs; outer coat hard, wiry and
stiff, undercoat shorter and softer.
Hardest coats are crinkling or just slightly waved. curly or soft coat highly
undesirable.
Colour
Body saddle black or grizzle as top of the neck and top surface.
All other parts tan.
Ears often a darker tan, and shading may occur round neck and side of skull.
A few white hairs, between forelegs acceptable.
Size
Height about 58-61cms. (23-24 ins.) for dogs, taken from top of
shoulder, and bitches about 56-59 cm. (22-23 ins.)
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.
Note
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into
the scrotum.
Breed
Standard
from the Kennel Club
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