General
Breed Standard:
GENERAL
APPEARANCE - In appearance
the Dalmatian should represent a strong, muscular, and active dog,
symmetrical
in outline, and free from coarseness and lumber, capable of great
endurance
combined with a fair amount of speed. The eyelids, or rather sears,
should
invariably be edged round with black or brown.
HEAD
- The head should be
of a fair length; the skull flat, rather broad between the ears, and
moderately
well defined at the temples (i.e. exhibiting a moderate amount of stop
and not in one straight line from the nose to the occiput bone as
required
in a Bull-terrier). It should be entirely free from wrinkle.
MUZZLE
- The muzzle should
be long and powerful; the lips clean, fitting the jaws moderately
close.
EYES
- The eyes should be
set moderately well apart, and of medium size, round, bright, and
sparkling,
with an intelligent expression, their colour greatly depending on the
markings
of the dog. In the black spotted variety the eyes should be dark (black
or dark brown), in the liver-spotted variety they should be light
(yellow
or light brown).
THE
RIM ROUND THE EYES -
In the black-spotted variety should be black, in the liver-spotted
variety
brown--never flesh-colour in either.
EARS
- The ears should be
set on rather high, of moderate size, rather wide at the base, and
gradually
tapering to a round point. They should be carried close to the head, be
thin and fine in texture, and always spotted--the more profusely the
better.
NOSE
- The nose in the black-spotted
variety should always be black, in the liver-spotted variety always
brown.
NECK
AND SHOULDERS - The
neck should be fairly long, nicely arched, light and tapering, and
entirely
free from throatiness. The shoulders should be moderately oblique,
clean,
and muscular, denoting speed.
BODY,
BACK, CHEST, AND LOINS
- The chest should not be too wide, but very deep and capacious, ribs
moderately
well sprung, never rounded like barrel hoops (which would indicate want
of speed), the back powerful, loin strong, muscular, and slightly
arched.
LEGS
AND FEET - The legs
and feet are of great importance. The fore-legs should be perfectly
straight,
strong, and heavy in bone; elbows close to the body; fore-feet round,
compact
with well-arched toes (cat-footed), and round, tough, elastic pads. In
the hind-legs the muscles should be clean, though well-defined; the
hocks
well let down.
NAILS
- The nails in the
black-spotted variety should be black and white in the liver-spotted
variety
brown and white.
TAIL
- The tail should not
be too long, strong at the insertion, and gradually tapering towards
the
end, free from coarseness. It should not be inserted too low down, but
carried with a slight curve upwards, and never curled. It should be
spotted,
the more profusely the better.
COAT
- The coat should be
short, hard, dense and fine, sleek and glossy in appearance, but
neither
woolly nor silky.
COLOUR
AND MARKINGS - These
are most important points. The ground colour in both varieties should
be
pure white, very decided, and not intermixed. The colour of the spots
of
the black-spotted variety should be black, the deeper and richer the
black
the better; in the liver-spotted variety they should be brown. The
spots
should not intermingle, but be as round and well-defined as possible,
the
more distinct the better; in size they should be from that of a
sixpence
to a florin. The spots on head, face, ears, legs, tail, and extremities
to be smaller than those on the body.
WEIGHT
& HEIGHT - Dogs,
55 lbs. and 23" to 24" high; bitches, 50 lbs. 22" to 23" high
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