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| Written by Administrator | |
| Sunday, 01 February 2009 12:29 | |
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The Original British Standard with Historic Commentary Standard and Description of the correct appearance and the several points in detail of a perfectly formed bulldog as adolpted by The Bulldog Club (Incorporated). The following description of the Purebreed Old English Bulldog has been compiled by The Bulldog Club (1875), as the correct standard type of excellence in the breed, after carefully obtaining all obtainable opinions. In forming a judgement of any specimen of the breed, the general appearance - which is the first impression the dog makes as a whole on the eye of a judge - should be first considered. Secondly should be noticed its size, shape, and make, or rather its proportions in the relation they bear to each other. (No point should be so much in excess of the others as to destroy the general symmetry, or make the dog appear deformed, or interfere with its powers of motion, etc.) Thirdly, his style, carriage, gait, temper and his several points should be considered seperately in detail, as follows, due allowance being made for the bitch, which is not so grand or as well developed as the dog: 1. The general appearance of the Bulldog is that of a smooth coated, thick-set dog, rather low in stature, but broad, powerful and compact. Its head strikingly massive, and large in proportion to the dog's size. Its face extremely short. Its muzzle very broad, blunt and inclined upwards. Its body short and well-knit; the limbs stout and muscular. Its hind quarters very high and strong, but rather lightly made in comparison with its heavily made foreparts. The dog conveys an impression of determination, strength, and activity, similar to that suggested by the appearance of a thick-set Ayrshire or Highland bull. 2. The skull should be very large - the larger the better - and in circumference should measure (round in front of the ears) at least the height of the dog at the shoulders. Viewed from the front, it should appear very high from the corner of the lower jaw to the apex of the skull, and also very braod and square. The cheeks should be well rounded and extend sideways beyond the eyes. Viewed at the side, the head should appear very high, and very short from its back to the point of the nose. The forehead should be flat, neither prominent nor overhanging the face; and the skin upon it and about the head very loose, hanging in large wrinkles. 3. The temples or frontal bones should be very prominent, broad, square and high, causing a deep and wide groove between the eyes. This indentation is termed the "stop," and should be both broad and deep, and extend up the middle of the forehead, dividing the head vertically, being traceable at the top of the skull. 4. The eyes, seen from the front, should be situated low down in the skull, as far from the ears as possible. Their corners should be in a straight line right angles with the stop, and quite in front with the head. They should be wide apart as possible, provided their outer corners are within the outline of the cheeks. They should be quite round in shape, of moderate size, neither sunken nor prominent, and in color should be very dark - almost, if not quite black, showing no white when looking directly forward. 5. The ears should be set high in the head - i.e., the front inner edge of each ear should (as viewed from the front) join the outline of the skull at the top corner of such outline, so as to place them as wide apart, and as high and as far from the eyes as possible. In size they should be small and thin. The shape termed "rose ear" is the most correct. The "rose ear" folds inwards at its back, the upper or front edge curving over outwards and backwards, showing part of the inside of the burr. 6. The face, measured from the front of the cheekbone to the nose, should be as short as possible, and its skin should be deeply and closely wrinkled. The muzzle should be short, broad, turned upwards, and very deep from the corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth. The nose should be large, broad and black; its top should be deeply set back, almost between the eyes. The distance from the inner corner of the eye ( or from the center of the stop between the eyes ) to the extreme tip of the nose should not exceed the length from the tip of the nose to the edge of the underlip. The nostrils should be large, wide and black, with a well-defined straight line between them. 7. The flews, called the "chop", should be thick, broad, pendant and very deep, hanging completely over the lower jaw at the sidess (not in front). They should join the underlip in front, and quite cover the teethe, which should not be seen when the mouth is closed. 8. The jaw should be broad, massive and square, the canine teeth, or tusks, wide apart. The lower jaw should project considerable in front of the upper and turn up. It should be broad and square, and have six small teeth between the canines in an even row. The teeth should be large and strong. 9. The neck should be moderate in length (rather short than long), very thick, deep and strong. It should be well arched at the back, with much loose, thick, and wrinkled skin about the throat, forming a dewlap on each side, from the lower jaw to the chest. The chest should be very wide laterally, round, prominent and deep, making the dog appear very broad and short-legged in front. 10. The shoulders should be broad, slanting and deep, very powerful and muscular. 11. The brisket should be capacious, round and very deep from the top of the shoulders to its lowest part where it joins the chest, and be well let down between the forelegs. It should be large in diameter, and round behind the forelegs (not flat sided, the ribs being well rounded). The body should be well ribbed up behind, with the belly tucked up, and not pendulous. 12. The back should be short and strong, very broad at the shoulder, and comparatively narrow at the loins. There should be a slight fall to the back close behind the shoulders (its lowest part), whence the spine should rise to the loins (the top of which should be higher than the top of the shoulders), thence curving again more suddenly to the tail, forming an arch - a distinctive characteristic of the breed termed "roach-back," or more correctly "wheel-back." 13. The tail, termed the "stern", should be set on low, jut out rather straight, then turn downwards, the end pointing horizontally. It should be quite round in its own length, smooth and devoid of fringe or coarse hair. It should be moderate in length - rather short than long - thick at the root, and tapering quickly to a fine point. It should have a downward carriage (not having a decided upward curve at the end or being screwed or deformed), and the dog should, from its shape, not be able to raise it over its back. 14. The forelegs should be very stout and strong, set wide apart, thick, muscular and straight, with well-developed calves presenting a rather bowed outline, but the bones of the legs should be large and straight, not bandy or curved. They should be rather short in proportion to the hind legs, but not so short as to make the back appear long or detract from the dog's activity, and so cripple him. The elbows should be low, and stand well away from the ribs. The ankles, or pasterns, should be short, straight and strong. The forefeet should be straight, and turn very slightly outward, of medium size and moderately round. The toes compact and thick, being well split up, making the knuckles prominent and high. 15. The hind legs should be large and muscular, and longer in proportion than the forelegs, so as to elevate the loins. The hocks should be slightly bent and well let down, so as to be long and muscular from the loins to the point of the hock. The lower part of the leg should be short, straight and strong. The stifles should be round, and turned slightly outwards away from the body. The hocks are thereby made to appraoch each other, and the hind feet to turn outwards. The latter, like the forefeet, should be round and compact, with the toes well split up and the knuckles prominent. From his formation the dog has a peculiar heavy, and constrained gait, appearing to walk with short quick steps on the tip of his toes, his hind feet not being lifted high, but appearing to skim the ground, and running with the right shoulder advanced, similar to the manner of a horse in cantering. 16. The most desirable size for the Bulldog is about 50 lbs. 17. The coat should be fine in texture, short, close and smooth (hard only from its shortness and closeness, not wiry). Its color should be whole or smut (that is, a whole color with a black mask or muzzle). The colors in their order of merit, if bright and pure, are, first, whole colors and smuts - viz. brindles, reds, white, with their varieties, as whole fawns, fallows, etc.: second, pied and mixed colors.
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 29 May 2010 08:12 ) |
