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AKC
Breed Standards
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General
Appearance
A
compact, closely knit dog of medium size, a leggy dog having
the appearance, as well as the agility, of a great ground
coverer. Strong, vigorous, energetic and quick of movement.
Ruggedness, without clumsiness, is a characteristic of the
breed. He can be tailless or have a tail docked to approximately
four inches.
Size,
Proportion, Substance
Height - 17 1/2 to 20
1/2 inches, measured from the ground to the highest point
of the shoulders. Any Brittany measuring under 17 1/2 inches
or over 20 1/2 inches shall be disqualified from dog show
competition.
Weight - Should weigh between 30 and 40 pounds.
Proportion - So leggy is he that his height at the shoulders is the same as
the length of his body.
Body Length - Approximately the same as the
height when measured at the shoulders. Body length is measured
from the point of the forechest to the rear of the rump. A
long body should be heavily penalized.
Substance - Not too light in bone, yet never
heavyboned and cumbersome.
Head
Expression - Alert and
eager, but with the soft expression of a bird dog.
Eyes - Well set in head. Well protected from
briars by a heavy, expressive eyebrow. A prominent, full or
popeye should be heavily penalized. It is a serious fault in
a dog that must face briars. Skull well chiseled under the
eyes, so that the lower lid is not pulled back to form a pocket
or haw that would catch seeds, dirt and weed dust. Preference
should be for the darker colored eyes, though lighter shades
of amber should not be penalized. Light and mean-looking eyes
should be heavily penalized.
Ears - Set high, above the level of the eyes.
Short and triangular, rather than pendulous, reaching about
half the length of the muzzle. Should lie flat and close to
the head, with the tip rounded very slightly. Ears well covered
with dense, but relatively short hair, and with little fringe.
Skull - Medium length, rounded, very slightly
wedge-shaped, but evenly made. Width, not quite as wide as
the length and never so broad as to appear coarse, or so narrow
as to appear racy. Well defined but gently sloping stop. Median
line rather indistinct. The occiput only apparent to the touch.
Lateral walls well rounded. The Brittany should never be "appleheaded" and
he should never have an indented stop.
Muzzle - Medium length, about two thirds the
length of the skull, measuring the muzzle from the top to the
stop, and the skull from the occiput to the stop Muzzle should
taper gradually in both horizontal and vertical dimensions
as it approaches the nostrils. Neither a Roman nose nor a dish-face
is desirable. Never broad, heavy or snipy.
Nose - Nostrils well open to permit deep breathing
of air and adequate scenting. Tight nostrils should be penalized.
Never shiny. Color: fawn, tan, shades of brown or deep pink.
A black nose is a disqualification. A tow-tone or butterfly
nose should be penalized.
Lips - Tight, the upper lip overlapping the
lower jaw just to cover the lower lip. Lips dry, so that feathers
will not stick. Drooling to be heavily penalized. Flews to
be penalized.
Bite - A true scissors bite. Overshot or undershot
jaw to be heavily penalized.
Neck,
Topline, Body
Neck - Medium length.
Free from throatiness, though not a serious fault unless
accompanied by dewlaps, strong without giving the impression
of being overmuscled. Well set into sloping shoulders.
Never concave or ewe-necked.
Topline - Slight slope from the highest point
of the shoulders to the root of the tail.
Chest -
Deep, reaching the level of the elbow. Neither so wide nor
so rounded as to disturb the placement of the shoulders and
elbows. Ribs well sprung. Adequate heart room provided by depth
as well as width. Narrow or slab-sided chests are a fault.
Back - Short and straight. Never hollow, saddle,
sway or roach backed. Slight drop from the hips to the root
of the tail.
Flanks - Rounded. Fairly full. Not extremely
tucked up, or flabby and falling. Loins short and strong. Distance
from last rib to upper thigh short, about three to four fingers
widths. Narrow and weak loins are a fault. In motion, the loin
should not sway sideways, giving a zig-zag motion to the back,
wasting energy.
Tail - Tailless to approximately four inches,
natural or docked. The tail not to be so long as to affect
the overall balance of the dog. Set on high, actually an extension
of the spine at about the same level. Any tail substantially
more than four inches shall be severely penalized.
Forequarters
Shoulders -
Shoulder blades should not protrude too much, not too wide
apart, with perhaps two thumbs' width between. Sloping
and muscular. Blade and upper arm should form nearly a
ninety degree angle. Straight shoulders are a fault. At
the shoulders the Brittany is slightly higher than at the
rump.
Front Legs - Viewed from the front, perpendicular,
but not set too wide. Elbows and feet turning neither in nor
out. Pasterns slightly sloped. Down in pasterns is a serious
fault. Leg bones clean, graceful, but not too fine. Extremely
heavy bone is as much a fault as spindly legs. One must look
for substance and suppleness. Height at elbows should approximately
equal distance from elbow to withers.
Feet - Should be strong, proportionately smaller
than the spaniels', with close fitting, well arched toes and
thick pads. The Brittany is "not up on his toes." Toes
not heavily feathered. Flat feet, splayed feet, paper feet,
etc., are to be heavily penalized. An ideal foot is halfway
between the hare and the cat foot. Dewclaws may be removed.
Hindquarters
Broad strong and muscular, with powerful
thighs and well bent stifles, giving the angulation necessary
for powerful drive.
Hind Legs - Stifles well bent. The stifle
should not be so angulated as to place the hock joint far out
behind the dog. A Brittany should not be condemned for straight
stifle until the judge has checked the dog in motion from the
side. The stifle joint should not turn out making a cowhock.
Thighs well feathered but not profusely, halfway to the hock.
Hocks, that is, the back pasterns, should be moderately short,
pointing neither in nor out, perpendicular when viewed from
the side. They should be firm when shaken by the judge.
Feet - Same as front feet.
Coat
Dense, flat or wavy, never curly. Texture
neither wiry nor silky. Ears should carry little fringe.
The front and hind legs should have some feathering, but
too little is definitely preferable to too much. Dogs with
long or profuse feathering or furnishings shall be so severely
penalized as to effectively eliminate them from competition.
Skin - Fine and fairly loose. A loose skin
rolls with briars and sticks, thus diminishing punctures or
tearing. A skin so loose as to form pouches is undesirable.
Color
Orange
and white or liver and white in either clear or roan patterns.
Some ticking is desirable. The orange or liver is found in
the standard parti-color or piebald patterns. Washed out
colors are not desirable. Tri-colors are allowed but not
preferred. A tri-color is a liver and white dog with classic
orange markings on eyebrows, muzzle and cheeks, inside the
ears and under the tail, freckles on the lower legs are orange.
Anything exceeding the limits of these markings shall be
severely penalized. Black is a disqualification.
Gait
When at a trot the Brittany's hind foot
should step into or beyond the print left by the front
foot. Clean movement, coming and going, is very important,
but most important is side gait, which is smooth, efficient
and ground covering.
Temperament
A happy, alert dog, neither mean nor shy.
Disqualifications
-
Any Brittany measuring under 17 1/2 inches or over 20 1/2
inches.
- A black nose.
- Black in the coat.
Source: http://www.akc.org/breeds/brittany/index.cf
