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From
THE
WEST HIGHLAND WHITE TERRIER
By Holland Buckley
1911
STANDARD OF POINTS ADOPTED BY
THE WEST HIGHLAND WHITE
TERRIER CLUB OF ENGLAND
1-The
general
appearance of the West Highland White Terrier
is that of a
small, game, hardy-looking terrier, possessed with
no small amount of
self-esteem, with a varminty appearance,
strongly built, deep in chest
and back ribs, straight back and
powerful quarters, on muscular legs,
and exhibiting in a marked
degree, a great combination of strength and
activity.
The coat should be about 2 ¼
inches long, white in colour,
hard, with plenty of soft undercoat, with
no tendency to wave or curl.
The tail should be as straight
as possible, and carried
not too gaily, and covered with hard hair, but
not bushy.
The skull should not be too
broad, being in proportion to
the powerful jaws.
The ears shall be as small and
sharp-pointed as possible, and carried
tightly up, and must be
absolutely erect.
The eyes of moderate size, dark
hazel in colour, widely placed,
with a sharp, bright, intelligent
expression.
The muzzle should not be too
long, powerful, and gradually tapering
toward the nose.
The nose, roof of mouth, and
pads of feet distinctly black in colour.
2-Colour :
Pure white; any other colour
objectionable.
3-Coat :
Very important, and seldom seen
to perfection;
must be double-coated.
The outer coat consists of hard
hair, about 2 inches long
and free from any curl.
The under coat, which resembles
fur, is short soft and close.
Open coats are objectionable.
4-Size :
Dogs to weight from 14 to 18
lbs, and bitches from 12 to 16 lbs,
and measure from 8 to 12 inches at
the shoulder.
5-
Skull :
Should not be too narrow, being
in proportion to his powerful jaw,
not too long, slightly domed, and
gradually tapering to the eyes,
between there should be a slight
indentation or stop, eyebrows heavy,
head and neck tightly coated with
hair.
6-Eyes :
Widely set apart, medium in
size, dark hazel in colour,
slightly sunk in the head, sharp and
intelligent, which looking
from under the heavy eyebrows give a piercing
look.
Full eyes and also light
coloured eyes are very objectionable.
7-Muzzle :
Should be nearly equal in length
to the rest of the skull,
powerful and gradually tapering toward the
nose,
which should be fairly wide.
The jaws level and powerful, the
teeth square or evenly met,
well set and large for the size of the dog.
The nose should be distinctly
black in colour.
8-Ears :
Small, erect, carried lightly
up, and terminating in a sharp point.
The hair of them should be short,
smooth, velvety,
and they should not be cut.
The ears should be free from any
fringe at the top.
Round pointed, broad, and large
ears are very objectionable,
also ears too heavily covered with hair.
9-Neck :
Muscular and nicely set on
sloping shoulders.
10-Chest :
Very deep, with breadth in
proportion with the size of the dog.
11-Body :
Compact, straight back, ribs
deep and well arched
in the upper half of ribs, presented a flattish
side appearance,
loins broad and strong, hind quarters strong,
muscular
and wide across the top.
12-Legs and feet :
Both fore and hind legs should
be short and muscular.
The shoulder-blades should be
comparatively broad
and well sloped backwards.
The points of the
shoulder-blades should be closely knitted
into the backbone so that very
little movement of them
should be noticeable when the dog is walking.
The elbow should be close in to
the body both when
moving or standing, thus causing the foreleg to be
well
placed in under the shoulder.
The forelegs should be straight
and tightly covered
with short hard hair.
The hind legs should be short
and sinewy.
The thighs very muscular and not
too wide apart.
The hocks bent and well set in
under the body, so as to be
fairly close to each other either when
standing,
walking or trotting.
The fore feet are larger than
the hind ones, are round,
proportionate in size, strong, thickly padded,
and covered with short hard hair.
The hind feet are smaller and
thickly padded.
The under surface of the pads of
feet and all the nails
should be distinctly black in colour.
Cow hocks detract from the
general appearance.
Straight or weak hocks, both
kinds, are undesirable,
and should be guarded against.
13-Tail :
Five or six inches long, covered
with hard hairs, no feather,
as straight as possible, carried gaily, but
not curled over back.
A long tail is objectionable.
On no account should tails be
docked, vide KC Rule VI. Appendix II.
14-Movement :
Should be free, straight and
easy all round.
In front the leg should be
freely extended forward
by the shoulder.
The hind movement should be
free, strong and close.
The hocks should be freely
flexed and drawn close in under
the body, so that when moving off the
foot the body is
thrown or pushed forward with some force.
Stiff stilty movement behind is
very objectionable.
Faults
1-Coat :
Any silkiness, wave or tendency
to curl is a serious blemish,
as is also an open coat, and any black,
grey or wheaten hairs.
2-Size :
Any specimen under the minimum
weight or above
the maximum weight are objectionable.
3-Eyes :
Full or light coloured.
4-Ears
:
Round-pointed, drop, semi-erect,
also ears too
heavily covered with hairs.
5-Muzzle :
Either under or over shot, and
defective teeth.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Some of the comments by
Holland Buckley :
“The club’s scale of points I
have discarded as worthless and, indeed, ridiculous.”…
“I have deleted from the
description that the roof of the mouth should be black; I have, I
suppose, judge every first class specimen, both before and after the
club was instituted, and I never yet seen any but party-colour roofs in
the best specimens, and honesty, I don’t desire to; there may be
aesthetic reasons for the black hue to the Thames Tunnel”, but I know of
no practical ones in the dogs, so have left that portion out as
misleading.”….
“We may one day breed them
mostly white, but when, as now, the giants of the breed (heaven save the
mark) are cream coloured, it savours of the worst hypocrisy to pretend
that they are to be “outed”….
“The club weights I also
disagree with. The ideal weights are, or should be, from my point of
view: for bitches, 14 lbs, to 15lbs; for dogs, 16 lbs, to 17 lbs
maximum.”…
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