Summary of the Breed Standard of the Schipperke
Dr. R. Pollet
Member of the Belgian Standards Commission
This breed Standard in a nutshell has to be read in conjunction with the official FCI-standard (1) (2) and can be considered to be most useful reading for very busy group - and all-round judges.
General appearance: first of all it has to be stressed that the Schipperke is not a Belgian Shepherd dog (BSD) in miniature (3) (4). Their anatomical conformation is much different. The Schipperke is a little dog indeed, but robustly and sturdily built. Its silhouette is unique and very characteristic of the breed.
Weight: 3 to 9 kg. An average weight of 4 to 7 kg is sought after.
Comment: the weight limits are rather broad. So, a female may be taller and heavier than a male. Also, on basis of height and weight only, we may not say that a female of more than average size is too masculine and a male of smaller size too feminine. As a matter of fact, the sex character rather depends on the conformation of the whole body, which can be lightly or strongly built.
Average height at the withers: 32,5 cm or 12.8 ins (height limits not mentioned in the Standard).
Coat: top coat abundant. The hair is slightly harsh and straight, rather long and standing out around the neck forming the ruff, with profuse growth of hair on the neck and the withers forming the mane, hair also rather long on the throat and the forechest (the jabot, frill or apron); the rather long hair on the rear of the thighs (the culottes or breeches) is turned inward. Dense undercoat.
Comment: in the male, as a rule, the ruff, the mane and the jabot are more pronounced.
Coat colour: only jet black .
Head: wolf-like, not fox-like as stated in the past (5). Skull not as flat and proportionally wider than in other shepherd breeds. Nose black. Muzzle shorter than skull (ratio length of muzzle/length of head about 40 %). Stop more accentuated than in the BSD. Ears stiff upstanding, triangular, as small as possible. Eyes small and dark brown.
Dentition: scissor bite, pincer bite tolerated; the lack of two premolars 1 (2 PM1) or one premolar 2 (1 PM2) is tolerated.
Neck: strong, appearing very voluminous because of the abundant hair (the ruff).
Skeleton of the legs: rather finely boned.
Comment: a better wording could have been ‘skeleton in proportion to the body’. Unfortunately, judges very often think, but completely wrongly, that the skeleton of a Schipperke has to be light. Evidently, ‘rather finely boned’ only pertains to the limbs, which means the fore- and the hindlegs. Therefore, it may not be concluded that Schipperkes are slender or elegant. In fact, they are strongly and robustly built, as shown mainly by the rather broad skull and the relatively capacious (wide and deep) ribcage.
Forequarters: well angulated (the shoulder), front pasterns at most very slightly inclined.
Hindquarters: normally angulated (knee and hock) and well under the body.
Body: (fitting into a) square; compact, strong but not clumsy; chest in proportion wider, more capacious and having a more important circumference than in the BSD or other Shepherds.
Comment: the stipulation of the standard ‘chest well let down to level with the elbows’ doesn’t mean that, ideally, the ratio depth of chest/height at withers should be 50 %.
Topline: withers very pronounced (also because of the mane). Back and loins very firm and straight. Croup horizontal and its rear section nicely rounded.
Comment: the topline often slightly rises from behind to the front, a characteristic which is ‘hypertypical’ but tolerated.
Underline: well let down, belly only moderately tucked-up.
Tail: natural tail (in repose preferably hanging and in action preferably carried not higher than the topline. Dogs which are born completely tailless or with an incomplete tail may not be penalized for this.
Comment: when a Schipperke in show stance carries his natural tail nicely hanging down (the preferred carriage), the exhibitor may not, while stacking the dog, put the tail over the back, and, of course, the judge may not ask to do so. As a matter of fact a curled tail or a tail carried over the back is accepted (is not penalized).
Gait: the trot is very vigorous, the legs extremely fast moving, with a normal reach and a good rear drive.
Temperament: bubbling with vitality, it’s a tireless and extremely inquisitive little dog, a real sniffler.
References:
- (1)See FCI ‘Breed Standard’, Nr. 83, 20/01/2010 English.
- (2)www.fci.be
- (3)Article “Weight, height and measurements of the Schipperke”, Dr. R. Pollet.
- (4)“Schipperke” (in English), Dr. R. Pollet, Internet Publishing, 157 p., 2001.
- (5)Article ‘The head of the Schipperke’, Dr. R.