Long Haired Pyrenean Sheepdog
FCI:
Long Haired Pyrenean Sheepdog Group I. - Sheepdogs and Cattle Dogs, Section 1 - Sheepdogs Recognized in the year 1926.
General Appearance:
Long Haired Pyrenean Sheepdog its character is lively, fast and durable. It is a small but courageous and spirited, its owner totally dedicated, cheerful, talented and with a great sense of humour. It is a strong, intelligent and active. It has a living image of concentrated power in a small body. Sometimes it can seem like a bit stubborn, but it is due to its independence, without which it could not control the sheep in its native Pyrenees.
Temperament/Behaviour:
Owner cannot except from this breed slavish obedience during its work. Its leadership must be always solid and consistent from early youth. However, it is also very sensitive, especially a mistreatment. It is mandatory to avoid raising any physical coercion.
Nothing it can escape its attention, and it is an excellent guard. To strangers it is often, especially initially reticent. It gets well with children. It gets well with pets, which, however, it should get use to know from early youth.
It requires a lot of movement, three short walks a day it is satisfactory. Union activity and mobility it makes it an excellent novice for dog sports such as agility, flyball, frisbee. It needs lots of exercise and mental activity. It learns quickly and it literally welcomes any opportunity to work. It proves itself as a rescue dog. It is dissatisfied when nothing happens and it is bored. It is suitable for sporty owner, may accompany joggers or biking or rollerblading. It does not have a hunting instinct, so it can be sloughed off on walks freely, unless you can call it back.
Permanent housing in an outdoor pen, although it can physically tolerated well, it is not good for psychical side.
Body:
It's slightly smaller long-haired dog with a long feathering face roguish expression that gives it a distinctive unique look. Body size is rectangular. Height at withers, male is 42 to 48 cm and female from 40 to 46 cm.
The head should have a generally triangular shape. Muzzle should be shorter than the skull. It is a medium sized, above almost flat, the sides rounded, with little apparent occipital area. The forehead slopes gently to the muzzle the front slope is barely noticeable. The muzzle should be straight and wedge tapering to the nose, the nose must be black.
The lips are not too severe, but the top, completely covering the lower jaw, lips should be, as well as the floor of the mouth, either black or heavily marked with black spots. A full set of teeth, bite should be scissors, pincer bite is permitted.
Eyes should be expressive, slightly almond shaped and dark brown in colour, glass colour permissible in individuals with the colour blue merle or slate grey. The rims are black.
The earlobes are rather short, moderately broad at the base are triangular, fine ends and extend to the tip. They should be hung, attached to the surface of the cheeks and very moving. In alertness raise their peaks to the sides, to the level of the upper line of the skull. They can also be semi-erect and in this case must be the bottom of the upright and movable and the upper third or half should ideally fall forward or to the sides.
The neck is quite long and muscular. The body has a strong body with lean muscles. Topline body should be firm, pronounced withers, back fairly long and strong. Loins: Short, slightly arched. Croup should be relatively short and steep.
The tail is too long, it is set rather low at the end of a hook hooked up with a rich "flag" on the bottom. In alertness may be lifted above the top line of the body and bent forward. Often it docked (unless it is prohibited by law). Some individuals have bobtail, which is considered acceptable.
Chest is reasonably spacious, ribs are slightly arched. The forelegs must be straight, lean, sinewy, well-fringed. The blades are relatively long, slightly oblique. Forearms should be straight, striking wrists, pasterns slightly slanted. Feet are dry, relatively flat, substantially oval shaped dark-coloured and are padded. Small hard nails cover the hair, which is well below between padded.
The hindquarters should be markedly angulated. Thighs are too long to be slightly slanted, strong, well muscled. Tibia should be relatively long and sloping, hocks are dry, low over the base, fetlocks to be vertical to ground, slightly skewed. Dewclaws on hind legs may be single or double. Movement is free and energetic, fluid and smooth.
The hair is long or medium length, but always dense, guard hairs must fit, sometimes slightly wavy, thicker and prone to pilling on the back and thighs. Coat texture is intermediate between hair sheep and goats. For some individuals arise mixing coarse and fine hair on its chest and forelegs at elbow level tomentose threads, laces or scurry or aft matted or felted flat formations.
Coat colour can be fawn, lighter or darker, with black shading, or without, or with minor white markings front chest and distal portions of the limbs, grey, lighter or darker, often with some white hair of the head, from the front chest and on the limbs, blue merle, brindle, black or black and white. Unique colour is preferred.
Any faults from the above requirements should be considered as defects and evaluate exactly according to their degree of expression with regard to health and well-being. To negative defects belong aggression or fearfulness, any other colour of the nose and eyelid margins than deep black, overshot or undershot jaw or any jaw deformities, absence of more than two teeth except the first premolars (P1), ears pricked, eyes light yellow or so. glass with differently coloured subjects than harlequins and gray, the edges of the eyelids pink tail limply down mounted or vertically erect hair curly, hair white-coloured or colour specified in the standard, the black-coloured dogs and bitches white colouring covering more than 1/3 of the body, the total size stands out from the standard required range.
