Greenland Dog

FCI:

Greenland Dog - Group V. - Spitz and primitive types, Section 1 - Nordic Sledge Dogs

General Appearance:

These Inuit dogs are totally independent on human independent prone to dominance, energetic, highly intelligent, resolute and utterly fearless. Greenland Dog has no defensive skills; it is friendly even to complete strangers. Its hunting instinct is still very strong. It is a hardy, energetic, tenacious and extremely humble dog.

Temperament/Behaviour:

It has a tendency to follow one person. It is the happiest in the pack not when it is held separately, it is basically quite unhappy. It little barks, but often howls, which obviously strengthens the cohesion of the pack. On the contrary the individuals themselves are howling from a strong inner sense of loneliness.

Due its possession and breeder must have adequate conditions, enough space to build a kennel, training time it is  necessary (in case of snow sled, sometimes with a special truck), it  means  to be good in quantity and quality, adequate nutrition etc.

It is extremely durable Nordic Spitz, which can keep outdoors all year. It does not desire to stay at home. It is excellent in pulling sled dog but not an ideal breed to the apartment. For frequent howling it is best to live with these dogs somewhere secluded in the proper distance from populated areas.

They are well suited to the mountainous and forested areas. It is a breed suitable for lovers of mushing and skijöring, a sports-minded person. They are used also in competitions in pulling loads on the truck (pulling).

Body:

This is a very strong Spitz is destined body of the extremely hard work of towing a sledge dog under extreme Arctic conditions and the job hunting dog for hunting seals and polar bears. Height at withers, male min. 60 cm , female min. 55 cm. The format of the body is short rectangular.

The skull is slightly domed skull and the earlobes wide. The frontal slope is to be distinct; muzzle should be strong, wedge-shaped and quite wide, toward the nose narrows but does not explicitly pointed at the end. Muzzle should be flat, wide nose should be large, dark-coloured matching coat colour. In subjects with red-coloured fur is brown in winter can have a pink colour

Lips are thin, tightly fitting to the jaw and perfectly conceal massive teeth. The jaws are powerful, healthy, regularly spaced and strong teeth. Scissor bite is required.

The eyes are slightly slanting. Their view is honest and bold, preferably dark colour of the iris, but in subjects with light coloured hair, eye colour can match the colour of hair, usually lighter. The earlobes are relatively small, stiffly erect, triangular, slightly rounded tops and very mobile. Their positions are very significant.

The neck is adequately strong, rather short. The body must be very stout, powerfully muscled. Topline body may be flat or slightly sloping backwards.

The back should be straight, shoulders are broad, the croup usually when viewed from the side slightly sloping. The tail is set high, carried upward, slightly curved over the back and shoulders, thick and bushy, a dog from the arctic regions forced often under very heavy frosts spend the night in the snow under the open sky, vital. It rolls into the blob and a tail covered its nose, so do not breathe frosty air, but in the coat preheated air.

The chest must be deep and wide, not too tucked up abdomen. The forelegs are perfectly straight, with plenty of bone, powerfully muscled. Shoulders must be adequately sloped, shoulder bones and straight, elbows close to the body, forearms are straight and solid, strong and flexible wrists, pasterns slightly skewed, flexible but firm. The feet have to be fairly large, thick, round shape, with durable padded and massive claws.

The hindquarters must be perfectly straight, very muscular, powerful bones, moderate angulations. Especially strongly muscled thighs should be. Hocks are large, properly bent. Movement must be rich, harmonious, fluent and tireless.

The coat is doubled, i.e. a soft, dense undercoat and an outer coat of dense, straight and coarse hair, without curl or wave. On the head and the legs the hair is rather short. On the body it is longer and more pronounced. The coat is longer on the underside of the tail, giving it a bushy appearance.

Any colour - solid or parti-coloured – is permitted, except albinos and dogs with merle-markings which should be disqualified.

Faults from the requirements of the standard are to be considered as defects and evaluate accurately the degree of seriousness with regard to the health and welfare of the dog or bitch. Defects include light (weak) skeleton, short legs (so the body is low on the substrate), and fearfulness. The serious defects include long and soft fur and ears that are not strongly erect. Among the disqualifying defects counts aggression and excessive shyness, albinism, blue eyes and vitreous (whitish) in colour, heterochromia (eyes with different coloured irises).