FCI - Standard No. 287 / 27 04. 1998 / D
 
Australian Cattle Dog

 
 
 

TRANSLATION: Elke Peper and Dr. J.-M. Paschoud.
 
ORIGIN: Australia.
 
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGINAL VALID STANDARD: 15 09. 1989th
 
USES: As the name implies, the race is the work of this dog herding and herding of cattle in both wide open and a very limited area, a task he met in an inimitable way. He is always attentive, extremely intelligent, watchful, courageous and trustworthy, and his unconditional devotion to duty impressed him as an ideal working dog.
 
CLASSIFICATION FCI: Group 1 Sheepdogs and Cattle Dogs (except
                                                           
decreased Swiss Mountain-
                                                           
dogs).
                                         
Section 2 Cattle dogs (except
                                                           
Swiss Mountain Dog).
                                         
Without working trial.
 
GENERAL APPEARANCE: The general appearance represents a powerful, compact and symmetrically built working dog who has the ability and the will to carry out its assigned task, how difficult they may be. The association of substance, strength, balance and performance, strong muscles must give the impression of great agility, strength and endurance. Any signs of clumsiness or weakness is a serious mistake.
 
BEHAVIOUR (NATURE): Due to his devotion and his innate protective instinct is the Australian cattle dog a born protector of the shepherds, for his herd and his property. Despite his natural distrust of strangers, he must, especially in the show ring, be sociable. Any system and building characteristics that could impede the ability of the dog must be considered a serious fault.
 
HEAD: The head is strong, is in harmonious balance with the rest of the proportions of the dog and adapts to its overall appearance.
 
CRANIAL
Skull: The broad skull is slightly rounded between the ears.
Stop: The skull flattens to a slight but definite stop.
 
FACIAL:
Nose: Black.
Muzzle: Broad, well filled under the eyes and nose gradually tapering, medium length, deep, powerful muzzle, the upper limit to the level of the skull parallel.
Lips: Tight, smooth.
Teeth: The lower jaw is strong, deep, well developed. The teeth are healthy, strong, used regularly in the form of a scissors bite closing, ie the upper teeth closely overlapping the lower. Since the dog is intended to drive stubborn cattle by biting or pinching in the heel, strong and healthy teeth are very important.
Cheeks: Muscular, neither coarse nor prominent.
Eyes: oval shape and medium size, neither prominent nor sunken and must express alertness and intelligence. On the approach of strangers or suspicious a warning flare for the expression is characteristic. Eye color is dark brown.
Ears: Moderate Dimension of, preferably small rather than gross, wide at the base, muscular, upright, moderately pointed, similar in form, either a spoon or the ear of a bat. Are you on the head set far apart and outward inclined to react to every sound and are erect when the dog is attentive. The ear is thick in texture unit, and the inside should be very well coated.
 
NECK: Extraordinarily strong, muscular, of medium length, broadening towards the body, without dewlap.
 
BODY: The length of the body in a straight line from the top of the sternum to the buttocks is coarser than the height measured in a ratio of 10 to 9 The topline is level.
Back: Strong.
Loin: Broad, strong and muscular, it forms a strong connection between the thorax and pelvis.
Croup: Rather long and sloping.
Chest: deep, muscular and moderately broad.
Ribs: Well-rounded and well to the rear barrel, non-shaped.
Surface: low.
 
TAIL: The tail is as a flowing continuation of the Krupp inclination line moderately deep, its length reaching approximately to the hock. In the rest it should hang down in a very slight curve. In motion or in the excitement they must be carried higher, but under no circumstances so high, they dab also partially located beyond an imaginary vertical line through its approach. The tail should be covered with very bushy.
 
LIMBS
 
HAND FRONT: The front legs to the feet have strong, round bone and should be seen from the front, straight and parallel.
Shoulders: The shoulder blades are strong, sloping, well muscled, forming a good angle with the upper arm. Their peaks at the withers should not be too close together. Although the shoulders muscular and bone is strong, would prevent overloaded shoulders and heavy fronts correct movement and limit working ability.
Pastern: Should be elastic and forms, as viewed from the side, with the forearm a slight angle.
 
Hindquarters: The hindquarters are broad, strong and muscular. Viewed from behind, the hind legs from hock to feet are straight and parallel, neither close together nor too far apart.
Thighs: Long, broad and well developed.
Stifle: Well bent.
Hock: Strong and well let down.
 
FEET: The feet should be round, joined the toes short, strong, well-arched and narrow. The pads are durable and thick, the nails must be short and strong.
 
GAIT: The gait is true, free, supple and tireless and the movement of the shoulders and forelegs is in line with the powerful thrust of the hindquarters. The ability of quick and sudden movement is essential. Soundness is of paramount importance, stiffness in the movement, loaded, loose or steep shoulders, a weakness in the elbow, the bonds or the feet, knees and steep cow hocks or Fabbeinigkeit must be classified as serious errors. As speed increases the feet tend to show the trot, on the floor converge to each other, but in the rest, all four legs of the dog be perpendicular to the ground.
 
COAT
 
HAIR: The hair is smooth and forms a double coat with a short, dense undercoat. The outer coat is dense, with each individual hair is straight, hard and flat lies, so is the coat wasserunddurchlässig. In the body up to the back of the legs, the hair is longer and forms in the area of the thigh an indicated pants. On the head, including inside the ears, to the front of the legs and feet, the hair is short. Along the neck it is longer and thicker. Both too short and too long hair is a mistake. On average, the hair should be on the body 2.5 to 4 cm long (about 1 to ½ ins).
 
COLOR:
Blue: The color should be blue mottled, blue mottled or blue, with or without other markings. Are allowed at the head black, blue or tan markings, preferably be evenly distributed. The front legs are tan from the toes up to the very center, and the tan cover on the front of the chest and throat and is also found in the jaws. The rear shows tan on the inside of the legs and the inside of the thigh, it runs from there over the knees and front of legs to the ankles, where the outer sides of runs down are tan to the toes. Tan undercoat on the body permitted, unless it shines through the blue outer coat. Black spots on the body are not desirable.
· Red Mottled: The color is composed of uniform and well distributed throughout red stippling, including the undercoat, (neither white nor cream), with or without darker red markings on the head. Be evenly distributed head markings are desirable. Red spots on the body are permissible but not desirable.
 
SIZE:
Withers: Males: 46 - 51 cm (approx. 18-20 ins).
                        
Females: 43 - 48 cm (approx. 17-19 ins).
 
FAULTS: Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog.
 
Any dog clearly showing physical or behavioral abnormalities have to be disqualified.
 
 
N.B. Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles that are located entirely within the scrotum.