THE NEWFOUNDLAND BREED STANDARD |
| General Appearance: |
Well balanced, impresses with strength and great activity. Massive bone
throughout, but not giving heavy inactive appearance. Noble, majestic and
powerful. |
| Characteristics: |
Large draught and water dog, with natural life-saving instinct, and devoted
companion. |
| Temperament: |
Exceptionally gentle, docile nature. |
| Head & Skull: |
Head broad and massive, occipital bone well developed, no decided stop, muzzle
short, clean cut and rather square, covered with short fine hair. |
| Eyes: |
Small, dark brown, rather deeply set, not showing haw, set rather wide apart. |
| Ears: |
Small, set well back, square with skull, lying close to head, covered with short hair without a fringe. |
| Mouth: |
Soft and well covered by lips. Scissor bite preferred, i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth and set square to the jaws, but pincer tolerated. |
| Neck: |
Strong, well set on to shoulders. |
| Forequarters: |
Legs perfectly straight, well muscled, elbows fitting close to sides, well let down. |
| Body: |
Well ribbed, back broad with level topline, strong muscular loins. Chest deep, fairly broad. |
| Hindquarters: |
Very well built and strong. Slackness of loins and cow-hocks most undesirable. Dewclaws should be removed. |
| Feet: |
Large, webbed, and well shaped. Splayed or turned out feet most undesirable. |
| Gait/Movement: |
Free, slight rolling gait. When in motion slight toe-ing in at front acceptable. |
| Tail: |
Moderate length, reaching a little below the hock. Fair thickness well covered with hair, but not forming a flag. When standing hangs downwards with slight curve at end, when moving, carried slightly up, and when excited, straight out with only a slight curve at the end. Tails with a kink or curled over the back most undesirable. |
| Coat: |
Double, flat and dense, of course texture and oily nature, water resistant. When brushed wrong way falls back into place naturally. Forelegs well feathered. Body well covered but chest hair not forming frill. Hindlegs slightly feathered. |
| Colour: |
Only permitted colours are;
Black: dull jet black may be tinged with bronze. Splash of white on chest, toes and top of tail acceptable.
Brown: can be chocolate or bronze. In all other respects follow black except colour. Splash of white on chest, toes and tip of tail acceptable.
Landseer: white with black markings only. For preference black head with narrow blaze, evenly marked saddle, black rump extending to tail. Beauty in markings to be taken greatly into consideration. Ticking undesirable.
|
| Size: |
Average height at Shoulder: |
Dogs: 71cms (29 ins) |
Bitches: 66cms (26 ins) |
| Average weight: |
Dogs: 64-69 kgs (140-150 Ibs) |
Bitches: 50-54 kgs (110-120 Ibs) |
| While size and weight are important it is essential that symmetry is maintained. |
| Faults: |
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded in exact proportion to its degree. |
| Note: |
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum. |
