CHINESE  CRESTED  DOG

CHINESE CRESTED DOG  STANDARD

FCI-Standard N° 288 /11. 05. 1998 / GB 

ORIGIN : China. 

PATRONAGE : Great Britain. 

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGINAL VALID STANDARD : 24.06.1987.

UTILIZATION :   Toy Dog. 

CLASSIFICATION F.C.I. :  Group:   9  - Companion and Toy Dogs.

                                                 Section: 4   - Hairless Dogs.

                                                 Without working trial. 

GENERAL APPEARANCE : A small, active and graceful dog; medium-to fine-boned, smooth hairless body, with hair on feet, head and tail only; or covered with a soft veil of hair.  Two distinct types of this breed : Deer type, racy and fine-boned, and Cobby type, heavier in body and bone. 

BEHAVIOUR  / TEMPERAMENT : Happy, never vicious. 

HEAD : Smooth, without excess wrinkles.  Distance from base of skull to stop equal to distance from stop to tip of nose.  Head presenting graceful appearance with alert expression. 

CRANIAL REGION :

Skull : Slightly rounded and elongated.

Stop : Slightly pronounced, but not extreme. 

FACIAL REGION :

Nose : A prominent feature, narrow in keeping with muzzle.  Any colour nose acceptable.

Muzzle : Tapering slightly but never pointed, lean without flews.

Lips : Tight and thin.

Jaws/Teeth : Jaws strong, with perfect, regular scissor bite, i.e. the upper teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth and set square to the jaws.

Cheeks : Cleanly chiselled, lean and flat, tapering into muzzle.

Crest : Ideally beginning at stop tapering off down neck. A long and flowing crest preferred, but sparse acceptable.

Eyes : So dark as to appear black.  Little or no white showing.  Medium size.  Set wide apart.

Ears : Set low : highest point of base of ear level with outside corner of eye.  Large and erect, with or without fringe, except in Powder Puffs where drop ears are permissible. 

NECK : Lean, free from throatiness, long and sloping gracefully into strong shoulders.  When moving, carried high and slightly arched. 

BODY : Medium to long, supple.

Back : Level.

Loin : Taut.

Croup : Well rounded and muscular.

Chest : Rather broad and deep, not barrel-ribbed.  Breast bone not prominent.  Brisket extending to elbows.

Underline : Moderate tuck-up. 

TAIL : Set high, carried up or out when in motion.  Long and tapering, fairly straight, not curled or twisted to either side, falling naturally when at rest.  Plume long and flowing, confined to lower two-thirds of tail.  Sparse plume acceptable. 

LIMBS  

FOREQUARTERS : Legs long and slender, set well under body.

Shoulders : Clean, narrow and well laid back.

Elbows : Held close to body.

Pasterns : Fine, strong, nearly vertical. 

HINDQUARTERS : Hindlegs set wide apart.  Angulation of the rear limb must be such as to produce a level back.

Stifles : Firm and long, sweeping smoothly into hock.

Hocks : Well let down. 

FEET : Extreme hare-foot, narrow and very long, with unique elongation of small bones between joints, especially in forefeet, which almost appear to possess an extra joint.  Nails any colour, moderately long.  Socks ideally confined to toes, but not extending above top of pastern.  Feet and toes turning neither in nor out. 

GAIT / MOVEMENT : Long, flowing and elegant with good reach and plenty of drive. 

COAT  

HAIR : No large patches of hair anywhere on body.  Skin fine-grained, smooth, warm to the touch.  In Powder Puffs coat consists of an undercoat with soft veil of long hair, veil coat a feature. 

COLOUR : Any colour or combination of colours. 

SIZE / WEIGHT  :

Weight varies considerably, but should not be over 5 1/2 kgs (12 lbs). 

FAULTS : Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree. 

N.B. : Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.