Dogs and All about Them eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 437 pages of information about Dogs and All about Them.

Dogs and All about Them eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 437 pages of information about Dogs and All about Them.

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HEAD—­The head should be broadest at the ears, tapering slightly to the eyes, with the muzzle tapering more decidedly to the nose.  The muzzle should be pointed, but the teeth and lips level.  The head should be long, the skull flat rather than round, with a very slight rise over the eyes, but with nothing approaching a stop.  The skull should be coated with moderately long hair which is softer than the rest of the coat.  The nose should be black (though in some blue-fawns the colour is blue) and slightly aquiline.  In the lighter-coloured dogs a black muzzle is preferred.  There should be a good moustache of rather silky hair, and a fair beard.  EARS—­The ears should be set on high, and, in repose, folded back like the Greyhound’s, though raised above the head in excitement without losing the fold, and even, in some cases, semi-erect.  A prick ear is bad.  A big, thick ear, hanging flat to the head, or heavily coated with long hair, is the worst of faults.  The ear should be soft, glossy, and like a mouse’s coat to the touch, and the smaller it is the better.  It should have no long coat or long fringe, but there is often a silky, silvery coat on the body of the ear and the tip.  Whatever the general colour, the ears should be black or dark-coloured.  NECK AND SHOULDERS—­The neck should be long—­that is, of the length that befits the Greyhound character of the dog.  An over-long neck is not necessary, nor desirable, for the dog is not required to stoop in his work like a Greyhound, and it must be remembered that the mane, which every good specimen should have, detracts from the apparent length of neck.  Moreover, a Deerhound requires a very strong neck to hold a stag.  The nape of the neck should be very prominent where the head is set on, and the throat should be clean-cut at the angle and prominent.  The shoulders should be well sloped, the blades well back, with not too much width between them.  Loaded and straight shoulders are very bad faults.  STERN—­Stern should be tolerably long, tapering, and reaching to within 1-1/2 inches of the ground, and about 1-1/2 inches below the hocks.  When the dog is still, dropped perfectly straight down, or curved.  When in motion it should be curved when excited, in no case to be lifted out of the line of the back.  It should be well covered with hair, on the inside thick and wiry, underside longer, and towards the end a slight fringe is not objectionable.  A curl or ring tail is very undesirable.  EYES—­The eyes should be dark:  generally they are dark brown or hazel.  A very light eye is not liked.  The eye is moderately full with a soft look in repose, but a keen, far-away gaze when the dog is roused.  The rims of the eyelids should be black.  BODY—­The body and general formation is that of a Greyhound of larger size and bone.  Chest deep rather than broad, but not too narrow and flat-sided.  The loin well arched and drooping to the tail.  A straight back is not desirable, this formation being

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Dogs and All about Them from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.