FCI-Standard N° 187 / 04. 12. 1998 / GB
PORTUGUESE POINTING DOG
(Perdigueiro Português)
TRANSLATION : Portuguese Kennel Club, Mrs.
Peggy Davis.
ORIGIN : Portugal.
DATE
OF PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGINAL VALID STANDARD : 19.09.1967.
UTILIZATION : A tenacious hunter and
a good walker. He beats the ground
with the perseverence of an experienced
explorer, instantly looking
for his prey, with all the attention required by his excellent subtle nose and
his outstanding skill. A crafty worker and
a faithful helpmate to the hunting sportsman. Alert and silent, raised
head, open nostrils, by his demeaour, his
look, the position of his tail or his gait,
he conveys to his attentive companion the knowledge gained
through his sense of smell. A good Portuguese Pointing Dog is always ready
to help with intelligence, sometimes
even with surprising cunning. The dog manages to
stand still when the smell of the game awakes his
senses. He points firmly, in odd attitudes connected with his characteristic
mental reflexes : Contracted
face, glassy, fixed gaze, poised listening ears, immobile head, rigid horizontal tail, a foreleg raised; he is at
times indifferent to what is going
on around him, as soon as his olfactory
senses feel the closeness of the game. Not selfish at all, he enjoys
and shows his delight in sharing the hunter’s pleasure,
no matter how hard the climate or rough the ground. His main interest
is bringing down the quarry and
his main reward to retrieve and hand it to his master. Both of which he does
surprisingly well.
CLASSIFICATION F.C.I. : Group 7 Pointing Dogs.
Section 1.1. Continental
Pointing Dogs, type « Braque ».
With working trial.
BRIEF
HISTORICAL SUMMARY : His remote
origins are rather cloudy; we have good reason, however,
to assume that he came from the Orient to the Iberian Penininsula
in very early times; his presence
in Portugal can be traced back to the late XIVth. century. It may be
assumed that, with the years
and owing to various influences, some of the mutations suffered by the original species became fixed in such a way, that
they individualize the Portuguese Pointing Dog. In fact he should
be considered as an autochthon, well defined breed, both in morphology and in psychological characteristics.
The Portuguese
Pointing Dog can be found scattered
all over the continental
area of Portugal; mainly in towns
where shooting is a favourite sport, as he is greatly
appreciated as a gun dog.
GENERAL
APPEARANCE : Of medium proportions, bracoïd type dog, balanced in shape, showing a solid structure combined with great
suppleness of movements.
BEHAVIOUR
/ TEMPERAMENT : Extremely affectionate;
very submissive, the Portuguese Pointing Dog can go to extremes of affection, occasionally
even embarrassing, when, through lack
of training, the dog does
not obey either any signals or vocal
commands. He is quite sociable, although sometimes slightly frisky within his own
kind. He is of graceful
appareance, of calm but lively temperament and of an interesting variable expressiveness.
HEAD : Proportioned to size of the
body. It gives, however, by its shape, the
impression of being larger. Slightly heavy, but should not be too bony
or fleshy. It should be
covered with loose and fine skin without any wrinkles;
if there are wrinkles, they should only
be slightly developed. Seen from the
front, the head seems to be square, from the side
rectilinear.
Head well set into the neck, allowing free and haughty carriage.
Of good shape and well
proportioned; seen from the front, the head shows a clear separation between the nasal bridge and the skull
along an ideal line passing
at the level
of the internal eye angles.
CRANIAL REGION :
Skull : Seen from the
front, the forehead is almost flat, high, wide and
symmetrical, from profile slightly arched. Occipital crest barely perceptible.
Stop : Well marked (skull-foreface
angle about 100°), nearer to the
tip of the nose than to the
occiput.
FACIAL REGION :
Nose : The nose forms
a perfect right angle with the nasal bridge and the upper lip. Nostrils should be large, well shaped and
well open. The nose should be
black in chamois or similar coats;
preferably light brown or dark brown in dogs
of brown colours, the nose always
lighter than the coat.
Muzzle : Nasal bridge
straight, of adequate width
in its whole length; should be flat over the
entire length. The connection with the face should be well marked.
Lips : Of moderate size. Mucous membranes irregularly pigmented. The upper lip
is pendulous, but not excessively so, only slightly fleshy,
looking square in profile; falling
naturally without folds and meeting with the lower
lip in a loose and folded commissure, which results in slightly drooping corners of the mouth.
Jaws/Teeth : A normal dentition must always exist with regard to the position, constitution, shape
and development of the teeth. Each time the dog closes its mouth, the jaws,
well adapted and developed, must meet in a correct bite.
Eyes : Looking straight, perfectly alike and symmetrical;
large, in different shades
of brown, preferably dark. Oval shaped, horizontal, set even with the
head, filling the socket well. Thin wide opened lids,
moving easily and closing well. Both with black or brown rims according to the nose pigmentation. Bright, expressive look, especially
in adults. Prominent superciliary arches,
but without excess, which would make
the head look bony.
Leathers : The ears of medium length (15 cm in length-11 cm in width)
must be thin, supple, covered with fine, dense, short hair; much wider at
the base than at the tip,
in approximative proportion of 1 : 2, 5; with a rounded tip and
looking like, because of the shape of the
auricles, a triangle of superior
base. The ears are hanging, of almost flat surface; set high, falling well and
parallel; on the outside they show, when the dog is
attentive, one or two small
lengthwise furrows of
variable depth and width, but never very accentuated.
NECK : Straight, upper third slightly
arched, not very thick, rather long with a short dewlap along the underside. The neck should meet the
head gracefully at an inclination of approximately
90°; it should join the thorax without a substantial transition,
thus achieving a perfect and harmonious
junction.
BODY :
Withers : Moderately high and slightly thick.
Back : Short, straight, broad, perfectly horizontal; smoothly connected with the loins.
Loins : Short, rather wide, well
muscled, a little arched and merging
well with the croup.
Croup : Of harmonious shape, in good proportional width to the loins. Its longitudinal
axis is slightly oblique, thus giving a slightly
sloping shape.
Chest : Deep and wide,
brisket revealing a good thoracic capacity;
should be more developed in length and depth than
in width and should reach down to the elbows. Ribs very well sprung
and noticeably wide in their upper
section. Considering
the girth and the crossection,
the chest and its bordering
ribs appear as a forefoot horseshoe, with both ends
meeting.
Lower profile and Belly : From sternum to groin the line which follows the
lower part of the thorax and belly is
noticeably oblique, from bottom to top and from front to back; it follows the natural
outline of the abdomen and shows, together with the upper
line of the body, a certain elegance
to which contributes a belly of moderate volume as well as the short distance with separates the hips from
the last ribs, giving the flank
a short and well filled out appearance.
TAIL : Generally docked by one third; the tail
when undocked, must not go beyond the hock,
or even preferably not reach it. Straight,
set on at moderate height, strong at the root,
tapering gradually, but not
too much, towards the tip;
well attached, well grown, in perfect continuity with the line of the croup; the line of the tail must contribute
to the gracefulness of the body outline. When at rests, the
dog carries the tail fallling naturally
along the limbs but never between the legs; in action, the tail rises
to the horizontal or even a
little higher, but never to the vertical and never bending
as a sickle.
On the point of dynamic
view, the dog when hunting moves
the tail or the stump from
side to side perfectly synchronised with his pace.
LIMBS : At rest, the
forelimbs seen from the front are vertical. Seen from the rear
the hindquarters are also vertical. Both fore-and hind
limbs, either seen from front or in profile, should be placed
perfectly parallel with the median
plane of the body, which gives the dog a great stability and a great natural
smoothness of movement.
FOREQUARTERS :
Shoulder : Long, well set, a little loaded, evenly sloping.
Upper arm : Close to the thorax, as the shoulder; length in proportion with the distance between withers and the point of the shoulder; its
obliquity is in proportion with the degree
of slope of the shoulder blade.
Elbows : Separated from the chest by the
armpit; clean, well let
down, neither turned in nor out.
Forearm : Set off from the body; long, straight and perpendicular, seen from the
front and in profile.
Pastern joint : In perfect line with the forearm.
Pastern : Broad, slightly sloping, well proportioned
in length.
HINDQUARTERS :
Upper thigh : Preferably long, broad, well muscled.
Buttock : The buttocks show a more or less accentuated curve from the
base of the tail to the tendon of the hock; their length
depends on the length and the
slant of the thighs; preferably long and with a slightly
plastic musculature.
Stifle : Placed slightly below the abdomen, but not too far away from
it; slightly prominent and slightly
turned outward.
Second Thigh : In good direction; length in
proportion with the upper thigh, its
obliquity in proportion to the
slope of the croup.
Hock joint : Normally angulated and well placed;
clean, broad and thick.
Hock : Short, upright, almost cylindrical, of even thickness, but lean.
Articulations and angles : Apparently well developed in width and in thickness,
formed in such a way as to allow great facility and scope of locomotion movements. The direction of the bony segments must be in correlation with the bony
bases of the bordering regions, forming angles of
variable opening, but never
hindering the regularity of the gait.
FEET : In proportion with the length
of the legs and the size of the dog; the feet must have tendency to be rather round than long without however looking like cat-feet. Well formed toes, tight
and solid in bearing the weight
of the dog, thus contributing to the uniformity of the whole of the feet. Pads thick, well developed and detached, covered
with blackish skin, sufficiently rough, hard and wear
resistant. Nails well embedded,
hard and preferably black.
COAT
HAIR : Must be short, strong, close, not very soft and dense; almost uniformly covering the body, except in the armpits,
groins, perianal and genital regions where it becomes
thinner and softer. On the head, specially
on the leathers, where it has a velvety touch, the hair is
shorter and smoother. No undercoat.
COLOUR : Yellow and brown,
unicoloured or with white markings.
SIZE
Height at
the withers for males 56 cm.
Height at
the withers for females 52 cm.
With an allowance of 4 cm, above or below the standard.
Weight :
Medium weight of a full-grown male in good condition
about 23,5 kg (20 - 27 kg).
Medium weight of a full-grown female in good condition about 19 kg (16 - 22 kg).
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.
ELIMINATING
FAULTS :
·
Head : Atypical.
·
Nose : Unpigmented, irregular flecked appearance.
·
Jaws : Under- or overshot mouth.
·
Eyes : Wall eye, eyes
different in size or shape;
blindness.
·
Leathers : Atypical, incorrectly inserted, too large, fleshy, too folded
or curling ear; deafness.
·
Tail : Non existant at birth, very
rudimentary, completely docked, or of uncharacteristic carriage when natural.
·
Dewclaws : Presence of dewclaws, even only rudimentary.
·
Coat : Different from the standard, albinism.
·
Height : Gigantism, dwarfism, dog much above or below
the standard.
SCALE OF POINTS :
Males Females
General appearance
: Conformation, movement,
size and
substance, sex specific characteristics....... 25 25
Head : Carriage, skull, stop, nose, muzzle, eyes,
ears........................................................................... 25 25
Neck, withers, shoulders, forequarters.................... 10 10
Chest, loins, topline, underline of body...................15 10
Croup, pelvis, hindquarters...................................... 10 15
Tail : carriage, shape, set-on.................................. 3 3
Feet, toes, nails........................................................ 5 5
Coat : texture colour, denseness............................. 7 7
----- ------
100 100
N.B. : Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.