CENTRAL ASIA SHEPHERD DOG

ORIGIN: Russia.

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGINAL VALID STANDARD: 1989.

CLASSIFICATION FCI: Group 2 Schnauzer and Pinscher, Molossians,

BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY: The shepherd dogs from central Asia are dogs of above average and great size, of a coarse constitution, strong, bold, wary of strangers, not very demanding, who adapt easily to different climatic conditions. All that allows the shepherd dog of Central Asia to be used widely in the different regions of the country. The principal regions of penetration of the Central Asia shepherd dogs are the republics of Central Asia and the regions surrounding them.

TYPE OF CONSTITUTION: Coarse, with a massive bone structure and a powerful musculature. One often comes across dogs of this breed who have a tendency to being soft, lacking in energy. The thick skin with a well developed and sufficiently elastic sub-cutaneous tissue, often forms folds in the region of the neck.

Faults: Obesity. Severe faults: Weak constitution, rickety, muscular weakness.

Faults: Slight deviation from the indicated format index. Severe faults: Important deviations in relation to the format index.

HEIGHT AT THE WITHERS Male not less than 65 cm, females not less than 60 cm

Faults: Height at the withers between 64 and 60 cm for the males; between 60 and 58 for the females.

Important faults: Height at the withers below 60 cm for the males, below 58 cm for the females.

CHARCTERISTICS OF BEHAVIOUR: Type of great nervous activity; balanced, calm. The predominant reaction is of defence in an active way. Faults: Lack of excessive energy, timid character. Important faults: Great excitability, cowardice.

SEX TYPE: Well accentuated. The males are more virile, stronger and more massive than the females. The sexual dimorphism is clearly obvious. Important faults: Males of feminine type. Unilateral and bilateral cryp-torchids.

COAT: Coarse hair, straight with a well developed undercoat. On the head and on the foreface of the legs, the hair is short, flat against the skin. The dog are distinguished according to the length of their coat:

b) short-haired (3-5 cm) and smooth.

Important faults: Very short coat without undercoat, hair soft, wavy or curly.

COLOUR: White, black, grey, straw, ginger (rusty), grey-brown, brindle, piebold and speckled.

HEAD: Massive, wide in the skull region with strongly developed zygomatics. Forehead flat, stop hardly visible. The muzzle is a little shorter than the length of the skull, wide between the eyes, hardly narrowing towards the nose. Seen from the front and from above, the muzzle appears rectangular, whereas in profile it has a truncated shape with an heavy upper lip which hangs at the corners of the mouth. The nose is strong and black. In the light coloured dogs, a brown nose is allowed.

Faults: Light head, zygomatie arches very prominent, bulging forehead, very pronounced stop, superciliary arches prominent, short or long muzzle. Wrinkled skin on head. Important faults: Narrow head, lighl, pointed and upturned muzzle.

EARS: Small, hanging, low set, of triangular shape (cropped short on puppies).

Faults: High set ears, not cropped.

EYES: Dark, wide apart, rounded, set straight.

Faults: Light eyes or set on the slanl, drooping lids. White speek on the eye.

TEETH: White, strong, fitting lightly. The incisors are set at the base in one line. Scissor bite.

Faults: Worn teeth in such way disproportionate to the age. Presence of broken teeth without deformity of the bite. Absence of more than two first pre-molars or absence of a first and a second premolar. Slight yellowing of the teelh.

Important faults: Teeth small, sparse. Incisors irregularly placed. All deviation in relation to the normal scissor bite. Absence of one incisor or one canine. Absence of a third or a fourth premolar or of one molar. Teeth with badly damaged enamel.

NECK: Short, muscular, carried low, forming an angle of about 30 to 40

degrees with the line of the back.

Faults: Long neck with insufficient muscle. Dewlap very obvious.

CHEST: Wide, deep, with rounded ribs. The lower line of the chest is either at elbow level or lower.

Faults: Flat chest, rather small. Skin definitely hanging below the chest. Important faults: Very flat chest, narrow, small, insufficiently developed.

ABDOMEN (belly): Moderately tucked up.

Faults: Abdomen too tucked up (as in a greyhound) or drooping (voluminous).

WITHERS: I ligh, well defined, especially in the males. The height at the withers is of 1 or 2 cm superior to the height at the rump. Faults: Withers low, insufficiently marked above the line of the back.

BACK: Strong, straight, wide.

Faults: Soft back or arched.

Important faults: Hollow or humped back.

LOINS: Short, wide, slightly rounded. Faults: Long loins, straight or too rounded. Important faults: Long loins, narrow or hollow.

RUMP: Wide, muscular, almost horizontal.

Faults: Rump a little on the slant.

Important faults: Narrow, short, very oblique. Rump very high.

TAIL: High set, in shape of sickle, hanging; reaches the hock. Docked short. Faults: Not shortened.

FOREQUARTERS: Seen from the front: straight and parallel. The length of the legs to the elbows (from the ground to the elbow) is slightly superior to half of the height of the dog at the withers. Angle of scapular-humeral articulation is about 100 degrees. Forearm straight, massive, long; pasterns short, wide, strong, straight.

Faults: Slight deviation of the angle of the shoulder articulation. Feet slightly toeing in or out, pasterns a little soft.

Important faults: Straight shoulder or too closed, deformation of leg bones. Weak pasterns. Feet badly toeing in or out.

HINDQUARTERS: Set parallel, slightly open at level of stifle and hock joint. Legs short. Metatarsals thick, straight set.

Faults: Slight deviation in relation to parallelism of hindquarters. Hocks a little close. Hind angulation a little straight.

Important faults: Definite deviation in relation to parallelism of the legs. Bowed legs. Hind angulation excessively straight.

FEET: (front and hind) Strong, oval, compact.

Faults: Splayed feet, long, flat.

Important faults: Badly splayed feet, very flat.

GAIT/MOVEMENT: The heavy shortened trot and gallop are the most characteristic gaits of this breed of dogs. At the trot the legs must move in a straight line, with a certain coming together of the forelegs towards a median line. Faults: Slight deviation in relation to normal gaits. Important faults: Restricted movements, hobbled.

ELIMINATING FAULTS: All deviation in relation to the correct scissor bite. Absence of one incisor or one canine, a third premolar or a fourth premolar or of one molar.

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