STANDARD:
BERGER DE BEAUCE (BEAUCERON)
Translation of the official French Standard for the BEAUCERON CLUB OF AMERICA.
Presented by the Commission of the Club judges, drafted by Mr. Augis, Mr. Billet, Mr. Crausaz,
Mr. Hurbier, Mr. Fourneret, Mr. Montenot, Mr.Sauvignac, and Mr. Thirist.
Accepted by the directing Committee of the club-Approved in general assembly.
Recorder: Mr. Robert Montenot, club Vice-President and President of the Commission of Judges
GENERAL APPEARANCE:
Solid dog of good height, strong, well built and well muscled, without heaviness. Easily approachable, without fear.
PENALTY:
Lack of rusticity, of strength; fearful.
DISQUALIFICATION:
Lack of standard; too heavy; too weak; dangerous or fearful.
HEIGHT:
Male: .65 - .70 meters (25 1/2" - 27 1/2")
Female: .61 - .68 meters (24" - 26 3/4")
DISQUALIFICATION:
Height outside of maximum or minimum limits.
HEAD:
Long (2/5 of the dog's height at the withers). The head must be proportionate to the body.
Skull: Rat or slightly rounded from one side to the other, medial furrow not too prominent. Apparent crest at the crown of the skull; well-chiseled head with harmonious lines but without weakness.
Nose: (see diagram): Stop or fold not too prominent, at equal distance from the end of the nose and the top of the skull; the width of the skull and the height of the head slightly less than 1/2 of the length of the head, nose (chanfrein) not hooked, but nonetheless slightly curved (convex) toward the end, nasal bone appreciably parallel to the frontal bone, seen in profile.
Muzzle: Neither narrow nor pointed; the lips must be closed, dry, always well colored; the upper lip must cover the lower lip without flapping; the lips must form at the flews a very slight beginning of a pocket which must always remain firm.
Teeth: Strong, white, perfectly arranged (as the blades of a closed pair of scissors) The teeth of the upper jawcovering the teeth of the lower jaw without ever losing contact. The jaw must be full. There is never the less room totake into account the functional role of each dental region.
Nose (nex): The nose (truffe) in relation to the muzzle must be neither too narrow nor too large, nevertheless well developed; never split; always black; view in profile, the nose must be in line with the extension of the upper lip.
Eyes: Horizontal (the head being held horizontally). The eyes must always be dark brown, never lighter than darkhazel even if the accents are light tan. Eyes always round, only the palpebral openings change with the race, and,for the beauceron, must be of a slightly oval shape.
Sheepdog-like Expression: That is to say, frank, never mean or fearful or apprehensive.
Ears: High. If they are cropped, they should stand straight, not divergent (pointing outward) or convergent (pointing inward); pointing slightly to the front. The well-held ear is one in which the middle passes through an imaginary linepro longing the sides of the neck. The un-cropped ear must not be lying too flat (pinned-down) but nonetheless must appear level and rather short. The length of the uncropped ear must be equal to 1/2 the length of the head. If they are of equal quality, the dog with cropped ears will be preferred over that with uncropped ears.
PENALTIES: Skull slightly too flat or too round; stop too prominent or not adequate; nose (chanfrein) too abrupt, too
slender or too thick; lips too clenched, or drooping; flews thick and flaccid; not colored enough. Decayed or yellowed teeth.
LACKING:
-- 1 incisor or 1 canine or 1 molar -- no CAC (?) |
-- 2 small premolars -- no "Excellent" |
-- 2 incisors or 2 canines or 2 molars -- no "Very Good" |
-- 3 small premolars -- no "Very Good" |
-- 3 incisors or 3 canines or 3 molars -- insufficient |
-- 4 small premolars -- insufficient |
Nose (truffe) pinched, askew, too large, too far forward. Eye slanting, too protruding, not open enough, too lightbrown; apprehensive expression. Ears soft/flaccid, not well carried if they are cropped, too long or curly if they are long; badly attached.
DISQUALIFICATION:
Head not standard enough; too small or too heavy; lack of stop or much too pronounced. Brainpan too small, nose (chantrein) thin or too short. Lips too developed, flaccid, unpigmented; lower or upper jawundershot; lack of molars or too incomplete or defective dentition. Impossible to examine dentition. Nose (truffe)split, of a color other than black; eye too light, of bad structure; ears do not comply with the description.
BODY:
The conformation of the Berge de Beauce is that of a midline, that is, harmoniously built with none of its regions exaggerated in shortness or length, the length of the body from the tip of the shoulder to the tip of the buttock must be more than the height of the dog at the whithers by:
Neck muscled and smoothly blended into the body line, with shoulders carrying the head proudly; wide chest, high and deep; thoracic region 1/5 longer than the height of the dog at the whiners; sternum descending to the point of the elbow; floating ribs long and flexible; shoulder slanting and of medium length; straight back; whithers well defined, wide and well fused to the rest of the body; rump with little sloping and only in the direction of the attachment to the tail; stifle not too angled; leg held slightly to the rear; hock strong, extended downward (not too close to the ground, situated approximately 1/4 the height of the dog) forming with the leg a well-open angle; posterior shins well vertical, slightly to the rear of the tip of the buttock; front foreleg muscular and dearly defined; rear and fore limbs well vertical in all their lines (viewed in profile, from the front and from the back).
PENALTIES:
Body not long enough or too long; neck thin or thick; fetlock slightly straight or too sloping; rump a bit too inclined or too straight; slightly defective angulation.
DISQUALIFICATION:
Lack of brisket. Chest too cylindrical; too much gut or too thin (greyhound-like); longline or shortline; disharmony between different parts; defective angulation; monorchidism, cryptorchidism, atrophied testicles.
TAIL:
Entire; canted down; descending at least to the point of the hock, without curvature, forming a slight J-hook.
PENALTY:
Slight curvature; hook a bit tight, or (queue de vache) ('cow tail').
DISQUALIFICATION:
Shortened; curled back on itself or on the back; hook too tight; tail (deniquetee).
FEET:
Strong; round nails always black; sole firm but still supple.
PENALTY:
Feet not compact enough; sole too delicate or lacking elasticity.
DISQUALIFICATION:
Feet flat, or not permitting normal work.
DEWCLAWS:
Double dewclaw on the rear leg; dewclaws placed on the inside, forming "thumbs" well separated onefrom the other; dose to the foot (the justification being a larger weight-bearing surface).
PENALTY:
Double dewclaw placed too high on the leg or represented by two superimposed stumps; double dewclaws on forelegs.
DlSQUALIFICATION:
Single dewclaw or lack of dewclaws.
COLORS:
A) Black and tan (BICOLOR): Red feet (stockings); the black being very pure; the color of the tan must be (squirrel red); the tan marks are found: lozenges over the eyes; on the sides of the muzzle, lessening on the cheeks, never reaching the underside of the ears; two spots on the chest are preferred to a breastplate; on the throat; under the tail; on the legs, the tan extends to the feet, to the pasterns, progressively lessening in ascending, though never covering more than 1/3 of the leg; ascending a little higher on the inside of the leg; some whine hairs at the breast are tolerated.
B) Harlequin: Grey, black and tan (TRICOLOR): The coat is equally black and grey, arranged in patches, or more black than grey; the tan occupies the same areas as for the bicolored.
PENALTY:
Black not pure enough; tan not blended enough with the black; tan too light or too dark; tan marks insufficient or too invasive; slight white mark at the breast. For the Harlequins, grey color too light or too invasive.
DISQUALIFICATION:
White marks on the breast; tan too invasive; tan marks elsewhere than in fixed areas; tan marks separated from other colors by a too distinct line. For the Harlequins, too much grey; black on one side and grey on the other; grey mixed in the tan; head all grey. There are grounds to penalize according to the seriousness of the defect. All that reveals weakness or degeneration can lead to disqualification, thus: leprous markings, depigmentation or washed-out colors.
POSTURE/STANCE:
These are the natural stances that the dog takes. It is therefore necessary to judge the Bergerde Beauce in its natural stance. The exhibitor can place the dog, but the judge must remember the qualification: THE NATURAL STANCE.
GAIT/PACES:
It is indispensable to judge the paces: a herd dog cannot be completely appreciated standing still. The gait must be untrammelled, smooth and easy; the legs staying well in line, the judge being placed behind or in front of the dog. The dog which loses its stride in movement will be penalized. The paces are: the walk, the gentletrot, the long trot, and the gallop. The Berger de Beauce must have a long trot.
PENALTY:
Bad position (penalty according to seriousness); the dog which hits the ground rapidly with its front paws and covers little ground, which has a short trot, gallops in slow speed, or walks single-footed.
DISQUALIFICATION:
Impossible to examine the stance and gait; "non-sheepdog like" gait.
CHARACTER:
The character must be well-behaved and fearless; all dogs which are aggressive without reason, fearful or show an exaggerated mistrust must be rejected.
NOTE:This information has been contributed by, and is property of the Beauceron Club of America, Inc. and is gratefully used here with permission.
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