Polish Tatra Sheepdog Kennel

It was issued by Towarzystwo Miłośników Psa Służbowego in 1938 and many elements of this norm describe the Polish Tatra sheepdog in a more detailed way than the FCI norm.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: main external characteristics of this dog are: shapely posture with proportional and harmonious build. This muscular dog, with strong skeleton and strong rump, resembles kuvasz at the first look. The proportion of the length of the trunk (from the shoulder bone to the hind point of the bottom bone) to the height of the dog is 10:9. Male dogs are slightly shorter than females.

HEAD: proportional in size, with strong muzzle, gently narrowing towards the end. Seen from the side shows a little camber of the cranium and the forehead with the marked transition of the forehead line w into the bridge of the nose line. Bridge of the nose wide. Dark nose, almost black, medium sized, with wide nostrils. Puppies develop the darker tone slightly later. Lips and cheeks are soft, closely adhering and covering the teeth. When the dog is irritated the lips at the base are raised. Rims of lips are dark in colour.

EYES: distinct, medium-sized, rather slanting. The iris should be dark, coffee-coloured. Rims of eyelids the same colour as the nose (dark). Eyes' expression quiet, gentle, thinking.

EARS: medium long, triangular, covered with thick hair, with the inner edge freely adhering to the head.

NECK: muscular, very strong, thick, medium long, deeply placed on the trunk, slightly forwarded.

BODY: long and solid. Muscular, wide and deep chest. Ribs rather flat. Straight spine, wide, sloping, well connected to the vault and hips. Strong and wide hips. Sloping rump.

LEGS: forelegs are characterised by enormously strong skeleton and muscles. Adhering shoulder-blades. Antebrachium perpendicular from the front and from the side, muscular, medium long. Carpus thick and wide. Hind legs with strong skeleton, seen from the back and from the angle - straight, placed almost perpendicularly to the ground (not forward). Muscular and well rounded thighs are covered with long and thick hair to the ankle joint. Feet are rather big, oval, digits strongly cut, but well coherent, with strong and tough sole. Claws strong, blunt, dark-coloured.

TAIL: proportional, set low, fluffy, reaching almost to the ankle joint, hangs loosely, only in the lower 1/3 - a little raised. In agitation the tail is put upward, and even twisted at the end.

COAT: adhering at the head and the muzzle, soft. Long at the neck and the trunk, thick or slightly wavy, hard to the touch. In summer about 5 cm long, in winter longer, with dense and thick lining. The whole length of the tail covered with abundant hair. Hind legs from the ankle joint down and fore legs from the shoulder (elbow) down - covered with short, dense hair.

COLOUR: white. Some dogs however have slightly yellowish colour of hair at the spine and ears, which is not a drawback, however it is not desired.

SIZE: the height of an adult male dog is between 65 cm and 70 cm, the height of an adult female - between 60 cm and 65 cm. Larger height has a negative influence on compact and proportional build, and lowers the dog's coordination, which drawback disqualifies the dog as a useful dog.

FAULTS: weak and too long spine, protruding, loose and delicate hair, forward hind legs, too short neck. Next: light-coloured or bluish iris, fair (flesh-coloured) nose and flesh-coloured edging of lips, flesh-coloured rims of eyelids, and the tail carried normally too high above the spine line.

USAGE: it is a quiet, watchful dog, with rather fluent motion, psychically developed and fast learning. Gentle for members of the household, however suspicious of strangers, when irritated may become dangerous. As a useful dog is especially good as a guard dog, though there are some individuals good at protection and as a companion dog. Beside that, the Polish Tatra sheepdog is an agile and persistent swimmer.