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At
the Belgian Specialty Show of the ‘Royal Schipperkes Club’ on July
4, 1999, on request of the Belgian Standards Commission, we weighted and
measured 50 Schipperkes, 25 dogs and 25 bitches.
We found average weights of 6.5 kgs for males and 5.1 kgs for bitches,
the overall average being 5.8 kgs. The average height at the withers was
33.6 cms (13.2 ins) for dogs and 31.2 cms (12.3 cms) for bitches. We
also measured the length of body, the depth, width and circumference of
the chest, the length of muzzle, the length of head and the width of
skull.
From these results the three important body proportions or indices which
should be mentioned in every breed standard (see the so-called ‘FCI
Model Standard’) could be calculated.
- The first is the proportion ‘body length/height at
withers’, which in the Schipperke ideally should be 1. We found in
fact that the length of body on the average was 103 percent of the
height at the withers. This shows that it is realistic to require a
square body structure.
- The second is the proportion ‘depth of chest/height at
withers’, the average value of which was 0.476. This is in agreement
with the new standard, which stipulates ‘chest well let down’.
- The
third important proportion is the ratio ‘length of muzzle/length of
head’, which, on the average is about 0.4 (or 40 %), a result which
has been specified in the new standard.
The measurements of the 50 show Schipperkes clearly show that,
morphologically, the Schipperke is not a miniature Belgian Shepherd Dog,
more specifically not a Belgian Sheepdog or Groenendael of small
dimensions. The general appearance of the Belgian Shepherd Dog is ‘mediolineal‘.
The Schipperke however is more robust and compact: it has proportionally
a broader rib cage, a stronger head, a broader skull and a shorter
muzzle. Certainly, this ‘black little devil’ still is lupoid
(wolf-like or lupine), but tending to a compact or ‘brevilinear’ (brachymorphic)
conformation.
Book (in English)
published in England by "Interpet Publishing" (2001)
by Robert Pollet (Belgian author)
(156 pages-hardback-more than 135 colour
pictures-history-characteristics-the breed standard
+-your puppy-everyday care-housebreaking and training-health
care-showing your dog)
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