Page 23 - ShowSight Presents - The Beligian Tervuran
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reach the hock? When the dog moves is the tail an extension of the backline, raised only slightly? Adolescent males and our stud dogs will often raise their tails in the show ring. Take that into con- sideration, but this breed should never exhibit a high tail carriage or gay tail. And of course in Tervuren “cropped or stump tails” are a disqualification.
Second... Look at the proportions of depth of body (withers to elbow) to length of leg... they should be equal. A heav- ily coated dog can appear a tad short on leg... or he may truly be short on leg. An out of coat dog may look a bit high sta- tioned. Again stand back and look at those proportions. Try to divine where the dog’s elbow is from afar... then on your exam verify the placement. Balance is extremely important in a breed that must be able to turn on a dime and head off full tilt boogie in another direction. Check out the dog’s loin on exam... it should be relatively short. Shoulders should be well laid back while rear angulation is in balance with the front. We do not want dogs with a ton of rear coupled with a straight front that cannot handle all the drive from behind. Balance, balance, balance...
Remember the Tervuren has both an upper and lower height DQ. And these dif- fer from the other Belgian breeds. If you have any question about the height of a particular dog, always use the wicket.
Third... balanced head proportions and dentition... “Well chiseled head, long without exaggeration.” This is a head with flat cheeks, parallel planes, moderate stop, flat backskull equal in length to the muz- zle. When we ask you to look for a typical well-chiseled head, we are not seeking a Collie head. Our dogs have a “MODER- ATE stop and a moderately pointed muz- zle.” There is that word again... moderate. The zygomatic arch on a Belgian is flat, so bulging cheeks and thick set heads are not true to type. More about color later, but the acceptable ranges of masking can fool you into thinking a head is too lean or too chunky... use your hands gently to verify what your eyes are telling you.
Our standard asks for a scissors or level bite with full dentition. We consider dogs missing 4 or more teeth as having a serious
fault, and disqualify dogs with “undershot bites with complete loss of contact by all the incisors. Overshot and undershot teeth are a fault.” When examining the bite, please gently lift the front lip to check for occlusion, and then gently lift the lips on each side to check for full dentition. Our Judges Education Committee asks specifi- cally that you DO NOT PRY OPEN THE MOUTH to check for missing teeth. Typ- ically, if our Tervuren are missing teeth, they will be at the PM1 and PM2 location. This is an owner-handled breed and the dogs are not trained for a “wide-open alli- gator” mouth exam. Enough said.
Fourth... expression, eyes and ears. The standard asks for a slightly almond eye, dark brown in color, medium-sized. Beau- tiful dark eyes paired with small triangular ears set high on the head give a Tervuren that “typical” alert, intelligent, question- ing and ready for action expression. Low- set ears, ears that touch, large flat ears and round, light eyes spoil that ideal expres- sion. And “hanging ears, as on a hound are a disqualification.”
Fifth... coat and color. Our dogs carry a double coat of moderate length, well fit- ting to the body. Texture (medium harsh) is more important than length.
