RUSSIAN TOY TERRIER

ORIGIN: Russia.
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGINAL VALID STANDART: 27.02.03.

UTILISATION: Companion Dog.

CLASSIFICATION FCI:   Group 3. Terriers. Section 4. Toy terriers. Without working trial.
BRIEF HISTORICAL REVIEW: At the beginning of the 20th century, the English Toy Terrier was one of the most popular decorative dogs in Russia. However, in the period, 1920 - 1950 shipping of toy terriers was almost stopped and the number of dogs fell to critical level. Only in the mid-fifties did, Russian dog-breeders began the rebirth of the breed. Practically all dogs, which were used in breeding, had no pedigrees; many of them were not of pure blood. Standard established for Toy Terrier significantly differed from the English Toy Terrier`s standard in many aspects. From this moment, the evolution of the breed in Russia went its own way.

On the 12 of October in 1958 two smooth-haired dogs, one of which had a slightly longer hair, gave life to a male dog with a spectacular fringe on ears and limbs. It was decided to keep this feature on. The male was mated with a female dog which also had a slightly long hair. So the longhaired variant of the toy terrier appeared. It was called Moscow Longhaired Toy Terrier. A dog breeder from Moscow Yevgueniya Fominichna Zharova played an important role in creation of this breed variant.

The long isolated evolution and specific selection process have resulted in the creation of a new breed ? the Russian Toy Terrier of two types: longhaired and smooth-haired.

GENERAL APPEARANCE: A small-size elegant dog, lively, long-legged, with delicate bone and lean muscles; males and females do not differ much morphologically, however, their behaviour differs significantly.

 IMPORTANT PROPORTIONS: The ratio from length to height shall make his build appear as square as possible; the height at elbows is slightly longer than a half of the height at withers; the chest is deep enough; the size of the head in relation to the size of the body is small.

BEHAVIOUR/TEMPERAMENT: Lively, very cheerful, not cowardly or aggressive.

 HEAD: Not large.

 CRANIAL REGION
Skull: Quite high but not too wide (width at the level of cheek-bones does not exceed the scull height).

Stop: Clearly defined.

 FACIAL REGION
Nose: Small, black or matches with the dog’s colour.
Muzzle: Lean and pointed, slightly shorter than the scull.

Lips: Thin, lean, tight and dark or matching with the color.

Jaws/Teeth: Small, white. Scissor bite.  Six incisors on upper and lower jaws are desirable.
Cheeks: Clean.
Eyes: Quite big, rounded, a bit prominent, set well apart and straight, dark. Eyelids are dark or matching with the colour, tight-fitting.
Ears: Big, thin, set high, upstanding.

 NECK: Long, lean, set high, slightly curved.

 BODY

Topline: Gradually descends from the withers to the tail base.

Withers: Slightly pronounced.

Back: Strong and straight.

Loin: Short and slightly arched.

Croup: The croup is somewhat roundish and slightly sloping.

Chest: The chest is quite deep, not too wide, oval-shaped.

Underline and belly: Tucked up belly and drawn-up flanks, forming a nicely curved line from the chest to the flanks.

 TAIL: Shortly docked (two or three vertebras are only left), gaily curried high. In countries where tail docking is prohibited by law, it can be left in its natural state. It should be carried a little higher than level of back, desirable of sickle curve.  

 LIMBS

 FOREQUARTERS: Thin and lean; seen from the front, the front legs are straight and parallel.

Shoulders: The shoulder blades are long and not very sloping.

Upper arm: Forming an angle of 105 degrees to the shoulder blade. The length of upper arm is practically the same as the length of shoulder.

Elbows: Turning neither in nor out.

Forearm: Long, straight.

Carpal joint: Dry.

Pastern: Almost vertical.

Forefeet: Small, oval, well-knit, arched, turning neither in nor out. Claws and resilient pads are black or match with the color.

HINDQUARTERS:  Seen from the rear, the hind legs are straight and parallel, but standing a bit wider than the forelegs. Stifles and hocks are moderately bent.

Upper thigh: Muscles are dry and moderate developed.

Lower thigh: The upper thighs and lower thighs are of the same length.  

Hock:  With moderate angles.

Metatarsus: Vertical to the ground.

Hind feet: Well-knit, arched, slightly narrower than forefeet. Claws and resilient pads are black or match with the color. 

 GAIT/MOVEMENT: Easy, straightforward, fast. The dog’s silhouette is almost the same in movement as when it is static.

 SKIN: Thin, dry and tight-fitting.

 COAT

HAIR: There exist two types of the breed: smooth-haired and longhaired.

Smooth-haired: short, taut, shiny hair, without undercoat or bald patches.

Longhaired: body is covered with moderately long (3-5 cm), flat or a bit wavy taut hair, which does not hide natural body contours. Hair on the head, on the front part of legs is short and taut. Distinct feathers on rear side of legs. All feet have long silky hair completely hiding toes. Ears are covered with thick and long hair forming a fringe. Adult dogs of more than three years have such a fringe, which completely hides the exterior edges and tips of the ears. Body hair should not look shaggy or too short (less than 2 cm).

COLOUR: black and tan, brown and tan, blue and tan, also red of any shade with black or brown overlay, or without them. More rich shades are preferable for any color.

 SIZE AND WEIGHT

Height at withers: Dogs and bitches: 20 - 28 cm.

Weight: Dogs and bitches: to 3kg.

 FAULTS:

Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

-         Level bite or alveolar slope of incisors.

-         Distemper teeth, missing of one or two incisors in each jaw, and losing teeth due to age, on condition that the dog continues to have a scissors bite, that should be determined by experts.

-         Semi-drop ears. If long-haired dog has this fault because hair makes its ears heavier, it is allowed but not desirable.

-         Low?set tail.

-         Bald patches of short-haired dogs.

-         Too long or too short hair on body of long-haired dogs.

-         Small white spots on chest and toes.

-         Black, brown and blue color, too big or darkened tan spots.

-         Height at withers is above 28 cm. 

  DISQUALIFYING FAULTS:

-         Aggressive.

-         Chihuahueno type head.

-         Overshot; undershot; missing of more than two incisors in each jaw or a fang.

-         Hanging ears.

-         Short legs.

-         Many bald patches of short-haired dogs.

-         Absence of decorative hair on ears and curly hair in longhaired dogs. 

-         White color; white spots on the head, abdomen and above metacarpus; large white spots on chest and throat, brindled marks.

-         Height over 30 cm.

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