Today’s blog post is brought to you by Anne from the Netherlands. If you look a couple posts back you’ll see her GORGEOUS photography of her dog Alba. Anne is a wonderful Barbet owner, handler, and so forth. I consider her to be a great asset to the Barbet. Her knowledge, handling skills, and positive outlook will be what carries this breed into the future.
Her guest/featured post is about measuring the Barbet. If you are involved in the breed you’ll know the height standard is very contentious. Being the standard’s height has raised ALOT in the past couple of breed revisions you can understand why it’s a hot issue for the Barbet.
Have you ever measured your Barbet? We have measured Alba: she is almost 18 months now so while not mature yet, old enough to compare her to the standard. I think it’s very interesting to measure and compare, especially as long haired breeds can be deceptive. The Barbet standard is relatively clear as to the proportions the ideal Barbet should have. Without
giving exact measures, the standard gives hints as to the proportions the different body parts should have when compared to each other. I have added several pieces of the Standard, they are copied from the official standard in English as it can be found on the website of the FCI.
I do not give any comment about how I feel my Alba does compared to the standard, I’ll let everybody make up his/her own mind about that. However, I hope this inspires more people to
have a close –and hopefully objective- look at their dogs. Of course a dog is much more than just measurements but it ís the base of a breed!
A. From nose to stop: 8,5 cm/ 3.3 in (this is including the actual nose, if measured up to the nose it measures 7 cm/ 2.8 in).
B. From stop to ociput: 11 cm/ 4.3 in.
From the standard: ‘The muzzle is slightly shorter than the skull’
C. Length of ear from onset to lowest point (only the ear itself, not the hair): 14 cm/ 5.5 in.
From the standard: ‘Ears: Set on low (at eye level or slightly lower), long, flat, wide, covered by long hair hanging in strands’
D. Neck from the skull to the shoulders: 16 cm/ 6.3 in.
E. Circumference of the neck: 36 cm/ 14.2 in.
From the standard: ‘Short and strong’
F. Height at the withers, from the shoulder blade to the ground: 52 cm/ 20.5 in.
From the standard: ‘Height at the withers:
Dogs: 58cm – 65cm (22.8 in – 25.6 in)
Bitches:53cm – 61 cm (20.9 in – 24 in)
With a tolerance of +/- 1cm’ (0.4 in)
Please keep in mind the rapid changes that have been made to the standard when it comes to the height: the height has been raised by 10 centimetre / 3.9 in! The standard that was in use before the breed was crossed with Poodles (among others) to broaden the bloodlines, mentioned a maximum height of 55 centimetre/ 21.7 in for a bitch!
G. Length of front leg from elbow to the ground: 31 cm/ 12.2 in.
H. Depth of the brisket: 22,5 cm/ 8.9 in. Circumference: 61 cm/ 24 in.
From the standard: ‘Chest: Broad, well developed, deep, reaching the elbow; ribcage rounded but not barrel-like’
I. Length of the body from the foremost point of the shoulder blade to the furthest end of the pelvic
bone: 57 cm/ 22.4 in.
From the standard: ‘The length of the body, measured from the point of shoulder to the point of buttock, is slightly more than the height at the withers’
J. Hind leg from the uppermost point of the pelvic bone to the hock: 33 cm/ 13 in.
From the standard: ‘Upper thigh: Slightly oblique, well muscled’
K. Hock: 13,5 cm/ 5.3 in.
From the standard: ‘Hock: Low, well angulated’
L. Lenght of tail from onset to end: 30 cm/ 11.8 in.
In Germany a lot of Breed Clubs have their members subject their dogs to a test they have to pass before being allowed to breed from them. This test also has character and behavior as a major part but I know there are breeds where the dogs body parts are measured in detail. Maybe that’s not such a weird idea!
