Scottish Terrier Breed Magazine - Showsight

Illustration 7: Six Scottish Terrier dog outlines depicting head to body length proportions.

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“ATTAINING EXTRA SHORTNESS OF BACK HAS SOMETIMES MEANT SACRIFICING GOOD RIBS. IT IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAT THE DOG SHOULD POSSESS GOOD DEEP RIBS CARRIED WELL BACK...”

thick’—all these are qualities as much sought after today as they were seventy years ago. The general outline, as also the weight of the dog, has changed with the years, heads being longer, backs shorter, tails higher placed, bone heavier, to say nothing of the trend of fashion necessitating skillful trimming for show. But fundamentally the unique characteristics of our stout-hearted, harsh-coated popular little dog remain much unaltered.” (Caspersz, 1962, p. 24). Caspersz continues, “Attaining extra shortness of back has sometimes meant sacrificing good ribs. It is much more important that the dog should pos- sess good deep ribs carried well back, with a strong muscular loin, than that he should measure an inch or so less from his withers to his tail. The two virtues are not entirely incompatible in any case, for examples can be found of dogs with good ribs both for depth and length, plus a strong muscular loin and yet withal (sic) short-backed and still agile. Such is the ideal, but exces- sively short bodies on a dog of such low

build, on short legs, are apt to interfere with the fine, free, long-striding gait so typical of the breed.” (Caspersz, 1962, p. 68). John Marvin, in The New Complete Scottish Terrier , references the chang- es in the existing standard by stating that “in 1947 when it was believed that revisions were required to keep abreast of breeding and judging trends.” The revised standard read: “19 to 22 pounds for dogs and 18 to 21 pounds for bitch- es, and the height for both sexes, which was set at about 10 inches and was a far cry from the original 9 to 12 inches of the 1895 standard “(Marvin, 1982, p. 166). Marvin also comments about the Scottish Terrier Club of England stan- dard (1965) in regards to size—larger dogs having a shoulder height of 11 inches as a top limit together with heavier animals to go with the height (Marvin, 1982, p. 168) Marvin continues to comment about the change of today’s Scottish Terrier from the early breed representatives. “He has increased in weight from a

range of 13 to 18 pounds to the pres- ent day figures of 19 to 22 pounds; his ears must be pricked or upright, whereas he could have half-dropped ear in the beginning; his neck has been lengthened from “thick and muscular” to “moderately short, but not so short as to appear clumsy; his body has been remade from one “of moderate length, not so long as a Skye’s to “moderately short”; and his height has been modi- fied from the 9 to 12 inches at the with- ers to a flat 10 inches. He also writes that these changes have made a more attractive dog, but not necessarily added to his working abilities (Marvin, 1982, p. 178) In his early version of his book, The Complete Scottish Terrier , Marvin writes that “In general, the Scottish Ter- rier should offer the keen, sharp appear- ance of an alert dog. He should appear compact and strong, never weedy or light. The standard says he should present an appearance of immense power in a small size and this is an ade- quate description of the dog” (Marvin, 1967, p. 109)

S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , J ULY 2018 • 223

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