Showsight - August 2021

KEY CHANGES TO UNDERSTANDING THE LAGOTTO ROMAGNOLO

Standard

BY ADRIENNE PERRY AND LISA SOBON

T he Lagotto Romagnolo has a new AKC Breed Standard in place as of March 2020. Unfortunately for all, this occurred during quarantine when not a lot of opportunities were available to talk about the changes—and exactly what we were referring to with a variety of word choices and changes in phrases. We want to take a moment to review three areas of the standard that seem to still need clarifying: The addition of the word “Gray”; the Reverse Scissor Bite; and the concept of “Rustic” presentation as it applies to grooming. So, our standard has been revised… is that cheering we hear? For the last seven years, I have heard from many judges that our Lagotto Romagnolo standard was so complicated that you needed a protractor to understand what was expected to examine our breed. The purpose of the breed revision was not to change what we hope to present to you as judges, but instead, to make it more user-friendly and keep with the intent of the original Italian standard. The changes that were made were in hopes of allowing you, as judges, more time to evaluate the dogs’ conformation without having to spend extra time hunting for dewclaws or taking time to count teeth in your endeavor to check for DQ’s. These changes keep us in line with the Italian /FCI Standard and DQ’s for the Lagotto.

“THE CHANGES THAT WERE MADE WERE IN HOPES OF ALLOWING YOU, AS JUDGES, MORE TIME TO EVALUATE THE DOGS’ CONFORMATION WITHOUT HAVING TO SPEND EXTRA TIME HUNTING FOR DEWCLAWS OR TAKING TIME TO COUNT TEETH IN YOUR ENDEAVOR TO CHECK FOR DQ’S.”

220 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, AUGUST 2021

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