FCI Standard - Interpretations and Drawings 

POLISH LOWLAND SHEEPDOG

Polski owczarek nizinny

FCI standard nr251. 09.02.1996

Text: Miroslaw Redlicki

Drawings: Ewa Dobrzynska

ORIGIN: Poland

UTILIZATION: Easy to handle, he works like a sheepdog and guard dog. Moved to urban city life, he is a very good companion dog. His well groomed coat gives him an attractive and interesting appearance.

Adaptable to city life, the PON is a very active breed, which needs a lot of exercise and whenever possible - some extra training.  PONs are doing extremely well in agility and obedience competitions.  When permanently kenneled, they become noisy and hyperactive.

GENERAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTIC BEHAVIOUR: The Polish Lowland sheepdog is a dog of medium size, compact, strong muscular, with a thick long coat, of a lively but tempered disposition, vigilant, agile, intelligent, perceptive and gifted with a good memory. Resistant to unfavourable climatic conditions.

STRONG AND MUSCULAR - these are the crucial words in this passage. Good bone and well-developed muscles are absolutely essential. The general appearance is of the sturdy and robust dog, without any suggestion of weediness. By no means should the PON be an "elegant" dog.

HEIGHT AT THE WITHERS:

Males 45-50cm

Females 42 - 47 cm

Proportion height.: body length 9 :10

TYPE: The dog must retain the type of a working dog, consequently his size must not go down below the standard; he must neither be too weak nor delicate.

The variety of sizes had always existed in the breed and has been just recently reduced. Keeping in mind the working origin of the breed, some tolerance - if any - can be given to slightly oversized specimens (especially males), but NEVER to the undersized ones.

Fig. 1 Excellent overall picture

HEAD:

General appearance: Medium dimension, proportional, not too heavy The thick fur on the forehead, the cheeks and the chin give the head a look of being heavier than it really is.

Ratio skull: muzzle 1:1, or muzzle a little shorter.

Skull: Not excessively broad, slightly rounded. Frontal furrow and occipital protuberance noticeable.

Stop: Well accentuated.

Nose: Strong, blunt, with large nostrils, as dark as possible in relation to the colour of the coat.

Muzzler: Nasal bridge straight; strong jaws.

Lips: Fitting well; their edges are of the same colour as the nose.

Teeth: Strong, with scissors or pincer bite.

Eyes: Medium size, oval, not protruding hazel colour, with lively and piercing look The rims of the eyelids are dark

Ears: Hanging, set rather high, of medium size, heart shaped, wide at base; the fore edge is close against the cheeks; very mobile.

"Not excessively broad skull" does never mean the narrow and long one. The width of the skull in an adult male is only slightly smaller than its length. Well pronounced stop is of utmost importance - dogs with flat stop have poor vision and often become nervous and even agressive. Muzzle is short, square and blunt. Snipey muzzle is a serious fault. Missing teeth -regardless to the importance of this fault - seldom can be found. However, any missing incisivi should be considered a serious fault. Eye colour varies from amber (in chocolate dogs) through hazel and brown to very dark shades. It should match coat colour, except the pure white one. The standard description of PON ear is clear - however, at present many dogs show incorrect ear shape and carriage; ears are often too large, long and carried flat to the cheeks.

Male................................................................................... Female

Fig.2. Correct head and expression

NECK: Of medium length, strong, muscled, without dewlap, carried rather horizontally.

Although neck is carried low (almost horizontally) it should be “of medium length” and NOT very short. Too short neck and head placed almost between shoulders can be quite commonly seen. In such case shoulder is too straight and front lacks the necessary angulation.

BODY: Outline: Rather rectangular than square.

Withers: Well accentuated. Back Flat, well muscled.

Loin: Broad, well fused.

Rump: Short, slightly truncated.

Thoracic cage: Deep, of medium width; ribs quite well sprung, neither fiat nor barrel-shaped.

Belly: Outlining an elegant curve towards the hindquarters part.

TAIL: Short by nature, shortened or docked. In those countries where the law bans docking, a long tail is not considered as a fault.

Body is "rather rectangular than square". Too long bodies used to be common problem some years ago - nowadays PONs tend to opposite fault and are often almost square. Chest should be deep and broad; considering general proportions the distance from top of the withers to the bottom of the chest should be slightly more than 50% of total height.... Many dogs at present are too "leggy" and narrow and/or shallow in fronts. PONs front and chest should never resemble the bearded collie front. As rump is short and only slightly sloping tail - when left undocked - is carried well OVER back. Short rump is an important feature of the breed and should NEVER be sacrificed in order to get "better looking low tail carriage."  Any dog with low tail set and carriage must have too long and sloping rump and be overangulated, therefore remains a lot of bearded collie.

FOREQUARTERS: Seen in profile and from the front: Vertical and straight. Stance well balanced due to a strong skeleton (bone structure).

Shoulders: Broad, of medium length, oblique, clean cut, very muscular.

Pastern: Slightly slanting in relation to the forearm.

Feet: Oval, tight toes, slightly arched, pads really hard. Nails short, as dark as possible.

HINDQUARTERS: Seen from behind: Vertical, well angulated.

Thighs: Broad, well muscled.

Hocks: Well developed.

Feet: Compact, oval shape.

Standard expression "well angulated hindquarters" does not mean an excessive angulation. The thigh and the second thigh are of approximately the same length.

MOVEMENT/ GAIT: Easy and ground covering. Walk or trot smooth (without much vertical displacement). The dog often ambles when he walks slowly.

Correct gait and most common faults are shown in drawings by Mrs. Ewa Dobrzyñska.

SKIN: Tight fitting, without any folds.

COAT: The whole body covered with coarse hair, dense, thick and profuse; soft undercoat. Straight or slightly wavy hair is acceptable. The hairs falling from the forehead cover the eyes in a characteristic manner.

COLOUR: All colours and patches are acceptable.

The quality of PONs coat is much more important than mere length.  The PON is a natural dog and any excessive trimming is to be discouraged.  However, some trimming is permitted on back, neck and feet - it may improve outline of heavy coated dogs.  Coat colour is immaterial.  Different colours are linked to different coat texture.  Generally best coat texture come with grey and white/grey colour.  Black/white coats are usually softer and thinner, sometimes almost silky.  Chocolates have woolly and soft coats. Rare jet blacks have extremely soft coats, lacking undercoat.

 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.

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

Fig.3 Correct front and rear angulation.  Moves with full drive.

Fig.4 Straight shoulder and upper arm. Badly restricted front action.

Fig.5. Overloaded shoulder and too short neck. “Downhill runner”

Fig.6. Not Enough turn of stiffles. Action lacks drive.

Fig.7. Sloping croup and overangulated, weak hocks.

Fig.8. Not enough angulation both in front –and hindquarters. Short, restricted action.

PON FRONTS

........correctout...............of elbows............too narrow.............winging .............single track...

PON HINDQUARTERS

 .............Correct................toeing out.............too narrow............barrel – like...........cow-hocked