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Federation Cynologique Internationale |
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Nr. 38 |
May 12. 2010 |
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English breed |
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In the frames you find
Rachel's comments on the breedstandard, these comments are her
opinion and please feel free to discuss these with us.
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ORIGIN:
Great Britain |
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DATE OF
PUBLICATION OF THE OFFICIAL VALID STANDARD:
24.06.1987 |
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CLASSIFICATION
FCI: Group 1 Sheepdogs and Cattle
Dogs (except Swiss Cattle Dogs) |
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Section 1 Sheepdogs |
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Without working trial |
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GENERAL
APPEARANCE: Sturdy, tough, mobile,
capable of endurance. Long in |
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proportion to
height, terminating in fox like brush, set in line with body. |
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IMPORTANT PROPORTION:
Length of foreface in
proportion to head 3 to 5. |
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Please reward the correct
proportions of 3:5 (foreface-head), we measure the two parts
as |
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follows: tip of the nose
to the dividing point between the inner corners of the eyes
(this |
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should be 3) and dividing
point between the inner corners of the eyes to te occiput (this |
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should be 5). The correct
proportions that are called important proportions in this
new |
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standard are so
distinctive for this breed and sadly hardly seen nowadays.
Most of the time |
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we see proportions 1:1. |
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BEHAVIOUR /
TEMPERAMENT: Alert, active and intelligent. Steady, not shy or
aggressive. |
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In this new sstandard the
FCI emphasised the importance of behaviour in dogs as
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aggressive or overly shy
dogs should be disqualified. This phrase has been included
in |
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all new standards.
Aggressive or overly shy dogs are not often seen in Cardis
and therefore |
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it's wise to penalise
this trait as it doesn't belong with the breed. |
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HEAD: Foxy in
shape and appearance. |
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CRANIAL
REGION:
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Skull: Wide and flat between ears;
tapering towards eyes above which it is sleghtly domed. |
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Stop: Moderate |
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So the back skull should
be flat but the occiput can be felt and seen. The width
between the |
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ears is of great
importance, it gives the cardigan it's distictive look as
the ears should be |
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wider set than the pem's
ears, see undere "ears". Above the eyes you should be able
to see |
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and feel the skull as
it's slightly domed above the eyes |
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FACIAL
REGION:
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Nose:
Black, projects slightly and in no sense blunt. |
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Muzzle: Tappering
moderately towards nose. |
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Jaws/Teeth: Teeth strong
with scissor bite, i.e. upper teeth closely |
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overlapping the lower teeth and
set square to the jaws. Underjaw clean |
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cut. Strong but without
prominence. |
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Eyes: Medium size, clear,
giving kindly, alert but watchful expression. |
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Rather widely set with
corners
clearly defined. Preferably dark, or to |
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blend with
coat, rims dark. One or both eyes
pale blue, blue orq blue |
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flecked permissible only in blue
merles. |
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Ears: Erect,
proportionately rather large to size of dog. Tips slightly |
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rounded, moderately wide at base
and set about 8 cm. (3,5 ins) apart. |
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Carried so that tips are slightly
wide of straight line drawn from tip of |
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nose through centre of eyes, and
set well back so that they can be laid |
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flat along neck. |
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The
cardis eyes should have the corners well defined which means
that they are not round. |
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The pem has round eyes,
please note the difference. |
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The cardis ears are
bigger and rounder at the top then the pems ears. A big
difference is |
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also
the placement of the ears, there's more width in between
the ears of the cardi, therefore |
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the ears are slightly
wide of the straight line drawn from the tip of nose through
the center of |
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the eyes. When we do
this with a pems ears, the line will pass its ears in the
middle of the |
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top of the ears. A lot
of pems have their ears set on too low, which gives them a
cardi-look! |
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set well back so that they can be laid flat along the neck.
Most cardis |
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ears, if you want to see the dog use his ears, ask him to do
that on the ground |
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table. Most cardis carry their ears back while moving. I
want you to take |
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called: "hooded ears". These ears are set too far forward
and most of the |
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bit over to the front, these ears should be penalized as
they are incorrect and |
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correct type. |
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The nose should be black
and this restricts the possible colours in cardis. A lot of
young |
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blue merles show partly
pink noses, the filling in takes a while, it can go on until
they are |
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about 3 years of age. I
would forgive young dogs and if the blue merle dog at the
age of 3 |
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years still shows a bit
of pink, I will not penalise it. The phrase "nose black" is
put in here to |
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restrict certain colours,
in the older standards blue merles were excuses for not
having fully |
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black coloured noses. |
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The underjaw should be
clean cut and strong but we also want to see a nose that
projects |
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slightly and is in no
sence blunt. So be careful in saying the nose is sticking
out too far or |
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the underjaw should be
stronger. By the way the standard asks for a scissor bite,
not for |
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complete dentition, now
what should we do with missing elements? The standard does
not |
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say anything about
penalising it. |
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NECK:
Muscular, well developed, in proportion to dog’s build, fitting into
well sloping |
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shoulders.
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BODY:
Fairly long and strong. |
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Topline:
Level. |
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Loin: Waist clearly
defined. |
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Chest: Moderately broad
with prominent breast bone. Brisket deep. Well sprung ribs. |
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The waist of the cardi
should be clearly defined, the standard of the pem does not
require |
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this! The brisket should
be deep and ribs wel sprung. When you see a few cardis play
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together you will see
them roll over the ground while they are speeding and
grabbing each |
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other. This rolling over
would be much harder if their ribs are not well sprung. |
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TAIL:
Like a fox's brush set
in line with the body and moderately long (to touch or nearly touch |
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ground).
Carried low when standing but may be lifted above body when moving,
not curled |
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over back. |
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Some more dominant dogs
will raise their tail while moving, especially with other
dogs in the |
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ring. It is important to
see whether they will lower their tail once they stopped
moving. If you |
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would have two equal dogs
to choose from, you will choose for the one with the correct |
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tailcarriage while moving.
If the dog who carries the tail too high, but not curled,
has great |
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type and conformation,
please don't put another dog who lacks type or has less |
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conformation in front of
it. I rather have a well constructed dog that carries his
tail too high |
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than a less typy or steep
fronted dog. |
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What about kinks? Can a
judge say that a dog has a kink in it's tail? X-rays
sometimes |
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show that a tail has been
broken. Some judges lower their qualification because of an
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abnormality in the tail.
Still there is no scientific evidence for kinks or
abnormalities to cause |
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other major problems.
Ofcourse, I'd rather stay away from it but again, if the dog
has great |
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type and great overall
construction, I might go for that dog despite the
abnormality in the tail. |
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A dog with a normal tail
but lacking type and poor construction will not be a happier
dog. |
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LIMBS:
Strong bone. Legs short but body well clear of the ground. |
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The body should be well
clear of the ground. This is another difference with the
pem's |
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standard that only asks
for a low set dog. In pem's we like to see that the height
of one hand |
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that rests on its side
fits under the dog. The cardi usually shows a bit more
daylight under |
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his body but should at
least show the same amount of daylight as the pem does. |
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FOREQUARTERS: |
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Shoulders:
Well laid, angulated at
approximately 90 degrees to |
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upperarm,
muscular. |
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Elbows:
Close to sides. |
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Forearm: Slightly bowed to
mould round the chest. |
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Forefeet: Round, tight,
rather large and well padded. Turned slightly |
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outwards |
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HINDQUARTERS: strong, well angulated and aligned with
muscular thighs and lower thighs; |
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strong bone carried down to feet.
Legs short. |
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Metatarsus: Vertical when standing, viewed from side
and rear. |
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Hind-feet: Round, tight, rather large and well
padded |
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Please
reward the proper wrap around front which is
so specific
for
this breed and comes |
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with the correct ribcage. A lot of
Cardis do not show the proper wrap.
The feet should |
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not turn out too much, ideally we look for
a turn out that shows
a clock at 5 minutes to one. |
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The inner lines of the pasterns
should be almost parallel to each other and
if we would |
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drop
a line from
the elbow to the ground,
it should only just touch
the outer
margin of the |
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front
feet. Please remind that Corgis
are genetically dwarf dogs. Their leg
bones
have |
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not
lengthened normally. The bow (or “crook”) of
the forearm which causes the wrap |
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around is
the result of the
radius growing
longer than the
ulna. If this is overdone, the |
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elbow and or
the pastern joints can be damaged, and the
whole front is deformed. |
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Overknuckling in the front should be penalised
as it takes away the soundness of the |
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dogs
front. The
turn out of the feet is a major difference
in
comparison with the Pembroke, |
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the pem should
not turn out it's
feet. |
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FEET: round, tight, rather large
and well padded. All dewclaws to be removed. |
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The cardi should have strong bone,
carried down to the feet, as the feet should be round, so should the
bone. This is one of the differences in comparison with the pembroke.
The Pem should have oval feet and therefore oval bone. His feet
should be rather large, this combines well with the round shape and
strong bone. It's important to know that the cardi's feet are
biggeer (and rounder) than a pem's foot. |
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GAIT/MOVEMENT: Free and active, elbows
fitting close to sides, neither loose nor tied. |
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Forelegs reaching well forward without too much
lift, in unison with thrusting action of hindlegs. |
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COAT:
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Hair:
short or medium, of hard texture. Weather-proof,
with good undercoat. |
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Preferably
straight. |
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The breedstandard says coat:
short to medium, now what is medium? There are as many opinions as
there are judges, I think the structure or texture of the coat is of
a bigger importance than the exact length that is not well explaned
in this standard. Just take in consideration that soft coat textures
create more problems than longer coats with an harder texture. Please note that this
breedstandard doesn't include any eliminating faults or
disqualifications. A fluffy (longhaired corgi, please see our
article about fluffies) or a colour that doesn't come with a black
coloured nose can be disqualified though based on "Regulations for
FCI Dogshows", stating:
DISQUALIFIED:
must be
awarded to a dog which does not correspond to the type required by
the breed standard; which shows a behaviour clearly not in line with
its standard or which behaves aggressively; which has testicular
abnormalities; which has dental flaw or a jaw anomaly; which
shows a colour and/or coat imperfection or clearly shows
signs of albinism. This qualification shall also be awarded to dogs
that correspond so little to a single feature of the breed that
their health is threatened. It should furthermore be awarded to dogs
that show eliminating faults in regard to the breed standard. |
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COLOUR:
any colour, with or without white markings, but white should not
predominate. |
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Please note: Not all colours are
accepted as a cardigans nose should be black, see under "head and
skull" therefore liver or blue coloured (and so on) dogs are not
accepted. Unlike many other breedstandards that include the Blue
Merle colour, there is no description of the merle colour. This
means that merles with big black or diluted patches or only small
merle markings are accepted as well. A lot of white on the head and
body is permitted but white should never predominate.
Also remember that white around the eyes is permitted as long as the
eyerims are black. |
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SIZE AND
WEIGHT: |
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Ideal height at
withers: 30 cm. |
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Weight in proportion to size with
overall balance the prime consideration. |
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A healthy
weight for a dog is around 17-18 kg. A dog
can have great |
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bone
and good depth, without being too heavy. The
dog pictured here |
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(CH
Dragonpatch Big Papa Foster WW'09 WW'10)
weighs 17,5 kg. |
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Bitches
weigh around 15-16 kg. Nowadays we see young
dogs who |
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weigh
22kg at the age of 6 months! I think we need
to watch the sizes |
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and
weights of our dogs, they should not look
like Bassethounds. |
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Always
take in account that Cardigans belong to the
herdingbreeds, |
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they
should be able to work all day and therefore
be able to roll over, |
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twist and
turn while speeding. |
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FAULTS: any departure from the
foregoing points should be considered a fault and the |
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seriousness with which the fault should be
regarded should be in exact proportion to its |
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degree and its effect upon the health and welfare
of the dog and on its ability to perform its |
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traditional work. |
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DISQUALIFYING FAULTS: |
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Aggressive or overly shy dogs. |
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Any dog clearly showing physical or behavioural abnormalities shall
be disqualified. |
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NB: Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully
descended into the |
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scrotum. |
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