EXPLANATION TO THE IRISH SOFTCOATED WHEATEN TERRIER STANDARD

By Mrs. Maureen Holmes.

It is an accepted fact that all breeds of dogs have a Standard of Points a set of specifications, which lay down the various requirements that apply to each breed for the guidance of owner, breeders and judges. These standards are drawn up in the various countries of origin by experts, people who know intimately, and have been associated very closely with each breed over a long period. This very close association can contain an element of danger in so far as some small detail which has always's been there and with which everyone is quite familiar may be overlooked and not mentioned in the Standard. When that happens there is argument and controversy among, new owners as nowadays on type and coat structure.

The numbers refer to the original Irish Standard as issued by the Irish Softcoated Wheaten Terrier Club of Ireland and approved by the Irish Kennel Club. These numbers are missing in the F.C.I. approved version, apart from that they are the same.

I . General Appearance:

The Softcoated Wheaten Terrier should look more or less similar to his relative and compatriot the Kerry Blue Terrier, which means he is first and foremost a terrier. He definitely should not look like a member of the working group, and any Wheaten of this description should be disqualified from competition.

2. & 3. Characteristics and temperament:

Any Wheaten which does not meet the requirements described in the standard is not typical of the breed.

4. Head and skull:

Exactly as described in the Standard. The skull must not be coarse or too narrow. It must be quite flat (not peaked) and any deviation from this is most objectionable.

There should be a distinct stop. The stop is the slight "step" between muzzle and skull , the space between the eyes where nasal bone and skull meet. The foreface is equal in length to the skull. The cheeks must be clean and flat. The muzzle must be indicative of great strength. The jaw is wide and tapering but with no tendency to snipyness or pinching. Coarseness in the head goes together with protruding cheekbones: the head is more V- or wedge-shaped than rectangular; so the head and expression are wrong. The upper jaw must be strong and well defined: the lower jaw should be equally strong and round in front. Lips tight and black. A foreign breed correspondent has advocated a block head with a square muzzle, which is most untypical.

5. Nose:

Nose black and large in proportion to the size of the dog. Brown and pink noses are serious faults.

6. Eyes:

Eyes - dark, dark hazel. Medium sized. Not almond shaped as some ill-informed breeders in other countries have advocated. Black eyes are not typical although many of the early dogs possessed eyes which were almost black. Yellow eyes are a recent development in the breed and are a disqualifying fault; any dog with either fault should never be bred from. Eye rim to be black with a dark surround, but the absence of dark surround not to be penalized.

7. Ears:

Ears set at level of the skull, folded and directed downward and forward. They must be V-shaped of moderate thickness. May have a covering of darker hair under the light wheaten overlay. This is the only part of the body which has an undercoat.

8. Mouth:

In October 1978 the Irish Kennel Club approved the slight revision of the word sequence. Note that it now reads "Large, scissors or level". Scissors has always been the preferred bite in the breed, but the original sequence in the Standard led some people, unfamiliar with the breed, to believe that the level bite was preferred. Problem points, such as the open bite, meshed teeth and the wry mouth, are recent developments in the breed in other countries and must be heavily penalized as these are deviations which render a dog useless as a working terrier and consequently as breeding stock.

9. Neck:

Length of neck to be moderate and in proportion to the total dog. Not to be "swan like". Throatiness means there is an excess of loose skin and tissue at the underside of the neck.

10. Forequarters:

The front should be neither too wide or too narrow. The shoulder must be strong and muscular without any appearance of heaviness or "loading". The blades should be fine, sloping well back, and well-knit which means not too far apart. This gives proper layback with freedom of movement. cleanness of neck, and balance in front carriage.

A straight shoulder is a definite fault in conformation.

Forelegs:

The forelegs must be perfectly straight and muscular to a degree with strong and upright pasterns. Proportionate length is essential otherwise the dog becomes leggy.

Chest:

Must have a good depth but not excessive width as this hampers front movement. It must be deep from withers to brisket. A slabsided or barrel chest is objectionable. There must be enough room for lung action as this is a working terrier.

11. Body:

Must present a square outline. Topline level. Distance from withers to tail should equal distance from withers to ground. Should be short coupled but moderation is a must as a dog that is too short coupled is not typical. More latitude must be given to a bitch because of her reproductive role.

12. Hindquarters:

The stifle is the joint between thighbone and tibia, which reaches to the hock joint.

The angulation of stifle is important. If there is too much bend of stifle the dog cannot move in the right way; if there is too little bend of stifle, if the stifle is too straight, it's the same.

So the stifle must be well bent, but not so much that the dog appears to be on its knees. Both deviations are clearly visible. They are common faults in all breeds.

The first thigh or flank must be strong and well angulated, too, and well muscled; it should be thick and wide with good length but no "loading". The hockjoints can be described as the heels of the dog. They must be "well let down" which means they must not be placed too high up in the leg. The bones from the hock to the foot form the rear pasterns. They must be in proportion, placed completely upright and perpendicularly to the ground.

If the hockjoint is too short, the dog will not be in balance, and the movement of the hindquarters will be very bad. If the hocks are not properly placed the pasterns will not be upright, the dog will not be balanced and the hind movement will be unsound.

Incorrect construction of the hindlegs, such as cowhocks, straight stifles, overlength of leg hinders correct movement. The hindlegs should be under a dog NOT stretched out behind him. Handlers have to pull them out behind the dog when they are longer than the front legs to give the dog a level back when standing, but the fault shows up when moving and the dog is unbalanced.

Over-angulation is one of the present day ills in Wheatens. It is very regrettable that so many judges cannot see the fault and put them up over dogs that are more correctly made. How can a judge possibly not see the faulty hindgait and the general incompatibility of shape.

13 Feet:

Small tight feet turning neither in or out. Toes round and well arched. The pads should be thick and black. Black toenails preferred but horn coloured allowed. White or light coloured toenails are objectionable.

14. Tail:

High set on back. Not too thick or thin. The more erect the tail, the more expressive of a terrier. Carried gaily does not mean a gay tail carried over the back. Gay here means very erect.

A dog in motion must carry his tail erect. The correct amount to remove, is one third of the length, or behind the sixth joint.

15. Gait:

Must be expressive of a terrier. Powerful, with good reach in front and driving hind action.

Must be in straight line with no rolling, paddling, weaving or twisting when viewed from the front, the rear or the side. Cramped, stilted or impaired movement is not correct, is repugnant to view, and denotes unsoundness.

16 & 17 Coat and colour:

The Softcoated Wheaten Terrier's coat distinguishes it from all other breeds. It must be soft silky to the touch, wavy or curly, NOT coarse. The desired softness does not mean the hair cannot be felt as hair.

Wool or cottonwool, is absolutely wrong. Over this coat is a "silver sheen" characteristic of the breed. The coat must have body and be shiny.

IT IS NEVER TO BE WOOLLY.

Dull, thick, white woolly or cottonly textured hair are now disqualifying points. Straight hair or stand-off coat are also serious deviations as is a frizzy coat. They do not belong to this breed at all, and should either disqualify the dog or in the other cases be heavily penalized as they give a wrong impression of breed type and do not conform to the Standard. Abundant also does not mean dense or profuse: it means that the Wheaten should be well covered with coat but not excessively so

In the emerging years of Softcoated Wheaten Terriers a large number of dogs had very dark coloured ears; the base hair was blackish or reddish but it always had a light overlay. The erroneous practice of machining ears has laid bare the dark base, if present, because there is no overlay and questions are being asked. A machine should never be used on a Wheaten, the whole expression of the dog is altered by machining. The incidence of these dark based ears is on the wane but they do crop up from time to time. Another point that needs clarification is "no black in adult coat". This must not be construed to mean that pups and youngsters can be black here and there till they are adults. Nothing could be further from correct, If the hair is black all the way down the shaft to the skin it amounts to mismarking. The word yellow has been used by some writers to describe the colour of a Wheaten coat. Wheat is never yellow and the sharp shade implied by yellow as well as all the variations of the colour, is unacceptable.

The coat colour MUST be WHEATEN which means it must have a warm GOLDEN hue NOT yellow. Young dogs are excluded from this. While they are growing and developing their coats will be coarsish and reddish in colour. With their development comes the silky soft coat interspersed with reddish tones which will be their overall covering when they mature. Extremely heavy coated woolly pups are a latter day development, absolutely untypical and extremely doubtful in ever attaining a soft silky texture.

Brown is a colour that is NEVER mentioned or allowed in a WHEATEN; it is a colour that merits disqualification.

Brown pups will never change. A white or pale coat must also be penalized. Hairs may have red tips if the correct wheaten colour is underneath. No black or gray is allowed in the adult coat, which includes the head. The message of the standard is clear: "Any shade from light wheaten to a pale reddish hue".

Trimmed dog:

The coat should be well brushed out from the skin and clean of mats and wads before trimming is started. A pair of scissors (never a clipper) is used. Starting with the head, shorten hair between the ears to show clean flat skull, blend hair on back of head and neck into withers and body coat. Leave plenty of forelock and whiskers. Remove long hair from check and under ears and blend into neck. Comb forelock down over eyes: bring whiskers and beard forward to make face furnishings. Remove fringes round ear edges. Shorten hair on back of beard, on neck, and on chest, and grade into body coat. Tidy the leg hair and trim feet round very short.

Tip body coat to follow body outline so that the dog appears neat and tidy. Shorten hair on back of tail, taper and tidy front of tail to leave it clean and straight. Trimming should never be excessive. The whole aim is to smarten and tidy up the dog and to show a neat clean outline, not a sculpted sharp outline which is quite impossible to achieve if the dog has the correct coat texture.

Untrimmed dog:

An untrimmed dog should be tidied to present a neat outline. Feet, underside, and tall also to be tidied.

Pups

Pups are born true to type which means small pups took like what they will be when they are grown. Wheaten Terrier puppies are difficult to assess. They need a great deal of time to develop to full maturity, sometimes up to two and a half years. As puppies they seem to have long legs, long bodies, and chests lacking in dept which is quite noticeable because of the short coat. The puppy coat is usually quite harsh, and judges should take notice of all the items mentioned above while judging youngsters.

1 8. Weight:

Weight must be in proportion to size. Condition is more important than exact weight.

19. Size:

18- 1 9 inches, bitches somewhat less. Great care must be taken to maintain the correct size. It is very typical of the breed to have a marked difference in size between dogs and bitches. A small dog or a big bitch is very untypical and most objectionable.

20. Serious faults:

Undershot mouths, overshot mouths, nose any colour other than black, overall mature coat not clear wheaten colour, nervousness, viciousness are serious faults.

21. Disqualifying faults:

Yellow eyes, of which Dr. Pierse said they were an abomination, white coats, brown coats, dull, thick, woolly or cotton textured hair, ANY OF THESE FAULTS, MERIT DISQUALIFICATION.

Dogs carrying either any of the above mentioned serious faults (Sub. 20) or disqualifying faults (Sub. 21) should never be bred from.

end

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