judge uses the breed standard as the guide by which he makes his assessment of each dog entered. Here is Elzbieta’s Isa z Sinclair, standing for exam.
The standard varies from country to country, in wording and detail, though every standard essentially describes the same dog. The AKC standard, included here, offers considerable detail about the characteristics of the PON and is highlighted with the author’s comments in italics.
THE AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB STANDARD FOR THE POLISH LOWLAND SHEEPDOG
General Appearance: Mediumsized, cobby, strong and muscular, with a long, thick coat and hanging hair that covers the eyes. His herding and working ability is attributed to an intense desire to please and compatible nature. He is lively but self-controlled, clever and perceptive and well known for an excellent memory.
The PON is a very active breed that 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. The PON is easy to handle and 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. The crucial words in the passage above are “strong” and “muscular”: 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.
Size, Proportion, Substance: Well balanced due to a strong skeleton. Height measured at the withers for an adult dog is 18–20 inches, and 17–19 inches for a bitch. It is not desirable to diminish the size below the Standard, making the dog too delicate for a strong working dog. The silhouette is rectangular rather than square. The ratio of height to length is 9–10, meaning that the height at the withers should equal 9/10ths of its length. Fault: Long legs.
The variety of sizes had always existed in the breed and has just been 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. Polish breeders express concern that American dogs are becoming too tall for the breed.
The stop is well-accentuated with a pronounced indentation but should not be overdone.
Head and Skull: The mediumsized head is in proportion to the body. The profuse hair on the forehead, cheeks and chin makes the head look bigger than it actually is. Expression should be lively with a penetrating gaze. Eyes are of medium size and oval. Fault: Protruding eyes. Colors are brown or hazel. The edges of the lids are as dark as possible within the coat color. Ears are heart-shaped, drop, and set moderately high. Fault: Ears set too high. They are medium size in proportion to the head and should be fully covered with long hair. Skull is moderately broad and slightly domed. The forehead furrow and occiput are palpable. The stop has a pronounced indentation, but never as pronounced as a round-skull breed. Fault: A round head, apple shaped head. The ratio of muzzle to skull is 1:1. A little shorter muzzle is acceptable. The topline of the muzzle is straight. Fault: Convex or concave muzzles. The jaws are strong. Teeth a full complement of strong white teeth meet in a scissors or level bite. Nose should be large and black or brown, depending on the coat color. A pink nose or a nose partially lacking pigment should be penalized.
The ideal head and body of the Polish Lowland Sheepdog.
A “moderately broad and slightly domed” skull never means a narrow and long one. The width of the skull in adult males 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 aggressive. Muzzle is short, square and blunt. Snipey muzzle is a serious fault. Missing teeth—regardless of the importance of this fault—seldom can be found. However, any missing incisors should be considered a serious fault. Eye color varies from amber (in chocolate dogs) through hazel and brown to very dark shades. It should match coat color, except the pure white one. The standard description of the 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.
Neck, Topline, Body: Neck is muscular and strong. It is broad, without dewlap and held horizontally when moving. Faults: Neck held too high or too narrow. The back should be neither too long nor too short for proper balance and movement. Withers are well pronounced and broad. The chest is deep and broad. The topline is level. The loin is well muscled and broad. The croup is slightly cut, but only to a small degree. The belly is slightly drawn up. Tail should be short, set low and no longer than two vertebrae. It should not change the shape of the body. Tails are docked on puppies born with long or partial tails.
Although the 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 cases, the shoulder is too straight and the front lacks the necessary angulation.
Too-long bodies used to be a common problem some years ago—nowadays PONs tend to the opposite fault and are almost square. The 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 front. A PON’s front and chest should never resemble the Bearded Collie front. As the rump is short and only slightly sloping, the tail—when left undocked—is carried well over the back. The short rump is an important feature of the breed and should never be sacrificed in order to get a “better looking low tail carriage.” Any dog with a low tail set and carriage must have too long and sloping a rump and be overangulated, therefore resembling a Bearded Collie.
The ratio of height to length is 9:10. This proportion is determined by measuring the height, C (the top of the withers) to E (the ground) and length, A (front of shoulder joint) to B (buttock bone). The depth of chest, from C to D (sternum), should be approximately 50% of the total height of the dog.
Forequarters: The shoulders are heavily muscled, and well laid back at an angle of approximately 45°. A line drawn from the highest point of the shoulder blade to the forward point of articulation approximates a right angle with a line from the forward point of articulation to the point of the elbow. The legs are straight and vertical, with heavy bone. The pasterns are flexible without weakness. The feet are oval, thick and compact, with the front feet larger than the rear feet.
Hindquarters: Large, heavily boned, and well muscled. Hocks are parallel when viewed from the rear. Fault: Cowhocks. Feet are oval with tight arched toes. Pads are hard. Nails are dark.
PONs are born with a variety of tails: long, medium and short. The AKC standard requires that tails be no longer than two vertebrae. The FCI standard allows for: naturally short, stumpy, tail-less, very shortly docked as well as undocked, which are quite long and very hairy.
