DATE  OF  PUBLICATION  OF  VALID  ORIGIN STANDARD:   1996-09-03  

UTILISATION:  Herding Dog   FCI-CLASSIFICATION:  Group 5, section 3

BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY:  The Västgötaspets is considered to be a genuine Swedish breed although uncertainty still exists as to the relationship with the type like Welsh Corgi. If the Vikings brought Corgi-type dogs back from the British Isles to Sweden or Västgötaspets-like dogs from Sweden to Britain will never be solved, but modern cynological research believes that the Västgötaspets is of Swedish origin.

Regardless of the breeds origin, credit for its recognition goes to Count Björn von Rosen. In the early 1940´s von Rosen was told that the old type of herding dog still existed and an inventory took place in the County of West Gothia. Particularly on the planes round the town of Vara specimens of homogeneous type were found, few in numbers, but enough to start breeding. The practical breeding was mainly organized by headmaster K G Zetterstén. Breed type was well established without loosing the working ability.

GENERAL APPEARANCE:  Small, short on legs, sturdy and fearless.Appearance and expression denote a watchful, alert, energetic dog.

IMPORTANT PROPORTIONS:  Ratio of height at withers to length of body 2:3.

BEHAVIOUR/TEMPERAMENT:  Watchful, energetic, fearless and alert.

HEAD:  Head clean cut and rather long. Viewed from above, evenly tapering towards the nose.

CRANAL REGION:  Skull:  Skull almost flat.  Stop:  Stop well defined.

FACIAL REGION:   Nose:  Nose black.   Muzzle:  Muzzle, viewed from the side, rather square, just slightly shorter than skull. Lower jaw strong and blunt but not prominent.   Lips:  Lips close fitting and tight.   Jaw/Teeth:  Perfect regular scissors bite with even and well developed teeth.   Eye:  Eyes of medium size, oval, dark brown.   Ear:  Ears of medium size, pointed, pricked leather hard from base to tip, smooth-haired and mobile. Not set too low.

NECK:  Neck long, strongly muscled with good reach.

BODY:  Back:  Back level and strongly muscled.   Loin:  Loins short and strong.   Croup:  Croup broad and slightly sloping.   Chest:  Chest long with good depth. Fairly well sprung ribs. Viewed from front, chest oval, from the side elliptical. Reaching two-fifths of length of forearm. When viewed from the side the lowest point of chest is just behind back part of foreleg. Sternum visible but not excessively pronounced.   Underline and belly:  Belly slightly tucked up.   Tail:  Two types of tail occur; long or natural short tail. In both cases all variations are acceptable.

LIMBS/FOREQUARTERS:  Shoulder:  Shoulders long, set an angle of 450 towards the horizontal plane.   Upper arm:  Upper arm slightly shorter than shoulder blade and set at a right angle to shoulder blade. Close fitting to ribs, but still very mobile.   Elbow:  Elbows turning neither in nor out.   Forearm: Forearm, when viewed from front, slightly bent, just enough to give free action at chest´s lower part.   Pastern (Metacarpus): Pastern springy.   Forefeet:  Forefeet of medium size, short, oval, pointing straight forward with strong pads. Tightly knit and well knuckled.

HINDQUARTERS:  General Appearance:  Parallel when viewed from behind. Strong bone.   Thigh:  Thighs with well-developed muscles.   Stifle:  Stifle well angulated.   Lower Thigh:  Lower thigh slightly longer than metatarsal (measured from hock joint to pad).   Hock joint:  Hock joint well angulated.   Hind feet:  See fore feet.

GAIT/MOVEMENT:  Movements sound, covering lots of ground.

COAT:  Undercoat very dense and soft with medium length, harsh, close and tight topcoat. Smooth on head and front of legs, longer on neck, throat, chest and backside of legs.

COLOUR:  Preferred colours: grey, greyish brown, greyish yellow, reddish yellow, reddish brown. Lighter hair shades of colour as mentioned is desirable on muzzle, cheeks, throat, chest, belly, buttocks, feet and lower part of legs. Darker guard hairs on back, neck and sides of body. Lighter markings over the shoulders, "harness markings", are preferred. White markings are accepted on chest, front- and hindlegs, but never in access. Apart from this also as a blaze on head, patch on neck or as a slight necklace.

HEIGHT AND WEIGHT: Height at withers:   Ideal size dogs:   33 cms (12,99")   (1" is about 2.54 cm /Gus)  Ideal size bitches:   31 cms (12.21")  Variation of 1 cm over or under ideal height is permitted.

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.

- Short or rounded skull

- Stop not well defined

- Short or underdeveloped muzzle

-Weak lower jaw

- Bulging cheeks

-Pendulous lower lips

-Bite, other than scissors bite

- Round, slanted or wrongly coloured eyes

- Chest too deep

- Steep shoulders and short upper arms

- Overangulated hindquarters, untypical in spitz breeds

- Coat soft, loose, parted, long, lacking undercoat, too short or with other colours than mentioned in the standard.

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