Finnish Lapphund (Suomenlapinkoira)

FCI:

Finish Lapphund -Group V. - Spitz and primitive types, Section 3 - Nordic Watchdogs and Herders.

General Appearance:

It's perfectly balanced, friendly, easy, hardworking, tenacious and courageous dog, to its owner totally dedicated, to the other dogs very friendly. It is intelligent and docile.

Temperament/Behaviour:

It is handy dog and its training does not make many problems. Although  its educating must be  consistently but it  requires gentle and kind approach, excessive strictness cause more harm than good, and it can cause seriously disrupt in  its relationship with the owner. In the event that it is held as a companion dog, it is necessary to provide sufficient physical and mental activities, preferably through the many dog sports, activities. It is good at agility and pulling a cart or sled (mushing), obedience, flyball or competitive herding sheep (herding trials). However, it requires some previous training as work with sheep it is still something other than directing and controlling herds of semi-wild reindeer, which it has deeply encoded.

The advantage is that it can be all year round in the outdoor kennel. It is completely resistant to cold, cold wind and a lot of snow. The dog should be provided with insulated shed, where it can find if it wants a suitable microclimate. Some individuals harder to tolerate the summer heat, it is important to remember where placing pens. It must be protected from direct sunlight and in a suitable, preferably on the north-facing and unrestricted airflow exposed spot. As a social breed should not live in an outdoor kennel l, it needs to be able to spend enough time with the owner and members of his family.

Body:

It's a medium-sized Nordic Spitz typical structure of the body, slightly elongated (rectangular) body, long earlobes with banners and carried upward, richly feathering and a long tail that is carried curled over loin and croup. Ideal height at withers, male is 49 cm and 44 cm, female is with permitted margin of + / -3 cm for both sexes. Weight of body should be max. 25 kg.

The head is of medium length, the skull should be generally a little longer than it is wide, between the earlobes is slightly arched and moderately broad. Longitudinal furrow front should be visible. The frontal slope is to be distinct. The muzzle must be strong, slightly wedge-shaped, to the nose slightly narrower. The nasal bridge is straight, black nose or can match the colour of the coat colour. Jaws must be powerful, scissor bite is required. Zygomatic arches should be clearly marked.

The eyes are fairly large, oval-shaped, dark colour, but can also colour match the colour of the coat. The earlobes should be erect, triangular and wide at the base and of medium size. They are further apart, very mobile.

The neck is thick, moderately long and rich, thick and long hair perfectly flows into the shoulders, muscular withers and equal, a broad ridge. The entire body is sturdy. Loins are short and well muscled. Croup should be medium length, slightly sloping. The tail is rather high, medium length, usually carried up, curl over the back and shoulders. But it may be carried and hung down slightly upwardly curved tip so that it has the shape of a laterally inverted "J". It is always a long and densely furred.
Chest consists of oval-shaped ribs to be a bit stretched reaching almost to the elbows. Forechest must be clear, belly moderately tucked up, but the bottom line of the body from the chest to the flanks rising only slightly.

Limbs must be straight, strong bones, loose parts of the forelegs are parallel to each other. The elbows are slightly below the lower edge of the chest, forearms must be strong, vertical to ground, are flexible wrists. Pasterns are slightly slanted, medium length. Feet are slightly oval shaped, arched, tight and densely feathered. The pads should be flexible, and the spaces between them covered with dense hair.

The hindquarters are powerful bones, strong, straight and parallel to each distinct angle. Thighs should be moderately long, fairly broad and powerfully muscled. The tibia is required rather long, sinewy. Hocks should be quite low over the base. The hocks are relatively short and vertical to ground. Dewclaws standard FCI considers undesirable.

The coat is abundant, consists of a top coat and undercoat. The topcoat is long, coarse and dense, glossy on the front side of the legs should be short, behind on his forearms and thighs distinctly longer. Shorter is also on the head, face and earlobes. On the contrary, neck, chest and on the back is longer. The undercoat must be very thick, soft.

All colours are possible, the most common bear brown colour with white markings on the neck, chest, feet and tail tip. Possible is also white with a touch of cream and rare brown markings above the eyes, feet and tip of tail. For mottled colouration must prevail over the basic colour white.

Any faults from the standard requirements must be considered as defects and precisely evaluated by severity with regard to the health and welfare of the male or female. Defects include lack of expression of sexual type (dog  looks like female and female that looks like dog), light head, insufficiently visible stop, forward, drooping ears, tail carried permanently below the top line of the body, excessive or insufficient hindquarters, lack of undercoat , adjacent outer coat or curly, slurred ground colour.