Australian Cattle Dog Breed Standard
Herding Group

General Appearance
The general appearance is that of a strong compact, symmetrically built working dog, with the ability and willingness to carry out his allotted task however arduous. Its combination of substance, power, balance and hard muscular condition must convey the impression of great agility, strength and endurance. Any tendency to grossness or weediness is a serious fault.

Characteristics
As the name implies the dog's prime function, and one in which he has no peer, is the control and movement of cattle in both wide open and confined areas. Always alert, extremely intelligent, watchful, courageous and trustworthy, with an implicit devotion to duty making it an ideal dog.

Temperament

The Cattle Dog's loyalty and protective instincts make it a self-appointed guardian to the Stockman, his herd and his property. Whilst naturally suspicious of strangers, must be amenable to handling, particularly in the Show ring. Any feature of temperament or structure foreign to a working dog must be regarded as a serious fault.

Head and Skull
The head is strong and must be in balance with other proportions of the dog and in keeping with its general conformation. The broad skull is slightly curved between the ears, flattening to a slight but definite stop. The cheeks muscular, neither coarse nor prominent with the underjaw strong, deep and well developed. The foreface is broad and well filled in under the eyes, tapering gradually to form a medium length, deep, powerful muzzle with the skull and muzzle on parallel planes. The lips are tight and clean. Nose black.

Eyes-- The eyes should be of oval shape and medium size, neither prominent nor sunken and must express alertness and intelligence. A warning or suspicious glint is characteristic when approached by strangers. Eye color, dark brown.

Ears-- The ears should be of moderate size, preferably small rather than large, broad at the base, muscular, pricked and moderately pointed neither spoon nor bat eared. The ears are set wide apart on the skull, inclining outwards, sensitive in their use and pricked when alert, the leather should be thick in texture and the inside of the ear fairly well furnished with hair.

Mouth-- The teeth, sound, strong and evenly spaced, gripping with a scissor-bite, the lower incisors close behind and just touching the upper. As the dog is required to move difficult cattle by heeling or biting, teeth which are sound and strong are very important.

Neck
The neck is extremely strong, muscular, and of medium length broadening to blend into the body and free from throatiness.

Forequarters
The shoulders are strong, sloping, muscular and well angulated to the upper arm and should not be too closely set at the point of the withers. The forelegs have strong, round bone, extending to the feet and should be straight and parallel when viewed from the front, but the pasterns should show flexibility with a slight angle to the forearm when viewed from the side. Although the shoulders are muscular and the bone is strong, loaded shoulders and heavy fronts will hamper correct movement and limit working ability.

Body
The length of the body from the point of the breast bone, in a straight line to the buttocks, is greater than the height at the withers, as 10 is to 9. The topline is level, back strong with ribs well sprung and carried well back not barrel ribbed. The chest is deep, muscular and moderately broad with the loins broad, strong and muscular and the flanks deep. The dog is strongly coupled.

Hindquarters
The hindquarters are broad, strong and muscular. The croup is rather long and sloping, thighs long, broad and well developed, the stifles well turned and the hocks strong and well let down. When viewed from behind, the hind legs, from the hocks to the feet, are straight and placed parallel, neither close nor too wide apart.

Feet
The feet should be round and the toes short, strong, well arched and held close together. The pads are hard and deep, and the nails must be short and strong.

Tail
The set on of tail is moderately low, following the contours of the sloping croup and of length to reach approximately to the hock. At rest it should hang in a very slight curve. During movement or excitement the tail may be raised, but under no circumstances should any part of the tail be carried past a vertical line drawn through the root. The tail should carry a good brush.

Gait/Movement
The action is true, free, supple and tireless and the movement of the shoulders and forelegs is in unison with the powerful thrust of the hindquarters. The capability of quick and sudden movement is essential. Soundness is of paramount importance and stiltiness, loaded or slack shoulders, straight shoulder placement, weakness at elbows, pasterns or feet, straight stifles, cow or bow hocks, must be regarded as serious faults. When trotting the feet tend to come closer together at ground level as speed increases, but when the dog comes to rest he should stand four square.

Coat
The coat is smooth, a double coat with a short dense undercoat. The outer-coat is close, each hair straight, hard, and lying flat, so that it is rain-resisting. Under the body, to behind the legs, the coat is longer and forms near the thigh a mild form of breeching. On the head (including the inside of the ears), to the front of the legs and feet, the hair is short. Along the neck it is longer and thicker. A coat either too long or too short is a fault. As an average, the hairs on the body should be from 2.5 to 4 cms (approx. 1-1.5 ins) in length.

Color (Blue)
The color should be blue, blue-mottled or blue speckled with or without other markings. The permissible markings are black, blue or tan markings on the head, evenly distributed for preference. The forelegs tan midway up the legs and extending up the front to breast and throat, with tan on jaws; the hindquarters tan on inside of hindlegs, and inside of thighs, showing down the front of the stifles and broadening out to the outside of the hindlegs from hock to toes. Tan undercoat is permissible on the body providing it does not show through the blue outer coat. Black markings on the body are not desirable.

Color (Red Speckle)
The color should be of good even red speckle all over, including the undercoat, (neither white nor cream), with or without darker red markings on the head. Even head markings are desirable. Red markings on the body are permissible but not desirable.

Size
Height:
   Dogs 46-51 cms (approx. 18-20 ins) at withers
   Bitches 43-48 cms (approx. 17-19 ins) at withers

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.

Approved: January 11, 1999
Effective: February 24, 1999

 

 

Australian Cattle Dog(澳洲牧牛犬)

[简介] 一般外观是结实紧凑，结构和谐的工作犬。对分配给他的工作，无论多艰难，都表现出才干和主动承担的精神。他结合了体质、力量、平衡和强健的肌肉，并给人非常敏捷、有力量、有耐力的印象。显得肥胖或瘦弱都属于严重缺陷。 [特征] 从他的名字就可以知道，他不是贵族出身，是在开阔的牧场上管理和驱赶牛群。他始终保持警觉，极端聪明、警惕、勇敢而可信赖。绝对可以培养成一个理想的狗。

[气质] 澳洲牧牛犬具有忠诚和护卫的天性，所以会自做主张地保护牧人、牲畜和他的财产，其天性是对陌生人怀疑，在比赛场需要服从牵犬师，比较特殊。任何与工作犬无关的气质或构造都会被作为严重缺陷。

[头部和脑袋] 头部结实，必须与整体身躯保持平衡，并且与整体结构保持匀称。宽阔的脑袋在两耳间略曲，到轻微但清晰的止部的位置，变的略微平坦。面颊肌肉发达，既不粗糙也不突出，下颚结实、深且非常清晰。前脸丰满，位于眼睛下方，尖端略细，中等长度，口吻深而有力，口吻轮廓与脑袋平行。嘴唇紧而整洁，鼻镜为黑色。眼睛：眼睛为卵形，中等大小。既不突出、也不凹陷，而且必须表现出机警和聪明。当陌生人逼近时，警告和怀疑的眼神是这一品种所特有的。眼睛的颜色为深褐色。耳朵：中等大小，小一些比大好。耳根处宽，肌肉发达，竖起且略尖，既非调羹状，也非蝙蝠耳。耳朵在脑袋上的位置分的较开，向外，灵敏且在警惕时直立。耳廓厚实，耳朵有毛。牙齿：健全、结实、且分布均匀。剪状咬和，下门牙位于上门牙后并紧铁上门牙。由于他必须用咬牛脚跟的方式趋赶高大的牛群，所以健全、结实的牙齿非常重要。 [颈部] 颈部极端结实、肌肉发达，中等长度，逐渐变宽，与身体结合。喉咙无约束。

[前躯] 肩部结实、倾斜、肌肉发达，与前臂呈恰当的角度，马肩隆末端不能太接近。前臂结实、骨骼粗壮，从前方观察，从前臂到足爪都保持笔直，彼此平行。从侧面观察，脚腕略倾斜而有弹性。虽然肩部肌肉发达、骨量充足，但抗肩膀和过分沉重的前驱会妨碍正确的动作并限制工作能力。

[身躯] 身躯长度（从胸骨前端到臀部的直线距离）与肩高的比例约为10/9。背线水平。后背结实，肋骨扩张良好，无桶状胸。胸部深、肌肉发达，宽度适中。腰部宽、结实、肌肉发达，腰窝深。整体结合强健。

[后躯] 后躯宽、结实且肌肉发达。臀部长而斜，大腿长、宽、非常发达，膝关节角度恰当，飞节结实且位置低。从后面观察，后腿，从飞节到足爪，直且彼此平行，位置既不靠的太近，也不太远。

[足爪] 足爪圆，脚趾短、结实、圆拱且紧。脚垫硬而深，趾甲短而结实。

[尾巴] 尾根略低，从倾斜的臀部轮廓向下，约延伸到飞节。休息时尾巴笔直下垂，略微弯曲。运动中或兴奋时，尾巴突起，但从根部开始，不允许有任何一部分尾巴达到垂直高度，尾巴呈漂亮的刷子状。

[步态和动作] 动作准确、舒展、顺滑且不费力，肩部及前躯的动作与后躯强大的驱动力配合良好。突然、迅速的动作能力是这一品种的特点。稳定的步态是极度重要的，僵硬；抗肩膀或松弛的肩膀；肩部过直；软弱的肘部、脚腕及足爪；膝关节过直；牛肢或弓形飞节；都属于严重缺陷。当小跑中速度增加时，足爪趋向于靠拢，但在休息时，其站立姿势使身体呈矩形比例。

[被毛] 被毛平滑，双层毛。底毛短而浓密，外层披毛紧密、所有的毛发都笔直、硬、平躺在身体上，并能防雨。身体下方到腿后部的毛发略长，大腿到臀部毛发适中。头部（包括耳朵内）、腿前部和足爪的毛发短。围绕颈部的毛发长而厚。被毛太长或太短都属于缺陷。身体上毛发的平均长度为2.5~4厘米（1~1.5英寸）。

[颜色（兰色）] 颜色为兰色、班驳的兰色、兰色斑点，带斑纹或不带斑纹都可以。允许头部有黑色、兰色或褐色斑纹，斑纹均匀分布比较理想。前肢的褐色斑纹从中途向上延伸到前胸和喉咙，下颚也是褐色。后肢的褐色斑纹在腿内侧，大腿内侧，向下延伸到膝盖前部，再向下从飞节到足爪部分，褐色已经扩展到腿外侧了。身体上允许有褐色底毛，前提是不能透过兰色披毛显示出来。身躯出现黑色斑纹不理想。

[颜色（红色斑点）] 整体均匀地覆盖着红色斑点，包括底毛（不能是白色或奶酪色），头部有或没有深红色斑纹都可以。均匀的头部斑纹比较理想。身躯出现红色斑纹是允许的，但不理想。

[大小] 高度：雄性肩高46~51厘米（18~20英寸）。雌性肩高43~48厘米（17~19英寸）。 [缺陷] 任何背离前面描述的地方都属于缺陷，并根据其背离的程度扣分。

标准通过日期：1999年1月11日

标准执行日期：1999年2月24日

原作： 酋长

来源： 转译自AKC

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