Origin: France

Date of publication of the original Standard: May 6, 1988

Utilization: Sheepdog

Classification of FCI: Group 1 - Sheepdogs and Cattle dogs (except Swiss Cattle Dog); Section 1 - Sheepdogs, with working trial

General appearance:

Hardy dog, supple, muscular and well proportioned; of vigorous movement; balanced temperament, neither aggressive nor timid.
Penalization: aggressive, soft, timid, clumsy.

Character:

The Briard, not living in an outdoor kennel, is a perfect and faithful loyal family dog. The incessant contact to his family is the most important thing for the Briard. He wants to take part in everything. Therefore, he will always choose a place where he can be in the middle of events. He has a well balanced personality and is neither aggressive nor timid, but robust and courageous. Towards strangers the Briard acts reserved, but is not unfriendly; he just wants to be the one taking the first step.

Background:

Likely to all herding dogs, the Briard's origin goes far back. Some specimen shall have already been bred at the Royal Court of Charles the Great (Karl dem Grossen, 768 - 814). There is evidence that in the church of Montdidier, destroyed in 1918, there was a sign from the year 1371 deposited, which shows a fighting scene where a dog looking like a Briard got the upper hand over the murderer of his master. Concretely described the Briard was the first time by Abbot Rozier. In the year 1863 a Briard appeared at a dog show in Paris for the first time, in 1897 a first standard was constructed by the Club of Herding Dogs. Time by time the specimen with the woolly coat disappeared and the goat hair got the upper hand. 1909 some Briard friends founded the "Club des Amis du Briard" and the standard was reworked.

Size:

62 to 68 cm for males, 56 to 64 cm for females. The length of the body must be more important than the height at shoulders. The general appearance of the Briard is rangy.
Penalization: No Excellent: cobby dog; sizes superior to 68 cm and 64 cm. Disqualification: below the minimum size; more than 2 cm above the maximum size. All subjects not reaching the minimum size cannot be confirmed.

Head:

Strong, long, pronounced stop midway between the top of head and the tip of the nose, furnished with hair forming the beard. Moustache and eyebrows slightly hiding the eyes.
Penalization: Short head, too long, no balance between muzzle and skull. Disproportion between head and body. Hairy head to the extent of hiding the shape. Beard, moustache and eyebrows insufficient. Stop too pronounced or non- existent.
Disqualification: The above mentioned faults too pronounced.

Forehead: very slightly rounded
Penalization: Too flat, too round, too broad, sloping at the eyes.
Top of Muzzle: nasal bridge straight
Penalization: Too long, weak, too short, nasal bridge convex (Roman nose).
Muzzle: neither narrow nor pointed.
Penalization: Pointed, narrow or too thick, pendulous flews.
Nose: more square than round, always black, strong and open
Penalization: Small nose, pinched, pointed, other than black or with traces of pink.
Disqualification: Brown or lighter colored nose, pink.
Teeth: strong, white; regular scissor bite and perfectly adapted
Penalization: Absence of 1 incisor; defective mouth, slight prognathism without loss of content; absence of 1 premolar; absence of 2 incisors; absence of 2 premolars.
Disqualification: Pronounced prognathism with loss of contact; absence of 2 premolars 4 (PM4) on the lower jaw; absence of altogether 3 teeth whatever they are.
Eyes: horizontal, well open,quite large, not slanting, of dark color, intelligent and calm expression. A grey eye in a grey dog is not to be penalized.
Penalization: Eyes too small, almond shaped or of light color.
Disqualification: Eyes dissimilar, haggard, too light in color.
Ears: Set high, preferably cropped and carried erect. Not flat against the head and rather short if uncropped. At equal quality, preference shall be given to the dog whose erect carried ears have been cropped. The length of the uncropped ear must be equal or slightly less than half of the length of the head, always flat and covered with long hair.
In most of the European countries cropping has already been forbidden. There are only a few countries which still allow it. In the countries where cropping has been stopped, it is strictly forbidden to import any cropped dog, even if in the country of birth cropping is still allowed. The standard urgently needs rework concerning this point!
Penalization: Covered with too short hair; ears too long; carried badly.
Disqualification: Twisted ears; set too low below the eye-line; covered with short hair; naturally erect; graft of cartilage.

Neck:

Muscular and disengaged from the shoulders.
Penalization: Reach of neck too long; frail or too short.

Chest:

Wide (at least width of the hand between the two elbows), deep and well let down to the elbows.
Penalization: Too narrow; not sufficiently or too much let down; lacking depth; ribs too flat or too round.

Back:

Straight
Penalization: slightly hollow, slight roach back.

Rump:

Very slightly inclined, of a slightly rounded shape.
Penalization: Rump too inclined, too straight; same faults accentuated; rump definitely higher than the withers.

Quarters:

Well muscled, with strong bone and vertical limbs.
Penalization: Legs not vertical, loose shoulders, tights set too much apart, weakness in pasterns or too straight, leaning on toes; bad angulation of the shoulders; short hair on the legs; frail legs, weak bone structure.
Disqualification: Forelegs seriously not perpendicular.

Hocks:

Not too near to the ground and angled with the leg nearing the vertical below the hock.
Penalization: Too far from or too near to the ground; bad angulation.
Disqualification: Hindlegs seriously not perpendicular.

Tail:

Entire, well furnished, forming a hook at the tip. Carried low, not deviated; reaching the point of the hock or beyond it at most 5 cm.
Penalization: A little too short, no hook, hair too short; carriage very much exceeding the line of the back; carriage below or under the belly; carriage under the belly when in action.
Disqualification: Carried on the back in hunting horn or perpendicular (stiff); trace of operation rectifying the tail carriage.

Feet:

Strong, round shaped (intermediate between cat feet and hare feet).
Penalization: Feet too long, flat, splayed; toeing in or out; not sufficiently covered with hair.
Disqualification: Feet seriously not perpendicular.

Nails:

Black
Penalization: Grey nails.
Disqualification: White nails

Pads:

Hard
Penalization: Without elasticity; too flat, too soft.

Toes:

Tightly closed.
Penalization: Open toes, too long or held flat.

Coat / Texture:

Flexible, long, dry (type of goat hair), with a light undercoat.
Penalization: Not dry enough, slightly curly, no undercoat. In case of requiring acceptance for breeding: postponement of 6 months; too short; fine hair.
Disqualification: Coat (hair) shorter than 7 cm; coat soft or woolly.

Color:

All uniform colors are admitted apart from those mentioned below. The dark shades are to be recommended. Not to be confused, the bi-color with a slightly lighter shade on the extremities which is nothing more than a beginning of depigmentation. This shade, slightly lighter, must remain in the same range of the fawn colors (dark fawn on light fawn, dark black on lightened black, dark grey on lighter grey). The fawn must be warm and uniform, neither light or washed out.
Penalization: Black with too many reddish glints; fawn not warm enough; white patch on chest; blackening overlay too pronounced at the edge of the shading; very light fawn, washed out.
Disqualification: White shade, brown (chestnut), mahagony, bi-color, white blaze, white hairs on tip of feet; fawn coat with black overlay forming a mantle; color too light.
Note: For the bi-color, look at the color of the skin which will be bluish under the dark parts and pinkish under the light parts.

Dewclaws:

DOUBLE dewclaws on the back legs. The dogs, even of very good type, who only have one dewclaw, will not be given an award. Acceptance for breeding will be refused. The double dewclaws must be made up of two bony parts with nails, placed as near the ground as possible, assuring a better setting of the foot.
Penalization: Placed too high (mid-way of the hock); lack of two nails; lack of bony section in a double dewclaw.
Disqualification: Single dewclaw; no dewclaws; lack of two bony sections in a double dewclaw, even if the nails are there; lack of one bony section in each double dewclaw, even if the nails are there.

Acceptance for breeding:

All motives of disqualification, all qualifying less than good, will mean no acceptance of the subjects for breeding!
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.

N.B.:

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