THE SCHIPPERKE. 669 



proof; 011 the thigh it should be fringy. The Belgians call the ruff "criniere " 

 and the fringe "culottes." General appearance smart and intensely vital. 

 Temperament restless, full of curiosity, and overflowing with jealous affection. 

 The tail question will be a troublesome one for some time to come. I am 

 satisfied that the breed in its best days was tailless; in time, mating was per- 

 formed with no care or discrimination. Caudal appendages put in an appear- 

 ance, but there are, to my certain knowledge, numbers of Schipperkes that 

 have been born without a sign of a tail, and there are plenty of bitches which 

 give birth to several such puppies in every litter. With judicious breeding 

 and docking the breed will no doubt, in time, recover this characteristic. 



A majority of the puppies are born with a small tail, 

 which, if left on, curls up somewhat like that of the Pug. 

 It is fashionable, and it becomes the style of the dog, to 

 have the tail docked when the puppy is quite young; the 

 fringe of hair, or "culottes," which is natural to the 

 rump and thighs, gives the animal a neater appearance than 

 that of any dog with the natural tail. In rare cases a 

 puppy is born tailless. 



The chest is rather wide, and is well furnished with coat, 

 which is of about the same length as that on the neck, and 

 rather harsh to the touch. 



The hair on a grown dog should be two inches long, and 

 should be straight on top of the neck standing up only 

 when the dog is excited. On the sides and under part of 

 neck it should be of about same length, and should grow 

 so as to give the appearance of a ruffle on the throat. The 

 hair is shorter on the sides of the body, but nearly as long 

 on the line of the back as on top of the neck. On the 

 rump and thighs it should be as long as on the neck, and 

 should grow so as to make a fringe over the stern and 

 thighs. The fore legs should be straight, and covered with 

 straight hair; the feet should be round and cat-like. On 

 hind legs the stifles curve forward and the hocks backward; 

 the thighs are fringed with long hair to the hock. 



The coat should be rather firm and resisting to the touch, 

 and lying straight on head, ears, top of neck, sides, back, 

 on fore legs, and on hind legs below the hock. 



No scale of points has yet been adopted for judging the 

 Schipperke in this country. 



