Breed standard

FCI Standard No. 185
18.04.2007
Dwarf pinscher

Translation: Ine Hartgers-Wagener September 2000 *).
Country of origin: Germany.
Date of publication of the valid original standard: 06-03-07.
Usage: Home and Companion Dog.
Classification FCI: Group 2 Pinschers and Schnauzers – Molossers – Swiss Mountain Dogs and other breeds. Section 1 Pinschers and Schnauzers. Without worktest.

Brief historical overview: The Miniature Pinscher was already held in large numbers around the turn of the last century and there were already 1300 entries in the breeding register of 1925. From the many color varieties, as with the German Pinscher, the colors black were bred with lighter markings and single-colored red to reddish brown animals.

General overall view: The Miniature Pinscher is the reduced representation of the German Pinscher, without the flaws of lost apparitions. Its elegant, quadratic build is clearly visible due to its short hair.

Important proportions: • In proportion to height and height, body structure should show as quadratic as possible. • The total length of the head (nose tip to occipital bone) corresponds to half the back length (withers to tail base).

Behavior and character (nature): Vibrant, temperamental, confident and balanced. All this makes him a pleasant family and companion dog.

Upper skull:
Skull: Powerful, extended, without a highly developed occipital bone. The forehead is flat and runs without wrinkles and parallel to the back of the nose.
Stop: Light, yet clearly marked.

Facial part:
Nose: The nose mirror is well developed and black.
Front snout: Ends in a blunt wedge. The nose ridge is straight.
Lips: Black, fixed and smooth against the jaws. The corners of the mouth closed.
Choosing /teeth: Powerful upper and lower jaw. The entire scissor bite (42 teeth according to the dental formula) is powerful, tight-fitting and pure white. The chewing muscles are well developed without disturbing baking.
Eyes: Dark, oval with fitted black pigmented eyelids.
Ears: Standing ears; chuck ears, high set, V-shaped, the inside against the cheeks, turned forward towards the temples, with the parallel fold not emerging above the head.

Neck: Noblely curved, not too short. Without a clear starting point, harmoniously transitioning into the withers; dry without a wam or dewlap. The skin is tight and fits wrinkle-free.

Body:
Top line: Sloping slightly from the withers backwards.
Withers: Forms the highest point of the top line. Back: Powerful, short and tight.
Loan Party: Powerful. The distance from the last costal arch to the hip is short, making the dog appear compact.
Croupe: Walking in a slight curve, unnoticed, turning into the tail base.
Chest: Moderately wide, oval in cross-section, reaching the elbows. The forebreast is clearly marked by the sternal tip.
Bottom line and belly: The flanks are not raised excessively, with the bottom of the chest forming a beautiful curved line.
Tail: In the natural state; sabre - or sickle-shaped tail-drag is desired.

Forequarter:
General: The front legs, seen from the front, are strong, straight and not placed too close together. The lower legs are straight when viewed from the side.
Shoulders: The scapula is firmly against the chest, is well muscled on both sides of the scapula and protrudes above the processes of the thoracic vertebrae. As diagonally as possible and well recessed, forming an angle of 50o with the horizontal line.
Upper arm: Well-adjacent to the torso, powerful and muscular; angle with shoulder blade is 95o to 105o.
Elbows: Correctly fitted, not turning outwards or inwards.
Forearm: Powerfully developed and muscular, straight when viewed from the front and from the side.
Forefoot root joint: Powerful and stable.
Forequarter: Powerful and springy, straight when viewed from the front, slightly slanted towards the ground when viewed from the side.
Forefeet: Short and round. Toes tightly abutting and domed (cat's feet); foot pads resistant; nails short, black and strong.

Hindquarter:
General: When viewed from the side, it is angled, parallel when viewed from the back, not scary.
Thigh: Moderately long, wide and strongly muscled.
Knee: Not turned in or out.
Lower leg: Long and powerful, wiry, merging into a powerful hock.
Jump joint: Pronounced angulated, powerful, stable, not turned inward or outward.
Hind metatarsal: Inserted straight on the ground.
Hind feet: Slightly longer than the forefeet, toes lying tightly together and domed, nails short and black.
Corridor: The Miniature Pinscher is a trotter. The back remains fixed and relatively calm in the movement. The movement is harmonious, sure, powerful and uninhibited, with good step length. Typical of the trot is a reaming, graceful and flowing movement with powerful thrust and free forequarter movement.
Skin: Fitting tightly over the entire body.

Hair: Short and dense, smooth and shiny, without bald spots.
Colour:
• Unicoloured: Deer red, reddish brown to dark red brown.
• Black-brown: Paint black hair with red to brown markings. The aim is to create a fire that is as dark as possible, pure, sharply defined. The markings are divided as follows: above the eyes, on the underside of the neck, on the midfoot of the forelegs, on the feet, on the inside of the hind legs and below the caudal peduncle. Two purely bounded triangles separated from each other on the forebreast.

Shoulder height: Males and bitches 25 to 30 cm. Weight: Males and bitches 4 to 6 kg.

Errors:
Any deviation from the aforementioned points must be seen as an error, and the severity of the error depends on the degree of deviation and the influence it has on the health and well-being of the dog.

In particular:
• Plump or too light, low-legged or high-legged build.
• Heavy or round skull.
• Wrinkles on the forehead.
• Short, pointed or narrow front snout.
• Tanggebit.
• Light, too small or too large eyes.
• Low-set or very long, differently worn ears.
• Loose dewlap.
• Too long, raised or weak back.
• Carpback.
• Losing croupe.
• Long feet.
• Decline.
• Stepping gait.
• Thin hair.
• Pierced, eel stripe, dark saddle and faded or mottled hair.
• More than 1 cm above or below size. Serious errors:
• Absence of sex type (e.g. giant bitch).
• Light construction.
• Applehead.
• Non-parallel headline.
• Outward-spinning elbows.
• Subdivided hindquarters.
• Steep or crooked hindquarters.
• Inwardly twisted hocks (cow-roofing).
• Between 1 and 2 cm too large or too small.

Disqualifying errors:
• Aggressive or overly frightened behavior.
• Dogs that manifest physical abnormalities or behavioral disorders should be disqualified.
• Deformity of any kind.
• Lack of type.
• Dental errors as pre-bite, overbite and crossbite.
• Major errors in parts such as physique, hair and color errors.
• More than 2 cm too big or too small.

NB:
• Males should have two clearly normally developed testicles that have descended into the scrotum.
• Only functional and clinically healthy, rastypical dogs should be used for breeding.

*) Supplemented by Bianca Smits due to adjustment of the standard as of 06-03-07.