
Judging the Skye Terrier
Donna C. and B. Nolan Dale
AKC-Licensed Judges
Written in about 1988
There are two
varieties of Skye Terriers - drop eared and prick eared. The
standard for both varieties is exactly the same except for the
ear carriage and placement. At most shows it is doubtful that
you will have the opportunity to see a drop. As this breed
enters the show ring the judge assesses the class looking for
Skyes of style, elegance and dignity: agility and strength with
sturdy bone and hard muscle. The Skye should be long, low and
lank. He is twice as long from forechest to rump as he is high
at the withers and is covered with a profuse coat that falls
straight down on either side of the body. The hair, well
feathered on the head, veils the forehead and eyes to serve as
protection. The Skye stands with head high and long tail hanging
and moves with a seemingly effortless gait. The Skye should be
strong in body, quarters and jaw.
In paraphrasing the
standard in this introductory paragraph, describing the general
appearance, strength is mentioned twice - elegance only once. We
believe that it is important to keep in mind that Skyes are not
slight, weedy, fine-boned dogs. You might look at them as big
dogs on short legs. The adjectives that describe the Skye
temperament should be evident to the judge: courage, strength,
fearless, good tempered, loyal, canny, friendly with those he
knows and reserved and cautious with strangers. If this
appearance in temperament is not displayed, it may be because
the owner is a novice and/or the dog has not been exposed to the
environment of a show, especially a noisy building after the
relative calm of home. With some Skyes, because they are
reserved, it may take longer to acclimate them to a show
situation. On the other hand, there are some Skyes who have
never met a stranger and tend to be more outgoing as a result.
Because of its characteristic reserve, it is advisable to do the
examination of this breed on a table. Not only is it easier to
see the dog, but because of the heavy fall of hair on the face,
it is easier for the dog to see you on his level and they are
less likely to object to having someone examine them. If you
elect to do your examination on the ground, be advised that this
breed takes a dim view of being swooped down upon or hovered
over. Should you wish to reexamine a dog for any reason, put it
back on the table. Skyes are a sensitive breed and a judge with
a heavy hand or a threatening posture can easily ruin a
promising dog's show career in one bad experience in the ring.
Normally the judge
would view the dog in profile on the table first noting the
general appearance of the individual dog looking for the 2:1
ratio of length to height, a level topline, and a gracefully
arched neck. Then the judge should approach the dog from the
front. At this point judges will often attempt to bait a dog to
see expression. A noise will usually accomplish this more
effectively than anything else. Allow the dog to sniff the top
of your hand or speak to it in order for it to be aware of your
presence. Then place your hand on the head, slipping it under
the chin where you may take the whiskers in hand to serve as a
handle. If it is obvious, after a couple of attempt, that this
particular dog is just not willing to be examined, excuse the
entry. In the main this occurs only with young, inexperienced
dogs and it is better to let them leave the ring and try again
some later day. Gently holding the whiskers, so that the dog's
chin is resting in your hand, study the head for good balance
between the backskull and muzzle. Look for a moderately wide
backskull which tapers to a strong muzzle. The head should be
long and powerful with strength being more important than
extreme length. The stop is slight, the muzzle moderately
filled, never snipey, and the nose is always black. The only
disqualification in this breed is a dudley, flesh colored or
brown nose. The bite should be level or scissors with no
preference given to either. Lift the fall revealing the eyes
which should be brown, preferably dark, medium in size, and
close set.
The ears are
symmetrical and gracefully feathered. In the prick eared
variety, they are medium in size, placed high on the skull,
erect at the outer edges and slightly wider at the peak than at
the skull. Visualizing the face of a clock you can identify a
correct set as being from 10 of 2 to 5 of 1. A quarter of three
is definitely a problem. Skyes do not always carry their ears in
the most upright and perky position. It should be stressed that
having seen a dog uses its ears once, that should be enough.
Some judges seem to want them up constantly which is not natural
and often judges seem to make their decisions based on the
ability of the dog to keeps its ears tighter and tighter, or
cutsie head movements. Some Skyes may do this but it is neither
called for nor is it necessary. Because of the perception of
this desire on the part of judges, exhibitors in some parts of
the cuntry have resorted to having tendons in the ears pulled
and tightened to keep the ears constantly erect. These dogs are
not able to relax their ears and should be disqualified for
artificial changes.
The set of the ears
is dependent on the strength of the head. Naturally, the ears
are set wider on a Skye with a stronger backskull. While you are
looking at the ears, be aware that even the darkest of ear
points have a variation of color. There will be strands of
lighter hair. Separate strands of hair, even in the darkest ears
will be banded with a lighter shade of gray. If you do not
identify a slight gradation of color in the ears, you should
suspect that dye has been used. In the drop eared variety the
ears are somewhat larger and set lower on the head. They should
hang flat to the skull as a "hound ear." Some dogs are shown as
drops who are really prick ears that didn't make it. Like the
beagle, the drop ear should have almost an entire absence of
erectile power. Please do not lift the ears of a drop to parody
the prick eared variety. Not only will the visual impression be
wrong, it will only serve to agitate exhibitors and breeders
alike.
You now move down to
the front assembly of the dog. Allow your hands to descend over
the shoulder and front legs of the dog. Elbows should fit
closely to the sides and be neither loose nor tied. The forearm
should curve just slightly around the deep chest. The legs
should be short and muscular and as straight as possible,
considering the deep and wide chest. This must not be
misconstrued as "terrier straight" as in a Fox Terrier. The dog
should have strong bone, its large hare feet should point
forward. The pads thick and the nails strong and preferably
black. The feet may turn out slightly as the construction of the
front demands for a digging dog. A fiddled fronted Skye whose
feet are east-west and whose wrists knock is objectionable. We
like to be able to get three fingers between the carpal bones
when the dog is set up with the elbows set properly. This
measurement is, of course, relative to the size of the hands of
the judge, but it gives you an idea of what is the minimum.
The Skye Terrier is
an achondroplastic breed. In other words, a congenital dwarf
with short extremities with a trunk of normal size and a large
head. A condition known as premature closure of the distal ulna
physis is a natural characteristic of dwarfism in humans and it
is expressed as well in some Skye Terriers. The difference
between a Skye Terrier and a toy breed is similar to the
different between a dwarf and a midget. A midget being anything
very small of its kind, normally formed and proportioned but
diminutive, a miniature. A dwarf is considerably smaller than
the average for its species and sometimes implies a malformation
or disproportion of parts. When you visualize this explanation
and consider the bone structure of the Skye as compared to a toy
breed, you begin to understand that the characteristics of
dwarfism are a natural part of the breed, and the predisposition
to premature closure is a very real possibility in any of the
dogs of this breed.
The very
characteristics that make the Skye unique, the strength and
bone, the strong head and jaw, rather than the smaller head and
body structure of some of the Skyes' short-legged cousins, make
breeders accept this predisposition as a natural part of this
achondroplastic breed. Often, when feeling premature closure in
the front legs, the judge might think that the dog is severely
out at the elbow because of the pronounced lump on the leg. On
closer examination you will usually find the elbow to be in its
proper place and a congestion of bone usually on the outside of
the lower leg just below the elbow.
Shoulders are well
laid back with tight placement of blades at the withers. You
must, however, take into consideration the large chest and not
expect the blades to touch. It is also important to measure the
length of the upper arm which should be approximately equal to
to the length of the shoulder blade. In going over the body of
the Skye you should check for a level topline, a deep chest with
oval shaped ribs. The sides appear flat because of the straight
falling and profuse coat. However, they are not flat sided.
There should be no dip behind the withers and no roach over the
loin. Anything less than the 2:1 ratio in length to height is a
fault. Often dogs will look high in the rear when stacked due to
the fact that some Skyes will stand with their rear legs well
under them, being more clever than their handlers who have not
noticed this indiscretion. If you wish, there is nothing wrong
with your resetting the rear or asking the handler to do so.
Hindquarters are to be strong, full, well developed and well
angulated. The legs are short, muscular and straight when viewed
from behind. All principals of proper rear movement for any
working terrier holds true for this breed. You do not want to
have cow hocks, sickled hocks, weak thighs or other generally
accepted rear assembly faults.
The tail is long and
well feathered, set on as to be a prolongation of the backline.
When the Skye is standing, the tail hangs. The upper section is
pendulous and follows the line of the rump, the lower section,
the lower section is thrown back in a moderate arc. A shorter
tail may not have as much arc but no tail should be held tightly
to the rump and between the legs. The Skye tail should not be
carried above the level of the back unless expressing excitement
or anger. In movement it is preferred to see the tail out behind
the dog or to about 30 degrees above the topline rather than
having the tail held close to the rump between the legs or
hanging limp or dead. Any tail constantly carried upright at an
angle of 45-90 degrees above the topline is highly
objectionable.
The Skye has a
double coat. The undercoat is soft, downy and wooly. The outer
coat is hard, straight and flat. Some coats have a thicker hair
strand than others but even the finer coats should have a harsh
feel. Black and cream dogs usually have softer coats than grays.
The standard calls for 5.5 inches of coat with no extra credit
for extra length. Sometimes it seems that judges are overly
impressed with excess coat and tend to give extra credit for
greater length. It is true that most champions carry a luscious
coat since exhibitors wish to present their dogs in the finest
possible condition to accentuate the beauty and the outline of
the dog. The standard, however, does not require it. Coats which
are softer and not of proper texture such as those resembling a
Maltese, Lhasa Apso or Shih Tzu, are easier to grow. You will
sometimes find a coat that is of correct texture and length
which exhibits a slight wave. A slight wave is not
objectionable, however, curly or heavy waving is objectionable..
Also excessive coats longer than the level of the floor are
unnecessary and detract from the outline of the dog. The head
hair may be shorter and softer than that of the body and veils
the forehead and eyes from forming a moderate beard and apron.
The long feathering of the ears falls straight down from the
tips and outer edges surrounding the ears like a fringe and
outlining their shape. The coat must be of one overall color at
the skin but may be of varying shades of the same color in the
full coat, which may be black, blue, dark or light gray, silver,
platinum, fawn or cream. All of the shades of black, blue, gray,
silver and platinum are gray based. Therefore, a Skye should be
various close shades of gray or shades of cream and fawn. With
the exception of the dark, often black, ear feathering on the
cream and fawn Skyes, gray should not be a part of a
predominately cream or fawn coat as often seen. Likewise, the
brown shades should not be present in a predominately gray coat
(water stains and sunburn notwithstanding). Few gray coats have
only one shade of gray, but rather will consist of a number of
shades of gray. The strands of the gray coat are banded with
more than one shade. There should be no distinct patterns or
markings with the exception of the darker points. White on the
chest, not exceeding 2 inches at the skin, is permissible. The
shade of the head and legs should approximate that of the body.
In puppies, as the coat clears, wide variations of color may
occur. Often you will find a black band circling the body coat
of a cream or gray dog. This is normal and not to be penalized.
Throughout a Skye's life, particularly in the grays, color may
deepen and lighten.
As mentioned
previously, the ratio of body length to shoulder height is 2:1.
Ideal height at the withers is between 10 and 11 inches. There
are many discrepancies on this point. Today in the United
States, and to the best of knowledge in the United Kingdom,
there are no 10 inch Skye Terriers which are exhibited. Another
point worth mentioning, a Skye Terrier cannot be too long but
must be at least twice as long as he is high at the withers.

Correct movement
requires proper structure. The trot is the gait at which Skye
movement is judged. The dog must gait in a straight line. Coming
to you the forelegs form a continuous straight line. The legs
move in two parallel planes with the feet the same distance
apart as the elbows and having good reach without a great deal
of lift. Paddling, winging, hackneyed or other common gait
irregularities are faults. Poor fronts, however, it will not be
so obvious when a dog is in full coat. Propelling power is
furnished by the strong, full, well developed and well angulated
short rear legs which travel straight forward with good
extension. It is always nice to see the pads of the rear feet.
The whole movement of the Skye is free, active and effortless
which gives the impression of a more or less fluid, floating
picture.
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