Dogs and All about Them

BACK AND LOIN--The Back should be short, straight, and strong, with no appearance of slackness. The Loin should be powerful and very slightly arched. The fore ribs should be moderately arched, the back ribs deep; and the dog should be well ribbed up. HIND-QUARTERS--Should be strong and muscular, quite free from droop or crouch; the thighs long and powerful; hocks near the ground, the dog standing well up on them like a Foxhound, and not straight in the stifle. STERN--Should be set on rather high, and carried gaily, but not over the back or curled. It should be of good strength, anything approaching a "pipe-stopper" tail being especially objectionable. LEGS AND FEET--The Legs viewed in any direction must be straight, showing little or no appearance of an ankle in front. They should be strong in bone throughout, short and straight to pastern. Both fore and hind legs should be carried straight forward in travelling, the stifles not turned outwards. The elbows should hang perpendicular to the body, working free of the side. The Feet should be round, compact, and not large. The soles hard and tough. The toes moderately arched, and turned neither in nor out. COAT--Should be straight, flat, smooth, hard, dense, and abundant. The belly and under side of the thighs should not be bare. As regards colour, white should predominate; brindle, red, or liver markings are objectionable. Otherwise this point is of little or no importance.