Berger de Beauce Breed Profile

Proportions: Off-square to slightly rectangular, with the length of the body measured from the point of the forechest to the point of the rump, being just slightly longer than the height at the withers. The wither height should equal approximately 86% of the total body length. The ideal body height-to-length ratio is approximately 10:9 to 5:4. Females may be slightly longer. The body is well put together, with great substance and sturdy bone. Males should appear masculine, being more substantial in size and mass, while females should appear more feminine and slightly less substantial. Neither should lack overall type. It is important to remember that the Berger de Beauce is a large and powerful herding dog and must have strength, endurance, and stamina. It is not a large and heavy dog and does not sacrifice agility for size. Like all herding breeds, this breed draws their strength from moderation and avoidance of extremes. The weight of males or females is always in proportion to height.

General Appearance: Somewhat elongated mesaticephalic to slightly dolichocephalic skull type, moderate in size, fairly long, rectangular in appearance, and in proportion to the rest of the body. The head is fairly clean-cut and without excess skin or wrinkles. The topskull is fairly broad and flat when viewed from profile or in front and is just slightly arched at the temporal sides when viewed from the front. The median furrow is slightly marked to indicate strong temporalis muscle development. The occiput is only minimally protrusive. The head and face may range from somewhat chiseled to sufficiently padded to denote strength and substance without appearing coarse or bulky.

Expression: Confident, imposing-yet-agile, alert, watchful, serious, and intelligent.

Stop: The stop is slightly marked.

Skull: The ideal muzzle-to-skull ratio is 1:1, with the length of the topskull being equal to the length of the muzzle.
The ideal muzzle-to-skull axis is parallel.

Muzzle: The muzzle is full, deep, and broad throughout. The plane, or bridge of the muzzle, is straight and level. The muzzle appears broad and rectangular, with only a very slight taper from the broad base toward the nose. Upper and lower jaws are well-developed, equal in length, and have good bone substance, never appearing snipy, weak, or pointed.

Lips or Flews: The lips are well-pigmented, fairly clean, and fit fairly tightly over the teeth and jaws. The lips should never extend beyond the lower plane of the bottom jawline. The lips may be only somewhat loose at the corners.

Nose: The nose is well-pigmented and black or self-colored in nonstandard varieties. The nostrils are well opened. The nose should never be “split-nosed.” The nose may protrude just slightly beyond or may remain flush with the vertical line of the end of the muzzle.

Cheeks: The cheeks are smoothly muscled to denote the strength of masseter muscles. They should not appear chiseled or coarse.

Dentition and Bite: Forty-two strong, clean, and white teeth. The bite may be level or scissor. Contact must be made between the top and bottom incisors. Missing or broken teeth due to routine work are not to be penalized.

Eyes: Moderate in size, somewhat oval to almond in shape, and ranging in color from blue (including bicolored, flecked, or marbled) in harlequins, minimal harlequins, and cryptic harlequins) to hazel to dark brown in standard colors. Amber-to-light-hazel may be found in nonstandard color varieties. The corners of the eyes may range from horizontally set to just slightly oblique. The eye rims are well-fitted and well-pigmented. The eyes are never bulging. There should be sufficient bone in the surrounding orbital sockets to protect the eyes. Any signs of entropion or ectropion are incorrect for this breed.

Ears: Medium in size and set fairly high on the skull, with the lower corner set slightly higher than the level of the eyes. The ears may be natural or surgically cropped. Natural ears may hang with the inner edges and tips close to the head (preferred drop) rose or half-pricked (semi-erect) with tips somewhat away from the head. Some specimens may also have naturally erect ears or semi-erect ears. Cropped ears are cut to a medium length and are held erect. However, an otherwise excellent specimen should not be penalized for an improper crop or fallen cropped ears.

General Description: Solid, substantial, powerful, and lithe. The body is never racy or refined or heavy and cloddy like that of a mastiff. The width at the forequarters is approximately equal to the width at the hindquarters.

Neck: Moderate length allows for proud and alert head carriage and is powerfully muscled with a slight arch. The neck tapers smoothly from the deeper and broader body toward the head. The neck is clean-cut, without excess skin, throatiness, or dewlap.

Chest: Deep and broad but never wider than deep. The brisket extends to the point of the elbows. The depth of the body (from withers to brisket) is equal to or just slightly greater than the distance from the ground to the elbow and brisket. The forechest is well developed without being excessively pronounced.

Topline: Straight and level from slightly prominent withers to croup. The back is broad, strongly muscled, and straight, yet supple. The loin is short, taut, flat, level, or slightly arched, yet supportive. The back is never elongated, swayed, or roached.

Croup: Powerful and gently sloped.

Underline: A slight-to-moderate tuck-up is present. The underline is taut and firm, without any indication of sagging or excess weight.

Ribs: Long, well-sprung, well-laid-back, oval-shaped, never barrel-chested or slab-sided.

Tail: It may be set somewhat low. It is set neither high nor low on the croup but as a natural extension of the topline. It is thick at the base and tapering toward the tip. The tail is carried in accordance with the dog’s mood and energy level, usually in a neutral, relaxed position, below the level of the topline, but never tucked or carried up over the back. The ideal tail has a “hook” toward the end, forming a “J” when relaxed or neutral. When in motion, it is straightened and raised somewhat. Tails are never docked short. The natural tail is of a somewhat long length, with the tip of the last vertebrae extending to the hock joints when held down or just slightly below.

Forequarters: The forequarters are always in balance with the hindquarters and well-angulated with well-laid-back shoulder blades. Shoulder blades are long and approximately equal in length to the upper arm and forearm.

Elbows: The elbows are close to the body. The distance from the withers to the brisket may be equal to, or just greater than, the distance from the elbows to the ground.

Forelegs: Frontal View: Straight, of good muscle, sturdy bone, and parallel to one another.
Side View: The forelimbs appear straight with strong pasterns.

Pasterns: Never weak or broken.

Hindquarters: The upper and lower thighs are long, equal in length, strong, of sturdy bone, and well-muscled.
Rear View: When viewed from the rear, the rear pasterns are parallel to one another.
Side View: Good angulation will allow the rear toes to align with the point of the rump or within one to two paw-lengths behind the point of the rump, with the rear pasterns remaining perpendicular to the ground and parallel to one another.

Stifle Joint: Well-angulated with a good bend to well-let-down rear pasterns.

Angulations: The angulation of the hindquarters is always in balance with the angulation of the forequarters.

Feet: Oval to round and compact, with well-arched toes and tough pads. One distinguishing characteristic of this breed is that they are polydactyl on the hindlimbs. The Berger de Beauce should exhibit two well-formed dewclaws (double-dewclaws) with complete nails on each rear pastern, close to the feet.

Skin: Well-fitted, yet supple. The skin should never obstruct the outline of the dog.

Coat Type: The Berger de Beauce comes in two coat varieties: the standard smooth and the nonstandard shaggy (flat coat).

Smooth-coat variety: The coat is short, smooth, and close to the body throughout, with the longest hairs equaling approximately 3-4 centimeters in length. The coat is shortest on the muzzle, head, ears, front of the limbs, and paws. It is longer on the body, especially the neck, chest, and back of the hindlimbs and underside of the tail, where it forms just a slight fringe that never obstructs or alters the dog's outline. The texture is harsh and glossy, with an undercoat. The undercoat is dense, short, and soft and should never be seen through the top coat.

Shaggy-coat variety: Shaggy-coated specimens have the same coat texture as the standard coat above, with the only difference being that the coat is slightly longer, ranging from 3-4 inches in length at its longest fringing. The coat on the neck, chest, hindlegs, and tail is more profuse, forming a slightly ruff, longer fringing (pantaloons), and slightly brushed or minimally plumed tail.

Coat Color or Pattern: CKC recognizes two color varieties of the Berger de Beauce breed: the standard and nonstandard. Large patches or amounts of white indicating homogenous merle genotype/phenotype are undesirable.

Standard coat color variety: Solid, jet black base color with the traditional tan pointed pattern resulting in tan on the side and under portion of the muzzle, inside the inner ear, under the jaw and on the throat, kiss spots on the cheeks, pips above the eyes, triangular rosettes on the chest, tan “stockings” that go no more than 1/3rd up the outside of the forelimb, and no further than the stifle joint of the outside of the hindlimb, (tan can go somewhat further up the insides of the fore and hindlimbs), and tan around the vent. The black can also be merle, referred to as “harlequin,” resulting in random patches of “gray” or “blue” ranging in size from small and “roaned” in appearance to large and patchy, located throughout only the black part of the coat. The red points can range from golden tan to rust to dark mahogany. Tan points may also be shaded. A black mask may conceal the red on the muzzle, head, head, and neck. The undercoat may be any color, so long as it does not show through and the dog’s outer coat appears jet black or “blue” harlequin (merled). A small coin-sized patch of white is permissible on the chest.

Nonstandard coat color variety: Includes colors and textures not defined by the standard color, including solid black (with complete absence of tan markings), ghost tan (tan is almost imperceptible), and white markings on the chest.