I take advantage of this issue to reproduce the advice the SADB (Société des Amateurs de Dogues de Bordeaux) had given to judges and breeders:
Adhering to the standard is sufficient to avoid drifting toward exaggerated
types. Judges are required not to award a CACS or a CACIB (which means not to
allow a specimen to become a Champion) to Dogues de Bordeaux displaying:
1° / In the middle of the stop, a deep indentation set backward with brows
overhanging the face. According to the standard, the forehead dominates the
face, it does not overhang it.
2° / A very important skin fold from the outer corner of the eye to the corner
of the lips, across the cheek. There can be a discreet wrinkle across the cheek,
not a “roll”
3° / A very important skin fold from the inner corner of the eye to the corner
of the lips. One or two wrinkles are normal at this place, not a swollen fold.
4° / A swollen roll behind the nose leather.
5°/ Tiny and badly aligned incisors (called « pearls »).
It should be remembered that excessive shortness of breath and rasping are
severe faults.
These are prudent measures. If wisely applied, they will help us preserve a
typical and sound Bordeaux dog in accordance with the standard description.
In all breeds the increase in numbers carries the risk of derivatives with the
onset of easily recognizable mediocre subjects with little type and others such
as hypertypes which are a danger for the breed even if they are admired by some
adepts of canine showbiz.
Some complementary information gleaned from the superb show held in Ham on
September 2 & 3, 2006: the breed is doing well – many exhibits are of good type,
healthy and have a stable temperament. They are adorable with their owners.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to avoid extremes and, to accomplish this, to
re-read the standard.
Head: The perimeter of the head almost corresponds to the height at withers.
It can, therefore, be slightly less or slightly more. This means that one must
not select heads having a perimeter which exceeds the height at withers by 20%
on the pretext that they are spectacular. They are monstrosities.
Muzzle: the standard stipulates that “the limits (maximum one third and minimum
one quarter of the length of the head) are admitted but not desirable. Muzzles
of hunting breeds are to be avoided; likewise those of Bulldogs.
The muzzle and skull are wrinkled but must not display profound, sweating
furrows nor bloated folds. We saw one example which completely surrounded the
foreface.
Incisors: very small incisors set irregularly in the gums constitute a definite
fault.
Nostrils: Wide open nostrils are a quality.
A typical head is powerful, trapezoid (this seems to be disappearing), with the
expression of a sphinx conveyed by the wide apart eyes, the well defined lower
jaw and the inverted V shaped lips.
Height at the withers: Until now we have been very lax and some exhibits are the
height of Mastiffs.
Remember that the old standard of 1921
stated: “The Dogue de Bordeaux is not a giant of the canine species”. The
maximum heights are 68cm + 2cm tolerance for males and 66cm + 2 cm for females.
From now on a Dogue exceeding these heights should not be awarded an
“excellent”.
Colour: It is necessary to add a precision to the standard.
The Dogue de Bordeaux has a fawn coat. This coat may have a black or brown
overlay. The hair is “banded” or “agouti”: part of each hair is fawn or pale
fawn (isabella) and the tip is black or brown.
A brown coat cannot be accepted (graded “insufficient” and not confirmed to
standard). In this case each hair is entirely brown (chocolate). In genetics a
brown coat is different to a coat with a brown overlay.
In Dogues de Bordeaux the coat called “mahogany” is in reality a fawn coat with
a brown overlay (the true “mahogany” is a red coat – see the Irish Setter). The
brown overlay should not invade all the body to the extent of giving an overall
impression of brown. A Dogue de Bordeaux with a brown overlay should be of a
lighter colour on the inclined parts of the body, with the hair more fawn than
brown. The hair on the shoulders, the ribs etc... may even be completely fawn.
In any case, the coat should never be dark brown (chocolate) but should remain
luminous. The standard states: the coat is in the range of fawn.
Chocolate coat: disqualified (hair brown in all its length)
Coat with invading brown overlay giving an overall impression of dark: no
“excellent”
For white, follow the standard: “non invasive white marks are permitted on the
chest and the extremities of the limbs” (not on the throat = fault, not on the
chin = disqualification, nor on the neck, head or body but everyone knows that).
Everyone also knows that “a tail displaying knotted vertebrae but without a
deviation constitutes a severe fault”.
It is therefore necessary to examine all the tails, which is not always the
case. Exhibits meriting only a “good” grading are being awarded an “excellent”.
To end, the standard states that females have “identical characteristics but
less pronounced”. Females which resemble males by their corpulence and over
developed heads are not good for breeding purposes. They are perhaps spectacular
for cynological music halls but judges should prefer females of good type,
healthy, with a lively gait and feminine.
