GENERAL APPEARANCE: a medium-sized, middleweight, well-proportioned, well-muscled dog of powerful, well-balanced structure, with intelligent expression and lively temperament.

CHARACTERISTICS: affectionate, obedient, tractable, alert, very faithful and reliable, undemanding, with plenty of stamina, vigilant, active and gifted with the true shepherd temperament.

SIZE: the length of the body exceeds the height at the withers in a ration of ten to nine. Size: dogs 57-62 cm, bitches 55-60 cm

VARIATIONS: according to the coat, variations are divided into:
*a: short coat
*b: long coat
*c: rough coat

GAIT-MOVEMENT: smooth, supple, true. The movement should be neither constrained nor floating nor too far-reaching.

PARTS OF THE BODY:
Head: in good proportion to the body, more long than massive, without wrinkles and dry. The muzzle is slightly longer than the skull, which should be flat. The top line of the muzzle is straight and runs parallel with the skull top line. Slight stop. Lips tight. In the rough-coated variety, the head appears more square, but this is an illusion.

Ears: rather small than large. When the dog is alert, they are carried rather forward. They are set high.
Not spoon shaped.

Eyes: dark, medium-sized, almond shaped, placed somewhat obliquely, not round or bulging.

Nose: always black

Teeth: powerful and regular. Scissor-bite, i.e. when the mouth is shut, the incisors of the upper jaw closely overlapping the incisors of the lower jaw.

Neck: the neck should not be too short. It is dry, i.e. without dewlap, and flowing gently into the top line of the body.

Body: firm; slight spring of ribs. Chest deep but not narrow. Brisket flowing gently into the underline.
Back short, straight and powerful. Loin firm, not long or narrow. The croup must not be short or too sloping.

Forequarters: powerful, well muscled and with good bone. Overall straight, but with sufficient spring of pastern. Well laid back shoulders lie close to the ribcage. Upper arm of good length.

Hindquarters: powerful, well muscled and with good bone, forming a normal angle at the stifle joint; thus the thigh is not excessively out of the perpendicular. In the hock a moderate angle is desired so that the hock is perpendicularly below the i chium.

Feet: well arched toes; c1osely knit, which avoids long feet.
Black nails; e1astic dark pads.

Tail: at rest, the tail should hang straight, or gently curved, reaching the hook. In action, carried gracefully upwards, never curled nor falling sideways.

PARTICULARS FOR THE COAT- VARIETIES

Short Coat: all over the body a quite hard coat, not too short, with a woolly undercoat. Ruff, trousers and feathered tail must be apparent.
Colour: more or less pronounced brindle on a brown ground (gold brindle) or on a grey ground (silver brindle). Brindle all over the body, also in ruff, trousers and tail. Much black in the uppercoat is undesirable. A black mask preferred.

Long Coat: all over the body a long, straight close-lying coat harsh to the touch, without curls or waves, with a woolly undercoat. Head, ears, feet and the hindlegs below the hocks should be covered with short, dense hair. The back of forelegs show a strongly developed coat, which becomes shorter towards the feet (feathers). The tail is heavily coated all over. No feathering on ears.
Colour: same colours as for the short coat.

Rough coat: all over the body, a thick, rough, harsh, tousled coat with a dense, woolly undercoat. The coat should be dense. Upper lip and under lip should be well furnished with hair, not soft but off-standing (whiskers and beard). Eyebrows are rough and off-standing. The hair on the skull and on the cheeks and ears is less strongly developed. Tail heavily coated. Well-developed culottes are required (breeching).
Colour: blue-grey and pepper-and-salt, silver-or gold-brindle. Brindle less pronounced in the topcoat compared to the other variations.

FAULTS: too much white on chest or on feet; white stripes or spots in any other part of the body.
Nose other than black.
Drop ears or spoon-shaped ears.
Wrong colour, mismarking. Too much black in the topcoat.
Overshot or undershot mouth.
Cropped ears.
Docked tail. Curled tail.

Note: male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.