PAPILLON (Epagneul nain Continental) is the smallest spaniel which comes from France and Belgium. Papillon is recognizable by his ears which remind on a butterfly. This is an old breed which appears on paintings of a lot of famous painters (Giotto, Tiziano, Rubensa, Goya...), and proofs of it's existence go back to 700 years ago. Maria Teresa and her daughter Marie Antoinette had a lot of Papillon
s. Papillon was usually in property of women from higher layers and his task was – making company to his owner. He made his task very well. Because of that, we have a dog with a lot of quality sides: he's extremly adaptable, he's very strong considering to his size, very movable and fast, he's adapting to elderly very well, he can live in a small apartment, but he's also good for agility, in a few kilometer walks, and very cheerful when he can. We can also simply make a work dog from him. He's obedient, pretty, very healthy, a good keeper (he's amazingly brave), and some reasearch in UK prooved that he's in 5 most intelligent dogs on the world. That's really commendable for that little butterfly which is imposing us a duty for being consistent in setting limits because he will presude his owner to do anything with his intellingence and charm. They can stay alone at home without problems unlike from other small dogs and they get along with other animals very well. They are very good with kind because they are playful but because they are fragile, more attention is required. With proper nutrition this breed is living long which means that Papillon will stay with his owner from 12 to 16 years. Although his long hair, grooming Papillon is actually easy. That's the dog which doesn't have undercoat, so he requires a weekly brushing and sometimes needs a bath. Ears requier some more attention because the very soft hair grows on them and sometimes man needs to comb out tangled hair. Papillon is a breed which is very jelaously kept by European and world societies of breeders and that's still a very healthy breed on which responsibile breed is reposing a lot of attention, knowledge and work. Papillon litters are usually very small (2-4 puppies) and that's why breeders choose their puppies' owners very wisely. STANDARD:
Papillon
(Epagneul nain continental)
Origin: France/Belgium
Publication date of valid standard: 17. 09. 1990. Qualification: Group 9. (toy and companion breeds)
General apperance: Small and elegant toy spaniel with normal and harmonious structure, long-haired; moderatly long nose is shorter that the skull; Papillon has a cheerful character, slinky but powerful, proud standing with light and elegant walk. Body is a little bit longer than his height. Head: Small. The skull of medium width, and slightly rounded between the ears. A well-defined stop is formed where the muzzle joins the skull. The muzzle is fine, abruptly thinner than the head, tapering to the nose. The length of the muzzle from the tip of the nose to stop is approximately one-third the length of the head from tip of nose to occiput. Nose: Small, round and black, but lightly flattened on the top. Lips: Very pigmented, thin and tight. Jaw and teeth: Quite strong, are closing very well and normal. Tongue: Cannot be visible; the mistake is if it's visible all the time or doesn't pull in when is touched. Eyes: Of medium size, dark, opened, almond-shaped, not bulging, are set lower on the head and alert in expression. Ears: The ears of either the erect or drop type should be large with rounded tips and set on the sides and toward the back of head. Ears of the erect type are carried obliquely and move like the spread wings of a butterfly. When alert, each ear forms an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the head. The leather should be of sufficient strength to maintain the erect position. Ears of the drop type, known as Phalene, are similar to the erect type but are carried drooping and must be completely down. A) Breed with lowered ears: Phalene
Lowered ears are set high, pretty higher than the eyeline, carried hanging, but quite mobile. It's ornamented with wavy hair which can reach big length which gives to the dog a nice look. B) Breed with upright ears: Papillon
Ears are set high, earlobe is opened and is facing outward; inner edge of ear forms the angle of 45° with horisontal line. Ear can never be set upwards. The inside of earlobe is covered with soft hair which is also wavy. The longest hair is slightly extending over top of the ear; outer face is, otherwise, covered with long hair forming long fringes which are extending well over the ear. Mixing two breeds usually produces half elevated ears, with its top down; that kind of mix holding ear is really important fault. EXTREMITIES:
Shoulders: Shoulders and front legs are, well developed, equal size, well holding to each other, under the normal angle and well mounted to the body. Legs: Straight, tight, quite slim, dog cannot look elevated. Front ankle joint is visible from the profile, back ankle joints are under the normal angle; looked from the front or back, les have to be parallel
Feet: Quite long, called «rabbit feet», rely directly on the surface. Strong nails, recommended black, lighter by the dogs with brown or white coat (white nails by the white dogs or dogs with white legs are not a fault if everything else is good pigmented). Toes are strong with tight surface, good filled on the between with soft hair which is extending further from top of the leg, forming the spike. BODY:
Neck: Medium size, a little bit skewed by the nape. Chest: Wide, slightly fired down. Volume of the torax, looked from between last two ribs, has to be approx. equal to the height at the withers. Ribs well skewed. Upper line: Not too short or too obliquely, not sunk, also cannot be straight; loins are tight and slightly skewed. Stomach: Slightly pulled in. Tail: Set quite high, long, with a lot of fringes forming the plume. When dog is in the action, tail is carried along to the backline and curved, the highest peak can touck the back, can never be curled or lay straight on the back. Coat (hair): Coat (without undercoat) is rich, shiny, wavy (but not curly), not soft, lightly rough to the touch, with silky reflection. Hair is soft, quite gentle, lightly wavy. Coat apperance is similar to English Toy Spaniel, but different from the Pekinese Spaniel; in the same time cannot have a similarity to the spitz coat. Hair is short on the face, nose, on the front part of legs and on the lower part of the joint ankle. Medium size on the body, longer on the neck, forming ruff collar, wavy alighting to the chest; forming the ear fringes and on the back part of front legs; on the back side of hips rich with soft hair. Little tufts can be between toes and can stretch outside, but not by giving a hard look to the leg, it's so they would sophisticate the look extending it. Ceirtain dogs in good coat condition have a coat 7,5 cm long on the ridge and 15 cm long fringes on the tail. Colors: All colors are allowed on the coat with white background. On the body and legs white color has to dominate in conjuction with other colors. White mark on the head is wanted, extended with more or less wide strip. Outstanding white color is allowed on the lower part of the head, but dominant white color on the head is a fault. In all cases lips, eyelids and certainly nose, have to be pigmented. SIZE:
Height on the ridge: Around 28 cm. Weight: Two categories
1) Less that 2,5 kg for males and females
2) From 2,5 kg to 4,5 kg for males
From 2,5 kg to 5 kg for females
Minimal weight: 1,5 kg
Walk/held: Proud, free, light and elegant
Mistakes: Straight skull, apple shaped and bulging like as in English Toy Spaniel; end (muzzle stop) too visible or not enough visible; nose curved or dish shaped; small eyes, too round, outstanding light colors, showing white when the dog looks straight forward. Nose which is not black. Depigmentation on the edges of eyelids and lips. Overshot bite and especially undershot bite are mistakes that need to be avoided. Warped front legs; knotted-link front ankle joints; back legs which are, looked from the back, out of the vertical by knee ankle on joint ankles, on feet; weak back legs;
Feet turned inward or outward; nails which don't touch the ground. Single or double dewclaw on the back legs is unwanted and represents a fault in beauty. Its removing is recommended. Curly tail, set on the back, which falls to the side (bone, not fringes, which are falling because of their length fall in curles). Poor coat, soft or blowed; hair set or held upright, wooly hair, undercoat which shows mixing with Spitz. Hu**ed (as in carp) or sway back. DISQULALIFICATIONS:
1) Nose without pigmentation (pink) or with light dots.
2) Excessive prognathism (jaws strongly projecting forward and teeth in them obliquely implated), overshot and undershot bite to the point where incisors don't touch anymore.
3) Paralised or slightly visible tongue. Males need to have two visible
normally developed testicles descended into the sc***um.
