What is a Breed Standard?
The breed standard is the ‘template’ of a breed. It should describe all the attributes of a breed so you can distinguish one breed from another. It is what is used at dog shows when judging the breed to decipher which dog most closely matches that particular breed standard. It should also be used by breeders when planning litters as each breeder should be striving to breed dogs that meet the breed standard in every way. Of course, one person can interpret a sentence very differently to another, which is why at shows you will see different dogs winning.
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At the EMDC (UK), we try to encourage people to fully understand the breed standard for the Estrela, and as well as having the British Estrela Standard, we also have the Portuguese and the American Standards for comparison. We have also devised an ‘Illustrated’ breed standard, this is to hopefully put into pictures what is meant by the breed standard, and we have tried to focus on what is correct, rather than incorrect. Please note we have tried to use pictures of dogs that are no longer shown, or which reside in a different country.
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We hope you find this page useful, and welcome any guidance to improve it further.
Here are the breed standards in pdf – click on each one to view / download / print.
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Estrela Mountain Dog Breed Standard (UK)