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Estonian Hound |
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FCI standard Nº 366 |
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Origin |
Estonia | |
Translation |
Maris Siilmann and Katrin Raie Revised by Renée Sporre-Willes |
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Group |
Group 6 Scent hounds and related breeds | |
Section |
Section 1.2 Medium-sized hounds | |
Working |
With working trial | |
Acceptance on a provisional basis by the FCI |
Wednesday 04 September 2019 | |
Publication of the official valid standard |
Wednesday 04 September 2019 | |
En français, cette race se dit |
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Chien courant d'Estonie |
Diese Norm ist in deutscher Sprache sichtbar |
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Estnische Bracke |
En español, esta raza se dice |
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Sabueso de Estonia |
In het Nederlands, wordt dit ras gezegd |
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Huidige hond van Estland |
In his country of origin, his name is |
Eesti Hagijas |
Usage |
| Scent hound used for hunting the hare, fox and lynx. |
Brief historical summary |
| Like with many Scandinavian scent hound breeds, the East- and West European as well as British scent hound breeds form the base of Estonian Hound breed. Significant measure in breed development was a lower height at the withers to protect the bovine animals and to prevent from big hounds that might track game too fast. Thousands of hounds were summoned, evaluated and registered to be called the Estonian Hound, as the breed standard was officially approved in 1954. |
General appearance |
| Proportionate hound of medium size, strong and dry build. Strong bone, feet and well-developed muscles. The white markings are clearly visible and help to see the dog better when working in the field. Sexual dimorphism is well defined. |
Important proportions |
| Length of body exceeds clearly the height at the withers. Females can be slightly longer than males. Length of legs is about 50% of the height at the withers. |
Behaviour / temperament |
| Even-tempered, agile and friendly. Very well-developed sense of scent and detection of game and a pronounced passion for hunting guarantee good results in finding prey and tracking in difficult terrain. Resonant voice helps to locate the dog at long distance. |
Head |
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Cranial region |
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Head |
Seen from above, forms a blunt wedge, wider at the back and slightly tapering towards the muzzle. | |
Skull |
Moderate width, slightly curved. Superciliary arches well developed but not protruding. | |
Stop |
Moderately pronounced, never steep. | |
Facial region |
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Nose |
Broad, totally black. Dogs with coat colour that has gold or tan patches can have lighter coloured nose, never liver brown. | |
Muzzle |
Long, straight and in proportion to skull. | |
Lips |
Dry, tight, not overhanging, no flap in the corner of mouth. Rims of lips totally pigmented. | |
Jaws and teeth |
Teeth are white and big. Jaws normally developed with full set of 42 teeth and a complete scissor bite, i.e. the upper teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth and set square to jaws. Level bite due to aging and wearing down of incisors undesirable. | |
Cheeks |
Flat. | |
Eyes |
Slightly slanting, dark brown, rims dark. | |
Ears |
Thin, hanging, set medium high, lying closely to cheeks, rounded edges and covered with short hair. When pulled towards the nose, reaching about half the length of muzzle. | |
Neck |
| Medium long and set moderately high, round in cross section, muscular, skin dry without folds. |
Body |
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Withers |
Rising above line of back. | |
Back |
Level, broad and muscular. | |
Loin |
Short, broad, arched and muscular. | |
Croup |
Broad, of medium length, muscular and slightly sloping. Height at the croup 1-1.5 cm less than at the withers. | |
Chest |
Oval, long and capacious, reaching down to elbow. Well-developed ribs. | |
Underline and belly |
Breastbone is long and belly only slightly tucked up. | |
Tail |
| Saber form, thick at base, tapering slightly towards the end and reaching to the hocks. Active wagging when moving, base of tail must never be lifted above line of back. |
Limbs |
Forequarters |
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Generality |
Dry, muscular with strong bone. Seen from front forelegs are straight and parallel. Length of legs is about 50% of the height at the withers. | |
Shoulders |
The angulations at the shoulder joint is 115-120 degrees. | |
Elbows |
Strong, close fitting, neither turning in nor out, but firmly laid back. | |
Forearm |
Oval bone of medium length. Sturdy in relation to the body, i.e. neither fine nor too heavy and completely straight. | |
Pastern |
Broad, supple and almost straight. | |
Forefeet |
Arched, oval and tight. Nails strong and turning downwards. Thick pads. | |
Hindquarters |
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Generality |
Dry, muscular with strong bone. Seen from behind the legs stand straight and parallel and seen from the side they are well angulated. | |
Upper thigh |
Approximately of equal length to lower thigh. | |
Lower thigh |
Approximately of equal length to thigh. | |
Stifle |
Strong, moderately bent and turning neither in nor out when moving. | |
Metatarsus |
Of medium length, very strong and upright. | |
Hind feet |
Arched, oval and tight. Nails strong and turning downwards. Thick pads. | |
Gait and movement |
| With good drive, free, straight-line, i.e. singletracking, flowing and smooth. |
Skin |
| Tight, but elastic and without folds. |
Coat |
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Hair |
Short, even, harsh and glossy. Moderate undercoat. Tail is covered with even dense hair in the whole length and therefore the tail looks thick. On tip of tail hair is somewhat shorter. | |
Colour |
Typical colour is black patches with tan markings and vivid white markings (tricolour). The size of the patches is not limited. Lemon to golden-tan patches with no black is also allowed (bicolour). The patterns could be of various sizes and also form a saddle. The black, tan, or lemon coloured patches, with or without rich tan coloured rims, contrasting well to the white. The white markings should be on head, on the throat and chest stretching on to the belly. All feet and the tip of the tail must be white. All colours must be as bright as possible. | |
Size and weight |
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Height at withers |
Males: 45 – 52 cm. Females: 42 – 49 cm. | |
Faults |
| • Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog and its ability to perform its traditional work. • Faults listed should be in degree of seriousness. |
Serious faults |
 Shy or over agitated. Too light or too heavy in build. Too short or too elongated in body, high in the rear. Coarse in head, flat or domed skull, rounded cheeks. Insufficiently pigmented nose, eye- or lip rims. Slightly overshot bite where incisors are not in contact. Ears too short or too thick, set on too high, not lying close to head or covered with long hair. Narrow chest, flat ribcage. Weak topline, steep croup. Tail too long (reaching more than 3 cm below hocks) or too short, carried upwards from base. Splayed toes or too long feet (hare-foot). Clearly wavy hair, lack of undercoat. Overmarked with white, evident black or tan ticking on white areas. |
Disqualifying faults |
| Aggressive or overly shy dogs. Absence of sexual dimorphism. Size over the limits indicated by the standard. Overshot by 3 mm and more, or undershot bite. Odd-eyed or white (blue) eyes. Small, pricked or semi-pricked ears. Bent, or defect tail. Overmarked with black or tan colour, ie lack of white markings. Brown or coffee-coloured patches with liver pigmented nose. |
NB : |
| • Any dog clearly showing physical or behavioural abnormalities shall be disqualified. • The above mentioned faults when occurring to a highly marked degree or frequently are disqualifying. • Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum. • Only functionally and clinically healthy dogs, with breed typical conformation should be used for breeding. |
Bibliography |
| https://www.fci.be/ |
English (United Kingdom)