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Breed Profile

Japanese Chin

Compiled by Ulla Piihl, Niels Piihl, Jeanne Tribler and Mette Mortensen

English version, September 2016

Content

Page 2: General appearance

Pages 2-8: Breed standard, comments and illustrations

Pages 8-11: Four highlighted features

Page 11: Health

Page 12-14: Judging the Japanese Chin

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General Appearance The Japanese Chin (hereafter Chin) is a small dog with a wide head, square body and straight, silky coat, that drops

down over the body. The tail, which is covered with long, straight hair, is carried up over the back, looking like a flower

in bloom.

The keyword of the breed is “elegance”. The Chin carries its head proudly and aristocratically, and the ample coat with

feathering is an important part of its general appearance.

The breed is catlike and cleans its face with the front paws. A Chin loves to watch down on the world from the top of

the backrest of a couch or the tabletop (if allowed). The breed seldom barks.

The Chin is very intelligent and a lovable little dog. It is devoted, fun, gentle and has a great need for love and

companionship.

Breed standard, including comments and illustrations Japanese chin (Chin) Utilization: Companion dog. FCI-Classification: Group 9 Companion and Toy Dogs. Section 8 Japan Chin and Pekinese. Without working trial. Brief historical summary: According to ancient documents it is assumed that the ancestors of the Chin were presented as a gift from the rulers of Korea (during the Silla Dynasty age 377–935) to the Japanese court in 732. For a successive 100 years, there appears to have been a large number of Chins coming into Japan. Historical records also indicate that envoys sent to China (during the Tung Dynasty age 618–910) and North Korea (during the Po H’ai Dynasty age 698–926) brought back dogs of this breed directly. During the reign of the Shogunate Tsunayoshi Tokugawa (1680–1709) the breed was raised as an indoor toy dog in the Castle of Edo. In 1613 a British Captain, named Searles brought a Chin to England and in 1853 Commodore Perry from the U.S. brought several to the U.S. of which two were presented to Queen Victoria of England. Since 1868, the Chin has been favored as a lapdog by ladies of the upper classes, and currently is being widely spread as a companion dog. General appearance: Small sized dog with broad face, covered with profuse coat, with elegant and graceful figure. Comment: A Chin should be a square and compact little “package” with an expressive face. Its grace should reflect in the big round eyes, the silky coat and light movements. Important proportions: The ratio of height at withers to length of the body is equal. The body of females slightly longer. Comment: The square silhouette contributes to the grace of the Chin. The phrase “slightly longer” should be taken literally, as a longer female will lack the elegance of the breed and appear heavy and “coarse”.

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Correct, square profile. Behaviour/temperament: Clever, mild and lovely. Comment: The soft appearance of the Chin is a reflexion of its personality. It is mild, playful and definitely not dominant or aggressive. Shyness is undesirable. Gentle handling of the Chin is important. Head: Comment: The head is big in proportion to the body. Think in circles: round head (also seen from above), round face, round eyes and round muzzle. Skull: Broad and rounded. Stop : Deep and indented. Nose: Nasal bridge very short and broad, the nose is set on a straight line with the eyes; the nose colour is black or deep flesh coloured, according to the coat colour. Well opened nostrils. Comment: The profile of the skull, stop, tip of the nose, chin and underjaw should form an inverted “3”. In profile the nose can either be straight or slightly upturned. Open nostrils are important.

Correct, inverted ”3” and deep stop. Correct nose in line with the eyes. Round and open nostrils.

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Jaws/Teeth : Teeth white and strong; level bite desirable, but scissor bite or undershot mouth permitted. Comment: The underjaw should be broad. Missing teeth are not uncommon.

Puppy with correct, broad underjaw. Eyes: Large, without exaggeration, rounded, set wide apart and lustrous black in colour. Comment: The eyes are characteristic features of the breed. The showing of white in the corner of the eye is not a fault. It gives the ”look of astonishment”, which the breed is known for. A Chin must not have wall eyes or protruding eyes to an extent that affects the health of the dog. Ears: Long, triangular, hanging, covered with long hair; set wide apart.

Correct ears set wide apart. Neck: Rather short, and held high. Comment: Even though the neck should be rather short, it has to have some length in order to carry the relatively big head proudly. Body: Back : Short and straight. Comment: The short, straight back is an important part of the compact, square profile of the breed. If the back is (too) long or arched, the Chin will lose its elegance and proud appearance.

Ears set too high and close.

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Tail carried too loose. Tail too flat on the back. A softer arch is preferred.

Correct, level back. Loin : Broad and slightly arched. Chest : Moderately broad and deep, with ribs moderately sprung. Underlinie and belly: Belly well drawn up. Tail: Carried up over back and covered with beautiful, profuse and long hair. Comment: The tail should be carried beautifully arched to one side. It should not rest flat on the back or be lifted high of the back.

Correctly carried tail. Limbs: Forequarters: General appearance: Forearms straight, fine boned; backside of forearms below the elbows feathered. Forefeet: Small and hare-shaped, preferably feathered between the toes. Correctly feathered forearms.

Incorrect, arched back.

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Too little angulation.

Hindquarters: General appearance: Hindlegs moderately angulated, rear of the rump covered with feathering.

Correctly angulated hind legs with feathering. Hind feet: feet: Small and hare-shaped, covered with tufts of hair desirable. Comment: When standing the forearms should be straight and front paws point straight forward or slightly outturned. However, when in movement the paws should be pointing straight forward. It is important to observe the paws and not the feathering, which could mistakenly indicate that the paws are outturned in movement.

Sligthly outturned front paws are accepted. Gait / movement: Elegant, light and proud. Comment: A Japanese Chin must not lose its elegance when moving. The movement should be with good impulsion, lift and without any sign of weakness in the hindquarters. The straight back should be retained, and the tail carried beautifully arched over the back. When standing still the Chin should have “a leg in each corner” and not be narrow in the hindquarters. The latter also applies when moving.

Too much angulation.

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Coat: Hair: Silky, straight and long. Whole body except face covered with profuse hair. The ears, neck, thighs and tail have profuse feathering. Comment: The Chin does not have undercoat, and the guardhairs should be with no curls or waves. The coat can be so straight and silky that it almost feels cold. When seen in profile the body shape of the Chin should be visible in the contour of the coat. The body coat should not reach the ground like the coat of a Maltese, Shih-Tzu og Lhasa Apso.

Correct, abundant coat without curls or waves. Ample feathering on ears, neck, thighs and tail. Colour: White with markings of black or red. Markings symmetrically distributed from around eyes over ears as on whole body desirable. Especially white and wide blaze from muzzle to crown desirable. Comment: The black markings should be deep black and the white should be clear white without spots or ticking. Muzzle, legs, collar and tail should be white. (Partly) black / red thighs and tail are accepted. The red can be light red (lemon) to dark red.

Black markings. Size and weight: Height at the withers: Males: approximately 25 cm. Females: slightly smaller than males. Comment: Daintiness is desirable, provided that type and health are preserved. Up to 28 centimeters at the withers is accepted. 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. • Shyness • Nose of any other colour than black in white dogs with black markings • Overshot mouth • Solid white coat with no markings; single marking on face.

Dark, red markings. Lemon markings.

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Graceful movement

Highly lifted forearms is not a fault

Disqualifying faults: • Aggressive or overly shy dogs • Any dog clearly showing physical or behavioural abnormalities shall be disqualified • Wry lower jaw • Tricolour N.B:

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.

Remark of the Danish Kennel Club: Conditions, which affects the health of a dog in a negative way, is considered a serious fault.

Four Highlighted Features

1. Movement:

Free movement

Elegant appearance (short steps are not elegant!)

Good lift and impulsion

Forearms and hindlegs move parallel

Straight and level back

Tail carried arched over the back

Straight forearms and no outturned

paws in movement.

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Big, black markings on the body. Accepted.

2. Markings:

Symmetrical markings

White muzzle

Black ears

Few markings on the body. Accepted.

3. Head:

Think in circles!

Black thighs and black tailset. Accepted.

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Nose in line with eyes and open nostrils.

Pigmentation:

Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct (for red only,

not black).

4. Eyes:

Eyes placed correctly wide apart.

Showing some white in the corner of the eye. This is NOT a fault, but a characteristic breed feature.

Broad muzzle and lower jaw.

Ears set low and wide apart.

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Correct, big, expressive, very dark eyes.

Small eye. Incorrect. (Caused by the sun in this case).

Health

Patella luxation

”Reversed sneezing”

Heart problems

Respiratory diseases

Eye diseases

Sensitive to heat (brachycephalic breed)

Wall eye (dog’s right eye). Incorrect.

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Judging the Japanese Chin

The personality of the breed: Be responsive to the fact that the breed is sensitive and can be reserved (though shyness is a fault). The attention span is short, movemens are quick and confrontations are usually avoided. Aggression is very uncommon. Touching the Chin: Be soft and gentle! Occasionally when on the table an insecure Chin will shoot its back like a cat; hence lose the level topline. Consequently the back should also be assessed when the Chin is standing on the ground and when it is moving. Avoid the sun: As mentioned earlier a Chin should have round, dark eyes and may show some white in the corner of the eye. When standing in direct sunlight, the Chin will squint and consequently lose the correct expression. Same dog in shadow and in direct sunlight:

Place the table in the shadow to avoid squinting and overheating (brachycephalic breed!):

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Showing of teeth: Carefully lift the corner of the lip to assess the bite (level bite, scissor bite and undershot mouth permitted). One or two missing teeth is not crucial. Do not force the mouth open! This kind of assault will most likely make the Chin panic. Do not let your thumb run over the Chin’s teeth. The dog does not like it, and in addition it can spread diseases. Potentially ask the owner to show the Chin’s teeth. Puppies and young Chins: Be gentle and patient when handling a young Chin. A bad experience could affect this sensitive breed for life. Especially puppies and young Chins can be reserved and have a short attention span. Please keep in mind that the appearance of a Japanese Chin will change dramatically from puppy to fully grown Chin.

Same Chin:

11 weeks.

5 months.

9 months.

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Coat:

Should be exhibited with a clean and sparkling white coat (not yellow!).

Shown naturally, meaning no trimming of tail, back of thighs, ears and so on.

No trimming of unwanted undercoat.

Whiskers, that bothers the Chin’s eyes or vision, may be trimmed.

Paws covered with tufts of hair are desirable:

Correct. Incorrect (trimmed).

Health:

Be aware of unhealthy or jumping movements (patella luxation), of hissing or gasping when breathing and of vomiting

(narrow windpipe or nostrils).

Thank you to the following people for letting us use your photos:

Jean Wallhead, Merida (pages 1, 5, 9, 10)

Lee Grogan (pages 3, 7)

Lisa Kay Weaver-White, HapiChin (page 7)

Scott Toney, Midwood (pages 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11)

Tony Allcock, Sleepyhollow (page 9)

Anna Jeans-Perez (page 8)

Leanne Lindsay (pages 4, 8)

To illustrate specific, anatomic features the appearance of the dogs in the following illustrations have been changed

using PhotoShop: page 4 (“ears set too high”), page 5 (”arched bag” and ”tail flat on back”) and page 11 (”wall eye”).

The photos may not be used in another context.

Thank you to dr. Gail Forsythe, Lionheart, for letting us use her breed profile for inspiration.

For more information: “Judging the Japanese Chin: AKC, CKC & FCI” by dr. Gail Forsythe.