Russian Salon Dog Standard

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General Appearance: The Russian Salon Dog is a small, well balanced, proportionally built, small-medium-boned dog of a slightly elongated format, never looks too high or too low on the legs.

Looks elegant due to the abundant long straight coat that evenly covers the body and is parting and hanging down each side of the body from occiput and along the spine. Small, carried erect, pointed ears and sparkling eyes give the dog a lovely expression.  

Important proportions:

•           Length of body is 6-8% longer than height at the withers.

•           Length of foreleg from elbow is about 50% of height at the withers.

•           Length of muzzle is about 1\3 of length of head.

Behavior/Temperament: Cheerful, balanced and tender dog with open character

Head: In proportion to the body. Well-developed long coat, “beard and mustache” well

developed. Coat on the skull should also be long.

CRANIAL REGION: 

Skull: Rounded, but not very broad. Top of skull in moderately rounded. Rather high forehead. Superciliary ridges are slightly pronounced; frontal furrow is not pronounced. Occipital bone is scarcely visible. 

Stop: Well pronounced, short, medium depth. A longitudinal furrow may be pronounced.

FACIAL REGION:

Nose: Small, rounded, shiny. Color corresponds to the coat color. Flesh color of nose and

“winter” nose are tolerated, but undesirable.

Muzzle: It is about one third of the length of head. Medium depth and width, well filled under

eyes, slightly tapering to nose. Should not be too massive or light. Nose bridge is straight,

wide enough, approximately at the same level with the lower eyelids.

Lips: Closely fitting, not very thin. Black or dark. Too light pigment is tolerated, but

undesirable. Continuity of pigmentation is not necessary.

Jaws/Teeth: The jaws are well developed. The desirable bite is scissor-bite; a pincer bite or

close undershot are acceptable. With age, the bite can change towards undershot. Undershot

with break is not welcome. A set of 6/6 incisors is desirable. All canine teeth should be present. The teeth are not large, white.

Cheeks: Rather flat.

EYES: Medium size, shiny, not too bulging, straight and widely set, oval in shape. Rims are

dark or corresponding the color. Eyelids dry, tight. Preferably eye color is darker or

corresponding to the coat color. Merle dogs may have partially or fully blue eyes.

EARS: Erect, not large, high set. In shape close to isosceles triangle. The tip of ear is not

rounded. The ear leather of medium thickness, dense to touch. In its natural state, it is

covered with long hair. It is to be clipped short in the upper third so that the shape of the tip

is visible.

NECK: Lean, rather long, high set, gradually widening to shoulders. On the move the dog

carries it proudly. The nape is moderately pronounced.

BODY: Compact, moderately ample.

Top Line: Straight, slightly sloping from moderately pronounced withers to croup. The

distance between the withers and the croup should not be too large.

Withers: Quite pronounced, slightly rising above the back line.

Back: Straight, strong, rather broad.

Loin: Short, slightly convex, medium width.

Croup: Rounded, wide, slightly sloping, long enough. The sacrum is slightly inclined towards

the tail. The buttocks are well marked.

Chest: Well developed, quite deep, oval in section. Forechest extends slightly in front of the

shoulder-scapular joints; the false ribs are rounded and long.

Underline and belly: Rather tucked up. Skin is thin and not loose.

TAIL: Sickle-shaped, set high or medium-high, covered with long hair. In motion and in a

stance, it can rise above the back line or is carried on the level of top line, can twist at the

end. Can be docked. in this case least two-thirds of the length of tail are left.

LIMBS

FOREQUARTERS:

General appearance: Seen from front and side – straight and parallel, set not too wide.

Shoulder: Medium length, rather laid back.

Upper Arm: Medium length, medium slope.

Elbow: Pointed straight back.

Forearm: Straight and parallel seen from front.

Carpus (Wrist): Joints well-developed.

Metacarpus (Pastern): Strong, of medium slope, preferably parallel to each other.

HINDQUARTERS:

General Appearance: Well balanced with the front. Seen from rear parallel to each other. Moderately pronounced angulations.

Thigh: Slightly oblique. Hip joints strong, well developed.

Stifle (Knee): Moderately pronounced angulations.

Lower Thigh: Medium length, approximately the same length as thigh.

Hock Joint: Lean, well-shaped, strong ligaments.

Metatarsus (Rear pastern): Medium length, vertical, parallel when seen from rear.

Hind and Front Feet: Not big, oval. Toes are rather arched, claws and pads pigmented 

according to the coat color or flesh color.

GAIT / MOVEMENT: On trot movements are light, free, rather covering and straightforward.

SKIN: The skin is elastic, flexible, without folds. Any pigmentation is allowed.

COAT:

Hair: As long as possible in natural condition, straight or almost straight, covers the body,

head and limbs evenly. Along the spine, it breaks up into a parting, hanging down on the

sides of the body. Quite soft, shiny, of medium volume, with a small amount of undercoat,

hides the dog's natural silhouette. Grooming or clipping is necessary for a show (see

diagram), which, however, does not affect estimation of coat structure.

Colors:

Red: all shades from rich red, sable and red to light fawn and cream. Most desirable are clean,

maximally bright colors and varieties that cover the dog's body mostly evenly. With all red

colors, there can be a mask on the muzzle. No preferences in the ring for colors with and

without mask. Sable color, when the ends of hairs have dark ending. Young dogs under 1.5

years of age may have more dark hairs in color than adults. May have darker hair on tail.

Presence of separate, darker or lighter hair than the main color is allowed, but not welcome.

Coat color may be lighter at roots of hair. In cream color, according to its genetic basis, no

black inclusions on the coat can occur.

Red (including red-white and white-red) dogs are shown in a separate ring and bred strictly

with each other.

Other Colors: Black, blue, brown, Isabella (of any deepness). Light markings in places

where tan occurs are permissible in those colors: around the lips, above the eyebrows (not

spreading to the head), on limbs and chest, under the tail. Separate white hairs along the

body (grey hair) may occur.

In any solid color, white markings covering no more than 10% of the body surface are

allowed.

Merle and brindle color. Any distribution of spots in merle on any background color. Dogs

having partially or completely blue eyes are considered merle, regardless of presence or

absence of spots on the body. Brindle color of any variety, with or without a mask, with any

combination of dark and light stripes in color. Mating of two merle parents is prohibited

and will not be registered.

Pied color. On all of the above colors there can be white spots of any shape and size,

covering from 10% of the body surface and more. In rare cases, almost the entire body of the

dog may be white. With any variant of spotting, colored areas in the ears and eyes are

desirable.

SIZE AND WEIGHT:

Height at the withers: 7-11 inches

Weight: 4-9 pounds should be in proportion to size.

Plus/Minus 1 pound is tolerated.

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.

• Round, too bulging or close-set eyes.

• Ear cartilage not firm enough.

• Too high on legs.

• Sloping croup.

• Too much or too little weight.

SEVERE FAULTS

• Undershot with a gap.

• Lack of at least one canine tooth.

• Low set ears.

• Crooked or too short forearm.

DISQUALIFYING FAULTS

• Aggressive or overly shy dogs.

• Any dog clearly showing physical or behavioral abnormalities.

• Lack of coat on muzzle, harsh, coarse coat.

• Hanging ears.

• Saddle color with lightening in Yorkshire type color.