American Staffordshire Terrier Kennel - Massimo Balza - E.N.C.I. & F.C.I.

 

Standard of the Amstaff


Multi Ch. Mein Staffi Xidorf

STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER CLUB OF AMERICA ADOPTED STANDARD, approved by committee of the A.K.C. in June 10th, 1936.

General appearance
The AST should give a first impression of great strength, a well proportionate dog, muscle rounded but light and elegant. The AST should be well formed, not too long in leg or weak build.
The AST is sturdy and must show it, the body has the correct harmony. Plastic shape of a unique body, not a patchwork.
Head
Average length, wide and deep skull, well shaped facial muscles, high placed ears. The dog's first impression is the head: quite squared skull together with well shaped facial muscles. Stop’s profile must be well defined. The head should give impression of strength and broadness without losing proportion to the rest of the body, dog must always be harmonious in his set.
Ears
 Integral or cut off. Integral ears should be short and sharpened or held "Half Rose" (half folded). Bend will be penalised.
Eyes
Dark and round, low placed on the skull, well spaced. Eyelid must avoid rose colour . Darkest shade is considered the best . Eyes too near make the muzzle stretched and thin, making pride fade away from the typical race expression.
Muzzle
Half long, surface rounded with a fall directly under the eyes. Well defined jaws. Lower jaw must be strong in both profile and bite. Lips must be close and compact, consistent in touch. Nose must be black coloured. The stop lack or stop too small is not race typical. Top muzzle profile must be straight. We are talking of a fighter dog, power and pride in the jaw line must be present. Very highlighted lower jaw, so that the muzzle shows a squared impression. If lower jaw recedes or it is weak and not too deep, the muzzle will appear sharpened and longer. Such a snout is called "snipy",  lacks of strength and reminds a beak. Lips must be closed. Big dangling lips were a true drawback in fighting animals, and therefore they are not well minded.
Neck
Powerful, slightly curved, gets thinner from the shoulders to the head bone. Average length. A beautiful profiled neck must continue withers line. Neck must never appear as it had been added by chance, it must be strong and muscle rounded. Narrow part of the neck is just behind the ears, from where it harmonically broadens down to withers. The soft skin just under the throat, called double-chin or dewlap, is a fault in this race.
Shoulders
 Strong and well shaped with wide and oblique shoulder blades.
Back
Quite short. Light slope from withers to rear with small slope increase from rear up to tail base. Flanks slightly rounded to the inside. "Top Line" is the back’s line from the withers to the point where it joins the tail. The Top Line should be a harmonious line, a bit higher in the withers, with a second shorter slope from back to tail base, which is placed quite Low. Faults: higher back than withers, or a convex Top Line, that begins behind the withers and increases in flanks zone. Body must be a defined shape, not seem trunk or rounded as a sausage. A thinness in the flank zone is accepted, but not if too sharp to let the animal seem haggard.
Body
Well defined ribs, compact and correctly rounded towards the rear of the body. Front paws well opened to offer space to the chest development. Chest must be deep and wide. The dog is compact and not flat on flanks, the tip of the chest should be quite developed in his lowest point, to be aligned to the elbows. Weak grown front of the dog is often caused by a weak angle of incidence of the shoulder blade, which doesn’t allow a correct  envelope of the chest. A harmonious body is what a breeder always tries to obtain.
Tail
Short, low placed, decreases to the end: not curly, nor folded to back, must be integral. The screw type tail is considered off type. The tail is no more than the follow up of the spine, so a twisted tail, light, deformed, or weak in aspect, could reveal the same lack about the spine.
Paws
Front paws should be straight, built with strong rounded bones, pastoral raised. No bending on. Rear paws should have well defined muscles, thinner to fetlock which must be straight, mid sized curved and compact. The walk must be agile/elastic, nor hurried nor swinging. The walk is another mean feature: the AST should move in a bold and determined way, without appearance of wasting energy. Paws should be straight ahead and all the body moves in a charm..
Coat
 Short, thick, hard in touch but shiny.
Colour
All the colours, melted, from spots to stains are accepted; instead are unwelcome dogs totally white or with more than 80% of these colours: white, black, brown, red brown. Pigmentation is still a mean aspect: contour of the eye, nose and lips should always be pigmented.
Rate
 Height and weight must be in the right rate. "Rate" is the basic word. The dog must impress a certain sturdiness, always keeping aside harmony and nimbleness.
Faults
Faults include a dudley nose, clear or pink (whitish) eyes, too long or badly held tail, irregular mouth. A dudley nose is a red, brown or skin coloured nose. A nose mainly black but with some rose spots (butterfly) is considered a fault too. Light iris: light amber, grey and blue eyes . The tail must not be held lower than the fetlock nor higher of the spine. Holding tail between rear paws is meant as a submission sign and considered as a penalty, since the race is as well-known to be proud and courageous. Mouth faults are: lack of symmetry, undershot or overshot mouths.