Stabijkennel

Source and photo's: NVSW

General picture

A Stabijhoun is a simple, powerful built dog. It is a dog that belongs to the pointers group. He is more stretched then high, not robust and not small. The coat is half long and the skin should be stressed to the skeleton (dry), throat skin and hanging lips are not allowed.

Explanation to General Picture:
'Simple' means: a natural appearance, without anatomic meaningless decoration. In fact the fur is half-long.
A pointing dog is a hunting dog, tracing the game and point it to the hunter by standing still in front of it.
The Stabij is a firm dog, not to robust or ponderous but certainly not too small. 'Dry' means that the skin has no wrinckles and lays closely to the body.

Character
At the house and in the yard the Stabij is a calm dog, devoted, soft and sweet, but outside he sometimes can be fairly stubborn and fierce. He is a good watching dog, though not spurious or caustic. Because of his character he is well suitable as a family dog, but his body is built to be an outside dog. He is kind to children. The Stabij is a studiously, sharp and as a house dog he is a devoted and sweet dog. A Stabijhoun is a sharp and fast learner, but still he is less obedient then you would say from it’s character. A strict and clear training is necessary to bring up the Stabij. The Stabij is not timid, nevertheless he's not everybody's friend.

Head
The head is 'dry' and the size of the head shows in ratio of the rest of the body more length than latitude.  (Dry means: the skin is well closed to the skull without wrinkles) The skull and nose have the same length. The skull is slightly curved not small, but does not look wide either. With a slight rounding it goes over in cheeks. The passage from skull to nose goes lightly and is not assigned. The nose is powerful and is slightly smaller at the end. The nose bridge is straight and wide and the nostrils are opened well. The lips are closed properly. The scissors teeth are powerful (scissors teeth: the upper cutting teeth are sliding before the under cutting teeth if the mouth is closed).

Ears
The ears are pretty low, the ear shell is not developed strongly, so the ears are well folded and without any twist carried straight against the head. The ears are medium-sized and have the shape of a trowel. The hair-growth is a typical characteristic of this breed and at the basics of the ear the hair is long but going down at the ear the hair is getting shorter. The hair should be straight, some waves are allowed.

Eyes
The eyes lay on a straight line. The eyes have a medium size and are round with eyelids that are well closed, without showing any conjunctiva. The eyes do not goggle nor do thay lay too deep. The colour is dark brown for black-white dogs and brown for the brown-white and orange-white dogs. Yellow eyes (like a bird of prey) are not allowed.

Nose
The nose is black for black and white dogs and brown for brown and white or orange and white dogs. The nose can not be split. The nostrils must open properly and the nose mirror must be properly developed.

Neck
The neck is short and round, joining the backline in a very obtuse angle . This means that the head mostly is carried low. The neck is slightly curved there is no throat skin nor dewlaps.

Chest
If you look at the front the chest looks wide and shows more wideness then depth. That is why the front legs are widely spread apart. The under chest is not pointy and not reaching further than the elbow.

Explanation:
The wide chest stabilizes the dog during digging and trotting, and also during the hunting.

Body
The body is powerfull built to perform heavy labour, for that the dog needs a good endurance. The back is straight, fairly long and the croup barely falls. The loins are powerfull built and the waist-line is slightly drawn up.

Explanation:
The powerful build body is designed for labour and for that purpose you need endurance. The Stabijhoun is more long than high, the muscles in the back and even more the muscles of the loins need to be very strong. This is nescessary for the dog to run long distances, very important for the original work of the dog. The pelvis lays quite flat so the back line is straight. By this the driving power comes from the hindquarters and puts the Stabijhoun in a longlasting and effortless trot.

Tail
The tail is long, reaching the heel. Not very high implanted en carried down, the last 1/3 of the tail has a slight bow up. The hair-growth is long and without any curls or twists. A spiral tail is not wanted.

Explanation:
During rest the tail is carried down. During trot the tail is carried at the same high as the rest of the body. During action the tail goes all the way up in order to see the white tailpoint which helps to locate the dog.

Forehand
The shoulder must be well closed to the body. The Shoulder blade is placed oblique, in a good angle. The underarm is powerful, straight and the front feet are straight. The feet are round and the toes are well developed en bended with powerful soles.

Explanation:
A well build forehand with strong mussels is very important for a working dog which has to trot often and long. The hindquarters pushes the dog forward and the weight of the dog is absorbed by the forehand. Strong front legs and shoulders are necessary for these dogs.

Hindquarters
The hindquarters are powerful with a good angle of the iliac and thight bones and of the thight and shank bone. The shank bone may not be too long. The heel is positioned close to the ground so the hind middle foot is short. The hind feet are round with well developed soles.

Explanation::
The hindquarter pushes the dog forward by trotting. So well developed legs and muscles are again essential. The short foot gives stability where the Stabij can profit from when trotting and also for its mobility during full speed. 

Hair growth
The hair-growth is long and lank over the whole body. On the croup a little wave is allowed. The hair on the head is short. The hair-growth on the backside of the front legs and at the trousers is well developed . The trousers have long hair. Sometimes the hair is slightly curled, but as this points to a cross breed these dogs ar not recognised as a Stabijhoun.

Explanation:
As mentioned before the fur is half-long. The hair of the Stabijhoun is tight and full implanted at the back sites of front and hind legs. At the tail the hair should be long, compact and full. Although a fully lank fur is prefered, slightly curled hair is often seen.

Color and size
The most common colour combination is black and white, but brown and white and orange and white also occur. In the white parts black spots and/or grey are allowed.
The ideal size for a mail is 53 cm and for a bitch 49 cm.

Explanation:
Most Stabijhouns are black-patched. All sketches are allowed but the legs and belly must be predominantly white. Also the tail must have a white end. Although a black head is most common, a blaze is also allowed. The body can be mostly white or black and all variations in between. When a Stabij has a brown and white combination we see the same variations. Even orange is a aknowledged color, but not often seen. A three coloured dog is not allowed. The dog gets its pedigree papers (with the mention "not acknowledged color") but you are not allowed to breed with this dog.