General Appearance. The Dalmatian should be a balanced, strong, muscular and active dog, of good demeanour, symmetrical in outline, free from coarseness and lumber, capable of great endurance with a fair amount of speed.

Head and Skull. The head should be of fair length, the skull flat, reasonably broad between the ears, but refined, moderately defined at the temples. I.e. exhibiting a fair amount of stop, not in one straight line from nose to occiput bone, entirely free from wrinkle. The muzzle should be long and powerful, the lips clean, fitting the jaw moderately close. The nose in the black-spotted variety should always be black, in the liver-spotted variety always brown.

Eyes. The eyes, set moderately well apart, should be of medium size, round, bright, and sparkling, with an intelligent expression, their colour depending on the markings of the dog, dark in the black spotted, in the liver-spotted variety always brown. The rim around the eyes should be complete, dark in the black spotted, liver brown in the liver spotted.

Ears. The ears should be set on rather high, of moderate size, rather wide at the base, tapering to a rounded point, fine in texture carried close to the head. The markings should be well broken up, preferably spotted.

Mouth. The teeth should meet, the upper slightly overlapping the lower. (scissor bite)

Neck. The neck should be fairly long, nicely arched, light and tapering, entirely free from throatiness.

Forequarters. The shoulders should be moderately oblique, clean and muscular. Elbows close to the body, forelegs perfectly straight, with strong round bone down to the feet, with a slight spring at the pastern joint.

Body. The chest should not be too wide but deep and capacious, with plenty of heartroom. The ribs well sprung and well defined withers, powerful level back, loins strong, clean and muscular and slightly arched.

Hindquarters. Rounded, muscles clean, with well developed second thigh, good turn of stifle and hocks well defined.

Tail. In length reaching approximately to the hocks. Strong at the insertion, gradually tapering towards the end. It should not be inserted too low or too high, be free from coarseness and carried with a slight upward curve, never curled, and preferably spotted.

Feet. Round, compact, with well arched toes, (cat feet) and round, tough, elastic pads, Nails black or white in the black-spotted variety, in the liver spotted, brown or white.

Gait. The Dalmatian should have great freedom of movement, a smooth powerful rhythmic action with a long stride. Viewed from behind the legs should move in parallel, the hind legs tracking the fore. A short stride and a paddling action is incorrect.

The Coat. Should be short, hard, and dense, sleek and glossy in appearance. The ground colour should be pure white. Black-spotted dogs should have dense black spots and liver-spotted dogs liver brown spots. They should not run together but be round and well defined, the size of sixpence to half a crown as well distributed as possible. Spots on the extremities should be smaller than those on the body.

Size. Overall balance of prime importance but the ideal to be aimed at is:

Dogs 23-24 Inches. Bitches 22-23 Inches.

Faults. Patches, black and liver spots on the same dog (tri-colouration). Lemon spots, blue eyes, bronzing and other faults of pigmentation.