The breed
The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a smooth-coated, well balanced dog of great strength for his size moreover being muscular, active and agile. The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is traditionally of indomitable courage and tenacity, highly intelligent and affectionate especially with children. The breed can be described as bold, fearless and totally reliable.
| Feature | Description |
| Head | Short |
| Skull | Deep through with broad skull |
| Stop | Distinct |
| Nose | Black |
| Muzzle | Short foreface |
| Jaws / Teeth | Jaws strong, teeth large, with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i. e. upper teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth and set square to the jaw. |
| Lips | Tight and clean |
| Cheeks | Very pronounced cheek muscles |
| Eyes | Dark preferred but may bear some relation to coat colour. Round, of medium size, and set to look straight ahead. Eye rims dark. |
| Ears | Rose or half pricked, not large or heavy. Full, drop or pricked ears highly undesirable. |
| Neck | Muscular, rather short, clean in outline gradually widening towards shoulders. |
| Body | Close-coupled |
| Topline | Level |
| Chest | Wide front, deep brisket, well sprung ribs ; muscular and well defined. |
| Tail | Medium length, low set, tapering to a point and carried rather low. Should not curl much and may be likened to an old-fashioned pump handle. |
| Forequarters | Legs straight and well boned, set rather wide apart, showing no weakness at the pasterns, from which point feet turn out a little. |
| Shoulders | Well laid back |
| Elbows | No looseness |
| Hindquarters | Well muscled. Legs parallel when viewed from behind. |
| Stifles | Well bent |
| Hocks | Well let down |
| Feet | Well padded, strong and of medium size. Nails black in solid coloured dogs. |
| Gait / Movement | Free, powerfull and agile with economy of effort. Legs moving parallel when viewed from front or rear. Discernible drive from hindlegs. |
| Hair | Smooth, short and close |
| Colour | Red, fawn, white, black or blue, or any one of these colours with white. Any shade of brindle or any shade of brindle with white. Black and tan or liver colour highly undesirable. |
| Size / Weight | Desirable height at withers : 14-16 ins. (35,5 to 40,5 cm), these heights being related to the weights. Weight : Dogs : 28-38 lbs (12,7-17 kg). Bitches : 24-34 lbs (11-15,4 kg) |
| 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.Any dog clearly showing physical or behavioural abnormalities shall be disqualified. N.B. : Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum. |
| Source | http://www.fci.be - FCI Standard nr 76 / 24.06.1987 |