A breed standard is a detailed description of an individual breed and is meant to portray the ideal specimen of that breed. This includes ideal structure, temperament, gait, type and all aspects of the dog. The standard describes an ideal specimen, it isn't based on any particular dog. It is a concept against which judges compare actual dogs and breeders strive to produce dogs that meet the standard. At a show, the dog that wins is the one that comes closest, in the judge's opinion, to the standard for its breed. Breed standards are written by the breed parent clubs, the national organizations formed to oversee the well being of the breed. They are voted on and approved by the members of the parent clubs.

The Pomeranian is a compact, short-backed, active toy dog. He has a soft, dense undercoat with a profuse harsh-textured outer coat. His heavily plumed tail is set high and lies flat on his back. He is alert in character, exhibits intelligence in expression, is buoyant in deportment, and is inquisitive by nature. The Pomeranian is cocky, commanding, and animated as he gaits. He is sound in composition and action.

Size, Proportion, Substance

The average weight of the Pomeranian is from 3 to 7 pounds, with the ideal weight for the show specimen being 4 to 6 pounds. Any dog over or under the limits is objectionable. However, overall quality is to be favored over size. The distance from the point of shoulder to the point of buttocks is slightly shorter than from the highest point of the withers to the ground. the distance from the brisket to the ground is half the height at the withers. He is medium-boned, and the length of his legs is in proportion to a well-balanced frame. When examined, he feels sturdy.

Head

The head is in balance with the body. The muzzle is rather short, straight, fine, free of lippiness and never snipey. His expression is alert and may be referred to as fox-like. The skull is closed. The top of the skull is slightly rounded, but not domed. When viewed from the front and side, one sees small ears which are mounted high and carried erect. To form a wedge, visualize a line from the tip of the nose ascending through the center of the eyes and the tip of the ears. The eyes are dark, bright, medium in size and almond-shaped. They are set well into the skull on either side of a well-pronounced stop. The pigmentation is black on the nose and eye rims except self-colored in brown, beaver, and blue dogs. The teeth meet in a scissors bite. One tooth out of alignment is acceptable. Major Faults: Round, domed skull; under-shot mouth; overshot mouth.

Neck, Topline, Body

The neck is short with its base set well into the shoulders to allow the head to be carried high. The back is short with a level topline. The body is compact and well-ribbed with brisket reaching the elbow. The plumed tail is one of the characteristics of the breed, and lies flat and straight on the back.

Forequarters

The Pomeranian has sufficient layback of shoulders to carry the neck and head proud and high. The shoulders and legs are moderately muscled. The length of the shoulder blade and upper arm are equal. The forelegs are straight and parallel to each other. Height from elbows to withers approximately equals height from ground to elbow. The pasterns are straight and strong. The feet are well-arched, compact, and turn neither in nor out. He stands well up on his toes. Dewclaws may be removed. Major Faults: Down in pasterns.

Hindquarters

The angulation of the hindquarters balances that of the forequarters. The buttocks are well behind the set of the tail. The thighs are moderately muscled with stifles that are moderately bent and clearly defined. The hocks are perpendicular to the ground and the legs are straight and parallel to each other. The feet are well-arched, compact, and turn neither in nor out. He stands well up on his toes. Dewclaws, if any on the hind legs may be removed. Major Faults: Cowhocks or lack of soundness in hind legs or stifles.

Gait

The Pomeranian's gait is smooth, free, balanced and vigorous. He has good reach in his forequarters and strong drive with his hindquarters. Each rear leg moves in line with the foreleg on the same side. To achieve balance, his legs converge slightly inward toward a center line beneath his body. The rear and front legs are thrown neither in nor out. The topline remains level, and his overall balance and outline are maintained.

Coat

A Pomeranian is noted for its double coat. The undercoat is soft and dense. The outer-coat is long, straight, glistening and harsh in texture. A thick undercoat will hold up and permit the guard hair to stand off from the Pomeranian's body. The coat is abundant from the neck and fore part of shoulders and chest, forming a frill which extends over the shoulders and chest. The head and leg coat is tightly packed and shorter in length than that of the body. The forequarters are well-feathered to the hock. The tail is profusely covered with long, harsh, spreading straight hair. Trimming for neatness and a clean outline is permissible. Major Faults: Soft, flat or open coat.

Color

All colors, patterns, and variations there-of are allowed and must be judged on an equal basis. Patterns: Black and Tan - tan or rust sharply defined, appearing above each eye and on muzzle, throat, and forechest, on all legs and feet and below the tail. The richer the tan the more desirable; Brindle - the base color is gold, red, or orange-brindled with strong black cross stripes; Parti-color - is white with any other color distributed in patches with a white blaze preferred on the head. Classifications: The Open Classes at specialty shows may be divided by color as follows: Open Red, Orange, Cream, and Sable; Open Black, Brown, and Blue; Open Any Other Color, Pattern, or Variation.

Temperament

The Pomeranian is an extrovert, exhibiting great intelligence and a vivacious spirit, making him a great companion dog as well as a competitive show dog. EVEN THOUGH A TOY DOG, THE POMERANIAN MUST BE SUBJECT TO THE SAME REQUIREMENTS OF SOUNDNESS AND STRUCTURE PRESCRIBED FOR ALL BREEDS, AND ANY DEVIATION FROM THE IDEAL DESCRIBED IN THE STANDARD SHOULD BE PENALIZED TO THE EXTENT OF THE DEVIATION.

Approved December 9, 1996
Effective January 31, 1997

Color: The color section of the standard causes the most confusion to Pomeranian owners. This breed comes in a variety of colors and shades and sometimes it is difficult to know what a certain color, such as beaver, looks like, or whether or not a color fits the rules of the standard. In studying this section, lets start with the acceptable color definitions. Any solid color: Red, Orange, Black, Blue, Chocolate, Cream, White and Beaver all fit this category.

RED: Often dark oranges are mistakenly called red. A true red comes close to a rich Irish Setter color.

ORANGE: A clear bright color, and currently the most popular of Pomeranian colors. Orange ranges from a deep rust through a right gold to a blond shade. Breeders prefer the deep gold over the washed-out blond shade.

BLACK: The glimmer of a rich, blue-black sheen is more desirable than a coat dusted with a rusty tint.

BLUE: A rather rare color today, blue is hard to describe; It is a slate gray color with more of a bluish tint than a gray one. A blue dog must have a blue nose.

CHOCOLATE: This color looks like a right chocolate in hue; the dog's nose also must show the chocolate color.

CREAM: The cream color flows evenly throughout the coat with no shades of white or yellow. Black tipped hairs on the coat make the dog a cream sable.

WHITE: A pure show-white color with no shades of yellow behind the ears or on the coat. The nose and eye rims on a white dog must be black.

BEAVER: A very rare color, beaver has been called everything from washed-out chocolate to a beige. this color is sort of a pale, soft, grayish-beige, taupe like hue. The Dog's nose should be the same shade.

ANY SOLID COLOR WITH LIGHTER OR DARKER SHADINGS OF THE SAME COLOR: Orange dogs darker on the back, with the color lighter under the tail and on the chest, fit in this category. So would a red with orange breeches, as orange is a dilution of red. Note that the color, though lighter, must be the same hue. An orange dog with white under the tail or chest is two colors and would be considered a mismark.

ANY SOLID COLOR WITH SABLE OR BLACK SHADINGS: Any color, cream, orange, gray, etc., with black shadings. This includes a black mask, black saddle and black tips to the guard hairs. Some dogs may display a clear orange with only the back and the mask showing black, and some, called shaded sables, may have sabeling throughout the coat.

BLACK AND TAN AND PARTI-COLORS: This section reads reasonably clearly and doesn't need further elaboration, except to note that the color patches on a parti-color can be any color.

BRINDLE, CHOCOLATE AND TAN, BLUE AND TAN: These three colors may or may not be classified as acceptable colors as per the standard. (WEBMASTER NOTE: According to the newly revised standard ALL colors and patterns are to be judged on an equal basis, and none are the cause of disqualification or major faults) It all depends on how you interpret it. Therefore, some judges penalize these colors and others award them the ribbon. Chocolate and tan could technically be defined as a solid color with lighter shadings, blue and tan could be defined as a diluted black and tan, and many claim the brindles are solid colors with black shadings. Others claim these colors don't belong because the standard doesn't clearly describe them. Whatever the view-point, the current standard does not disqualify any dog for deviation of the color.

SHADED SABLES: Shaded sables are dogs whose coats are shaded throughout with three or more colors. This shading must be as uniform as possible with no patches of self-color. Sables generally have the best texture and length of all the coat colors. An orange sable has a light orange or creamy undercoat with deeper orange guard hairs ending in black tippings. Cream-sables possess cream variations with black tippings. A wolf-sable has a light gray undercoat with a deeper shade of steel gray guard hairs ending in black tippings. Unless reversed, there must be no cream or orange cast to the base color. A reverse sable is where the colors are reversed.