Saint Jargon
Ever wonder about all those breed specific words?
Well, here is a quick list putting some light on some of those words:
| Splashcoat | This means the dark part on the white dog. The dark forming ‘splashes’ of color on the back. The dark splashes is spread equally on the white, but still leaving the ‘have-to’ places white. The muzzle, between the eyes, the chest and neck (or atleast nape of neck), tummy, legs and tail tip.  |
| Mantle | This is reffering to the ‘blanket’ on the back of a saint. The ‘blanket’ over the otherwise white dog. It’s important that there’s a white spot on the neck, or total neck should be white. Chest, muzzle, between eyes, end of tail tummy and legs all, should be white.  |
| Torn mantle | This indicates that the ‘blanket’ over the back of the dog (as explained above) is ‘torned’. Thus there appear little white parts on the continuous brown blanket.  |
| Monks Cap | This is a refferance to the dot on the top of a Saint’s head, almost like the caps the monks would wear. Some people like this special touch.   |
| Snow Ear | This refer to a white ear. Normally both ears are dark. Having a white ear is not an eliminating fault. Ideally it should not be more then 3 quarters white, but this is just markings, and not terribly important.  |
| Full mask (Symmetrical) |
This refers to the ‘mask’ (the dark markings) that covers the eyes. When it’s symmetrical it means that both the left and right side looks similar.  |
| A-symmetrical Mask |
This means there is a mask (dark markings over the eye area), but it does not look similar on the left and right side. This is not inferior to symmetrical mask.  |
| Half Mask | This is when the dark markings only covers one eye. Ideally the rim of the eye Should still be dark.  |
| Slip Mask | This is when the ‘mask’ does not cover the eye fully. It may only cover half and eye, or sometimes just touch the outside corner. Not of lesser value then a full mask.  |
| Clean vs Freckled | This is the indication of how ‘clean’ the white part of a dog is. The more ‘clean’ the more ideal, thought it’s not mentioned in the standard of the Saint Bernard as incorrect. The only must, is that certain parts should be white. But if there is freckles that extend further from the nose, or on the legs etc, it’s reffered to as ‘freckles’.   |
| Rough coat | This means the dog have long hair. Usually the hair on the head and legs is short, with feathering behind the legs, and a bushy tail. Ears should preferably also have short hair. When a rough shed they can sometimes be mistaken for being a smooth, but the give away will always be the feathering on the legs, and long hair on the tail.  |
| Smooth coat | This is the original Saint. Having short hair. IT is still not quite as short as for instance a Rottweiler or Doberman, but is a lot shorter then the Rough version. On a smooth coat there is NO long hair or feathering on the legs, and the tail also don’t form lang hair. Also not to be mistaken with an incorrect smooth coat, that can give the illusion of being rough. If both dogs were standing next to each other the difference would be clear. The feel of the coat also differ.  |
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