ENGLISH BULLTERRIER BREED STANDARD

Bull Terrier III. Group FCI; Terriers
The Bull Terrier must be strong built,muscular, symmetrical and active, with a keen, determined and intelligent expression, full of fire but sweet disposition and amenable to discipline. He should give the impression of strength, energy and quickness.

HEAD

The head should be long, strong and deep right to the muzzle, but not coarse. Full face it should be oval in outline and be filled completely up. In profil it should curve gently downwards from the top of the skull to the tip of the nose. The forehead should be flat across from ear to ear. The nose should be black, with well-developed nostrils bent downward at the tip. The underjaw should be deep and well-defined.

Bullterrier in 50's
Bullterrier in 70's
Bullterrier in 90's
"Ideal head" today

EYES

The eyes should be well-sunken and as dark as possible, with a piercing glint and they should be small, triangular and obliquely placed; set near together and high up on the dog s head. Blue eyes are disqualification. The distance from the tip of the nose to the eyes should be perceptibly greater than that from the eyes to the top of the skull.

EARS

The ears should be small, strong and thin and placed close together. They should be capable of being held stiffly erect, when they should point upwards.

TEETH

The teeth should meet in either a level or a scissors bite. They should be sound, strong and perfectly regular.

NECK

The neck should be very muscular, long, arched and clean, tapering from the shoulders to the head and it should be free of loose skin.

CHEST

The chest should be broad when viewed from in front, and there should be great depth from the withers to brisket, so the latter is nearer the ground than the belly. The shoulders should be strong and muscular but without heaviness. The shoulders blades should be wide and flat and there should be a very pronounced blackward slope from the bottom edge of the blade to the top edge.

BODY

The body should be well rounded with a marked spring of rib. The back should be short and strong. The back ribs deep.

LEGS

The legs should be big-boned but not to the point of coarseness; the forelegs should be of moderate length, perfectly straight, and the dog must stand firmly upon them.
The elbows must turn neither in or out, and the pasterns should be strong and upright.
The hind legs should be parallel viewed from behind.
The thighs very muscular with hocks well let down. Hind pasterns short and upright. The stifle joint should be well bent with a well-developed second thigh.

FEET

The feet round and compact with well-arched toes like a coat.

TAIL

The tail should be short, set on low, fine and ideally should be carried horizontally. It should be thick where it joins the body, and should taper to a fine point.

MOVEMENT

The dog shall move smoothly, covering the ground with free, easy strides, fore and hind legs should move parallel to each other when viewed from in front or behind. The dog should move compactly and in one piece but with a typical jaunty air that suggests agility and power.

COAT

The coat should be short, flat narsh to the touch with a fine gloss.

COLOR

The color is white though markings on the dog s head are permissible. Skin pigmentation is not to be penalized. Any color other than white, or any color with white markings. The preferred color is brindle.

SIZE

Weight and height are not limited but they should be balanced, dog should be in a good condition.

TEMPERAMENT

Temperament is paramount in a Bull Terrier. He is full of fire, but of sweet disposition and amenable to discipline. He must be outgoing, friendly, balanced, interested in his surroundings, not good to other dogs, never bad tempered or shy.

FAULTS

Any departure from the foregoing points shall be considered a fault, and seriousness of the fault shall be in exact proportion to its degree. Males without two testicles. Blue eyes.
The Bull Terrier Standard is simple and straightforward, just as the Ideal Bull Terrier should be. We must give high priorities to four essential categories of our assessment: HEAD, BODY SHAPE AND CONSTRUCTION, MOVEMENT AND TEMPERAMENT.