Origin  |  Temperament  |  Standard

The Portuguese Mountain Dog is a convex linear molossoid dog, of mastiff type. 

A rustic animal, full bodied, with lively movements and imposing manner.

HEAD

Quite strong, voluminous, with well developed jaws. Smooth, short fur on the skull and face.

Long and slightly convex, with stop little pronounced and at a distance approximately equal from the tip of the nose and the occiput.

Proportionate to the body as is the skull in relation to the face, which together produce a marked harmony. The skull is well developed, rounded and convex in profile.

EARS

Small in relation to the whole, thin, triangular, rounded at the tip, pendant, set on moderately high, inclinined backwards, falling laterally against the head and allowing a view, at the base, of a little of the inner surface.

EYES

Horizontal, neither deep set nor protruding oval in shape, of medium size and well open, of calm and intelligent expression, preferably dark amber in colour. 

MUZZLE

Long, narrowing towards the tip without being pointed, tending to straightness over most of its length, and very slightly convex near the tip.

NOSE

Nostrils straight, wide and well open. Nose always darker than the fur and preferably black.

MOUTH

Opening well back, with large lips, not very thick, not pendulous and fitting well together. Mucous membrane and roof of mouth intensely pigmented with black, as are the edges of the lips. Strong white teeth well implanted and fitting together well.

BODY

NECK

Straight, short and thick, well set on and dewlapped without excess.

CHEST

Well sprung, without being barrelled, wide, deep and well let down.

TOP LINE

Back almost horizontal or very slightly dipped or, rather short, hindquarters slightly sloping.

BOTTOM LINE

Abdomen not very voluminous but somewhat let down.

TAIL

Whole, long, reaching to the point of the hock when the animal is at rest. Thick and when hanging at rest, it turns up slightly at the end, as does a scimitar. Medium set on. The trunk is  thick at the base, thinning towards the  tip which ends in a hook and falls naturally between the thighs. When the animal is excited the tails rises above the line of the back.

FRONT AND REAR MEMBERS

Well aligned when the animal is stood in the proper position. Forearms and metatarsus nearly round in form, well made frame, well muscled and with strong bone. Thick articulations with great ease of movement, hocks rather low, reasonably open and when aligned, followed by a vertical metatarsus.

FEET

Proportionate to the bulk of the animal. Strong; neither round nor over-long; midway between cat foot and hare foot, so as to avoid being splayed. Thick toes well joined together and furnished with abundant hair between them and between the pads. Thick hard pads. Dark nails. Single or double dewclaw.

COAT

Strong, slightly coarse, without being too harsh, reminiscent of goat hair; smooth or slightly waving and laying down in almost the whole body; very abundant, both in the short-haired and the long-haired varieties.

Normally, the hair varies in length in different areas. On the limbs, from the elbows and hocks downwards, it is shorter and more dense, as well as in the head; on the ear, it decreases in length from the base to the tip, becoming fine and smooth; it is longer in the tail, which is abundant, thick and feathered in the long-haired variety, around the neck and underside, forming a ruff and on the thighs which are abundantly feathered, as are the back of the forearms, particularly in the long-haired variety.

The undercoat is composed  of fine hairs, short, abundant and intertwined at the base of the guard-hairs and, normally, lighter in colour than the outer coat. It is particularly found in the long-haired variety.

There are only permitted three colours: 
> Fawn;  From a yellow tone through to a dark mahogany

> Brindle:- This is a base colour of any acceptable fawn with the addition of   black or brown streaks or smudges over it.

> Wolf Grey:- A mixture of grey and black hairs intermingled. With or without black guard hairs.

White patches are permissible only localized on the underneath of the chin, underside of the neck, chest, underside of the body and on the feet, where they should not extend more than the joint between the foot and the pastern.

HEIGHT AND  WEIGHT

Note
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.

Origin  |  Temperament  |  Standard