Moscow Watchdog
In 1985, when the breed formation was finished, new standard was accepted. Height became 68-75cm for dogs, min 66cm for bitches, head get a pronounced stop, short muzzle, thick lips; chest became wide, deep, long, rounded (this change in chest proportions came as the result of intense training and increase of lung volume). Overdone constitution became fault, what increases general health of the breed and decrease number of joints problems. In April 1992 Russian Federation of Working Dogs accepted third (current) standard for Moscow Watchdogs.
MWD STANDARD-92
The Moscow Watchdog is bigger than average size, massive, the body is slightly elongated; with well developed volumetric muscles, hardy, of excellent adaptability, easy adjusts to any climate. Very self-esteemed and self-assured. Robust built type. Preferable height at the shoulder is 77-78 ?m for males; 72-73 cm for bitches. The minimum height is 68 cm for males, 66 ?m for bitches with no maximum. Sexual dimorphism is clearly determined.
Head
Massive, wide at a cranial part. The forehead is wide, slightly convex, is divide into two parts by a slight furrow; the stop is short and well defined .
The muzzle is somewhat shorter than a cranial part, is dull and volumetric. Lips are thick, black, overhanging. Cheekbones are rounded, well -pronounced. Zygomatic arches are clearly developed. Occipital hill is massive, notable. Nose large, black.
Ears
Small, hanging, triangular, dense at the basis, well fit to the cheekbones, of moderately high set.
Eyes
Small, dark, somewhat rounded, of wide and straight set. Lids are black, dry. Teeth are large, white, dense set, full dentition (42 teeth). Incisors are lined up. Scissors bite. Broken incisors not to be penalized for as long as do not influent the evaluation of the bite.
Neck
Massive, short, low set (30-40 degrees to a horizontal line). Small dewlap is allowed.
Chest
Deep, long, wide, rounded rib cage, extending towards back part. The chest front part is positioned frontally in relations to a shoulder joints. The bottom line is at or below elbows level. Withers high, wide, long, well muscled, well pronounced, - especially males. The height at the withers is preferably slightly above than height at the rump.
The back strong, straight, wide. Loin short, wide, well muscled, slightly arched. Rump is wide, well muscled, moderately long, almost horizontal. Belly is moderately tucked up.
The front legs
when seen from the front are straight and parallel. Shoulders are long, inclined forming approximately 100 degrees angle. Shoulders are well muscled, forearms are straight, moderately long, massive. Elbows are directed strictly back. Pasterns are short, wide, strong, slightly inclined. The length of a front limb up to an elbow equals or slightly exceeds half of the dog' height at shoulder.
Hindquarters
The back legs when seen from the front are straight and parallel, set wider than front legs. Upper tights are not long, slightly inclined. Lower tights are short. Upper and lower tights are of approximately equal length. The angulation of both joints is moderate. Pasterns are vertical, short.
Tail
Is high set, wide, thick, long enough to reach the hock joint. Tail is carried low, slightly curved towards the end. When excited, rises above the back line. The base of a tail is on one line with the rump.
Coat
Coat is coarse, long, well fit, rich, with well developed undercoat, outer hair is flat. The hair on the head and front part of the limbs is noticeably short, well fit. There is a longer "feathering", - especially males' hair is longer around the neck referred to as "the mane", "feathering" behind ears, on the back part of forearms, hips, pasterns and the tail. Slightly wavy coat at the rump and back limbs is allowed.
Presence of a reddish shade in the color is necessary.
Preferably, there should be white on the chest, around the neck and shoulders, front legs up to an elbow and back legs up to the hock; the tip of a tail. Dark mask around the eyes and blackness on ears, white blaze on a forehead are mandatory.
Movement
Typical movements are short trot and heavy gallop. While trotting, limbs are straight while the forelimbs move towards the median. Joints unbent freely, the back and a loin softly spring. Withers and rump should be at one level while trotting.
Faults
Strongly pronounced similarity to initial breeds. Insufficiently heavy built type, insufficient boning, weak muscles, Insufficiently long body that equals the height at the shoulder. Slackness, excessive excitability. Narrow head, head of insufficient size; rounded skull, unclear stop; loose lips forming "pocket", strongly pronounced intraorbital furrow, deep wrinkles on a forehead and cheekbones, significant sites missing pigmentation on lips, partially pigmented nose, chocolate eyelids or nose.
Ears strongly deformed, semi-erect, major distance between the head and the ears; shapeless or cropped ears. Very light or blue eyes, odd eyes. Protruding eyes, narrow or not set straight eyes, excessively loose eyelids, excessively developed eye membranes. A cataract. Missing teeth. Incisors not lined up. Caries. Long neck, high set neck, excessive dewlap, neck Insufficiently strong.
A flat, narrow, underdeveloped chest; narrow, arched or loose loin; narrow, short, sharply oblique rump.
Rump is way above the withers. Tail ring set, hook set, undivided vertebrae at the end of the tail, vertical carriage of the tail in the excited condition, docked tail, bob tail. A strong deviation from a correct shoulder joint angle (withers meet the upper arm bones into improper angle). Curved, unproportionally long or short forearms, elbows sharply off line, pasterns sharply expressed turn in or out, very weak pasterns. Short withers or upper arm bones.
Hindlimbs narrow set, hock joints narrow set. Back limbs of bowed set. Weak pasterns. Excessively straightened or excessively pronounced hock joints, unproportionally long lower tight.
Loose movement, weak joints. Present back dewclaws.
Curly or wavy body coat; very short coat while the feathering is missing.
Mask around the eyes clearly not symmetrical, white spot on the ears, absence of the black pigment in the mask; any color other than combination of white and above specified colors. Absence of the mask around the eyes or a unilateral mask ("monocle"); the glasses which are not covering an internal corner of an eye.
Tied up or unbalanced movement. Rump above withers while trotting.
Disqualifying faults
Any deviation from scissors bite. Amble. A strongly pronounced deviation from the breed type. Bilateral or unilateral chryptorchizm, underdeveloped testicles. Coward or excessively aggressive dogs.
BREED TODAY
MWD never was a "popular breed" with common dog lovers. At the peak of popularity in Russia one may see around 50-60 dogs in the breed rings on major dog shows; now you can see less than 20-30 of them in the rings in Russia or Ukraine. One of the reasons may be that Russian Kynological Federation is still working on preparing papers for FCI to get the MWD FCI registered, what means, that the aerial of breed is limited mainly to post-Soviet countries. It is interesting question, is it good or bad for the breed. Being almost unknown in Europe and USA, MWD was luckily left out of commercial breeding. While the last years were marked by raze of popularity and decline in quality of some Molosser breeds, MWDs are still bred by enthusiasts and breed lovers not for profit, but for the betterment of their working abilities. It is rather rare example in modern world, when dogs are used strictly in accordance with breed origination purpose.
StB-like appearance makes this dogs look rather familiar to public, and to realize their great difference in training and working abilities one has to have enough knowledge and experience. MWD is a dog with great self-respect, and though it won't usually challenge the owner to prove, "who is alfa here", it definitely need to feel kind of respect to the man, who is giving commands. They are smart enough for not to be taken by brutal force, but once you get contact with this dogs, they may do literally everything. They are not too quick to "jump on your order", they have to understand it first, but once taught, they never forget the lesson.
Despite absolutely peaceful appearance, they are extremely protective, what means, that all of them need serious training and responsible owners. While training your MWD, you will be amazed, how much they have in their mind. It is like they know everything you are going to teach them for all their life (which is usually 3-4 months, MWDs have to start training early), and all they need from you is just to remember them some details. That is the visible result of decades of breeding only fully trained dogs, something rather unusual in modern world of Molosses.
Now in the USA we are working on presentation this breed to the dog community. First presentation was made on Canadian Rarities show in 2000, with support from Russian Native Breed Association, where MWDs from Ukraine Jenny and Bagration were shown together with two their 5-months old daughters. There are few imported MWDs in USA. Breeding program for them is superwised in USA by National Club of MWD and is based on imported dogs mainly. MWDs are just making their first steps out of their country of origin, and we can only guess, what will be the future of this very unusual breed in the diverse world of modern Molossians. I wish them all luck they can use.
Eugene A. Zelenyk,
President of American National Club of Moscow Watchdogs.
EZelenyk@yahoo.com
This article is based on the materials presented privately and in different articles by breed experts from Russia and Ukraine, and on authors experience with MWDs he owned, bred, raised and trained.