Introduction

In 1986, in response to the AKC request to put all Standards into a common format, the members of the Great Pyrenees Club of America elected a committee of nine longtime breeders from across the country to review and recommend clarifications to the existing Standard, which had remained unchanged since its adoption in 1935. The result of three years of work by the committee was an expanded description which remains true to the historic Great Pyrenees. Ninety percent of the voting membership of the Great Pyrenees Club of America voted to adopt the revised Standard and AKC approved it in August, 1990.

The following discussion is provided to help owners, fanciers, breeders and judges better understand and interpret this Standard.

All terminology in the Great Pyrenees Standard and this Standard Commentary is as defined in Harold R. Spira's Canine Terminology, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, NY, 1982. Many of the key terms and their definitions are included in the Glossary.

In the following commentary the official Great Pyrenees Standard is printed at the beginning of each section in capital letters. The discussion is printed in the lower case.

A publication of The Great Pyrenees Club of America, Inc.

Text Copyright _ 1994 by The Great Pyrenees Club of America, Inc.

Illustrations Copyright _ 1994 by Marcia R. Schlehr.

The Copyrighted _ illustration of the Newfoundland head on page 14 is the Ideal Head
(Dog) from the Newfoundland Illustrated Guide (1992), and is used by written permission
of The Newfoundland Club of America, Inc.

Definitions contained in the Glossary are quotations from Canine Terminology (1982 ed.),
Copyrighted _ by Macmillan Publishing Company and used with written permission.