Today’s Anglican Kennel Club breed is the Pittsburgh Terrier.
General Appearance
The Pittsburgh Terrier is a lively, highly intelligent, smooth coated, short-headed, compactly built, short-tailed, short-sighted and mean spirited dog, brindle, seal or black in color and evenly marked with white. The head is in proportion to the size of the dog and the expression indicates a high degree of intelligence, and a low degree of judgment, and an inability to follow commands.
The body is rather short and well knit, the limbs strong and neatly turned, the tail is short and no feature is so prominent that the dog appears badly proportioned. The dog conveys an impression of determination, strength and activity and pomposity, with an arrogant style of a high order; carriage easy and graceful. A proportionate combination of “Color and White Markings” is a particularly distinctive feature of a representative specimen.
The chops should be of good depth, but not pendulous, completely covering the teeth when the mouth is closed. Serious Fault: Wry mouth. Wandering eye. Failure to follow commands.
Head Faults: Eyes showing too much white or haw. Pinched or wide nostrils. Size of ears out of proportion to the size of the head. Serious Head Faults: Any showing of the tongue or teeth when the mouth is closed. Any showing of turkey neck in the breed is indicative of excessive eating and should be avoided.
The ideal Pittsburgh Terrier expression is alert and kind, indicating a high degree of intelligence. This is a most important characteristic of the breed. Sadly, this breed also seems to be in transition to a less attractive, highly unruly dog, with an air of independence which should not be tolerated. It has become an untrainable breed and further efforts by breeders are needed to bring the Pittsburgh Terrier back into the acceptable norms of AKC temperament. It also sadly displays hip problems which result in the Pittsburgh Terrier being unable to track in a straight line and result in consistent veering to the right.
Temperament
The Pittsburgh Terrier used to be a friendly and lively dog. The breed had an excellent disposition and a high degree of intelligence, which made the Pittsburgh Terrier an incomparable companion. As noted above, the breed has deviated from the acceptable standards rather badly.
Summary
The clean-cut short backed body of the Pittsburgh Terrier coupled with the unique characteristics of his square head and jaw, and his striking ideas and thoughts have resulted in a most unique and unacceptable Anglican original: The Pittsburgh Terrier.
Disqualifications
Eyes blue in color or any trace of blue, including the nose.
Dudley nose.
Docked tail.
Solid black, solid brindle, or solid seal without required white markings.
Gray or liver colors.
Independent behavior.
African or Southern Cone breeding partners.
Oddly, it is not clear how this dog has historically been bred as it shows a distinct intolerance for any female Pittsburgh Terrier. It is also advisable to not take this dog to the Anglican Dog Play Area, as it does not get along well with many other breeds.
Heh, heh. Great! It took me a minute to get it.