Jindo Dog Research Institute

Published in 2004.

Body Features

1.  Description

• Jindo dog is a medium-sized dog with great agility.  Jindo has a well-balanced body, and female and male Jindo dogs have distinct features.
• Jindo dog has a gentle, calm and familiar look, which makes it look somewhat naive.
• Jindo dog should not have wrinkles and should be lean in its face, with a tight and firm mouth.
• Ears, eyes, nose, and mouth should all be in balance with each other.

2.  Height

• Height
  • Adult (male): 48 cm ~ 53 cm
  • Adult (female): 45 cm ~ 50 cm
• The ideal ratio of the height to the length of the body is 100:110

3.  Head/face

• Jindo dog's front face should be the shape of inverted triangle.  Its forehead should be broad, with a set of well-positioned ears.  The line running from its forehead to its nose should be smooth.
• The length between the back of Jindo dog's head and its eyes should be longer than that of its eyes to its nose.
• Good Jindo dog has an inverted-triangle shaped head, which makes it look sharp.  Its forehead must have a rounded look to it when viewed from the side, forehead protruding a little.  The ideal ratio of length of forehead and mouth is 6:4.
• Its lips should not droop down, and its color should be black.
• Space between the eyes should not sink low, and both sides of its face should be shaped round, narrowing gradually towards its nose.
• Its tongue must be clean without any blue spots, and it is best if upper lip slightly covers lower lip.

4.  Ears

• Ears should be triangle-shapes, with a good balance to its head.  Its movement should be agile and it should be erect, stooping over towards front a little.
• Ears should be thick, and their coat should be soft and fine.  The angle of ears and its forehead should form a right angle.
• The ideal length of ears is the length between the nose and a space between two eyes.
• Jindo dog's ears usually slightly stoop over in its first 3~5 months stages.  It is preferred when their ears stand erect between the age of 6~7 months.  There are also some cases when Jindo dogs have erect ears after almost a year.
• Jindo dog has exceptionally good hearing that when their masters come back home, they do not recognize this with their sight, but with their hearing first.

5.  Eyes

• Eyes are oval-shaped, with its ends pointing upward slightly.  The color of eyes is different depending on the color of the Jindo dog's coat.
• The color of eyes is generally yellowish brown, and its pupils are clear.
• Small eyes are considered good eyes for Jindo dogs as long as they are in a good balance with its face.  Jindo dogs that have pupils positioned in rather an upper part of the eyes are considered good hunters.  These Jindo dogs are also know to be sharp, and wild.
• Jindo dogs could see as far as 250 m.  However, their eye sight is not as good as other senses.  They do recognize moving object, but if the particular object does not move and does not have a smell, some Jindo dogs do not recognize them.  They are also colorblind.

6.  Nose

• The color of Nose is generally black.
• Nostrils should be large and open, and the tip of the nose should be protruding a little.
• Some white Jindo dogs have rosy link-colored noses.
• The sense of smell is the keenest among other senses.  They distinguish other animals by their distinctive smell.  They also distinguish male from female, or whether others are in heat, by the smell of blood, sweat, urine and feces, and reproductive organs.

7.  Back

• Backs should be strong and straight, and front part of the back should be slightly higher.
• Good Jindo dogs have backs that are powerful, and their waist is very strong also, with good length and girth.
• Good Jindo dogs should look active, with their footsteps firm.

8.  Chest

• Chest should be strong and firm.
• Narrow chest gives unstable posture to the body as it is less sound in joints and necks.  It can bring negative effects on its sense of balance.
• Chest that are too broad is not good as it does not have good contacts with its front legs, and therefore there will be pressure on the chest.  The weight will be all concentrated on the front, which is not good for jumping.  It also has negative effects on its balance.

9.  Stomach

• Stomach should be tight and firm, and it should not be sagging down.

10.  Tongue

• The color of the tongue is red.  If the color is too dark or if there is a bluish spots on the tongue, the dog is not genuine.

11.  Legs

• Space between legs should not be too narrow or too wide.  Front legs should be straight, and back legs should have firm footsteps. 
• Front legs should be straight and strong, and its ankle should be slightly slanted.  Its food should not sprawl out.
• Leg bones should not be too big, and there should be some hair in between each toe.
• Front legs should be straight and parallel when viewed from the front side, and it should not be distorted neither in outward or inward direction.
• When viewed from the side, the ankle slightly leans towards the front.  The ideal angle for the shoulder blade and upper arm, and the knee joint are 110~120 and 140~150 respectively.
• Back legs should have firm steps, and back legs should have well-shape and strong muscle, flesh, and ligament.
• Lower legs should have an ideal angle of 140~150.

12.  Tail

• Tail, (erect, ring tail) in a good balance with its body, should be thick and erect, and the ideal length of the tail goes down to the lower leg.
• There are erect, half-ring tail, and ring tail.
• Hair of the tail should be longer than that of the body, and it should be tight and firm, and it should not be drooping down like a weeping willow.
• Ring tails should be rolled once (the tip of he the tail slightly touching the root), but should not be rolled in too much. 

13.  Coat/Color

• The coat of the Jindo dog is shiny and erect, and soft coat of hair covers its face.  The coat of tail should be longer than that of the body.  Standard Jindo dogs have brown (tan) or white coat.  (standard Jindo dog features)
• The coat length of body, back, and tail are all different.  The lenght of the tailcoat is the longest, and the coat should stand up straight.
• There are about seven colors for Jindo dogs: brown (tan), white, red, black, brindle and badugi-spotted.  There are also some Jindo dogs with either brown and white, or red and white color combination.
• Brown (tan):  There are some brown Jindo dogs with other colors on their cheeks, sides of the mouth, upper and lower chest, and stomach.  These are fine, but the ones with white on the tip of the tail is not a good one.
• White:  White Jindo dogs should not have other color:  They should be pure white.  However, some yellow hairs on their ears and lower legs are fine.
• Black:  Some are all black, other have white spots on their chest, and on their feet (which is very rare).  Other black Jindo dogs have white spots on the top of their eyes, on both cheeks, under the mouth, on the chest and stomach, and some dogs have yellow spots instead of white ones.  All black Jindo dogs should have reddish tint under the sun.
• Red:  There red ones have red or shiny reddish coat.  Many of these have black hair on their black and tail.  Some of these also have a combination of red and white.
• Brinde:  These are called Hogu or Hoban in Korean, which means "tiger pattern".  They generally have black spots on brown coat.  Some have light yellowish brown or dark brown coat.
• Badugi-spotted:  This type describes the combination of he hair rather than its color.  Badugi is a pet name for dogs in general in Korea.  Black badugi usually has black spots on white coat, and yellow badgi has yellowish brown spots on white coat.  Therefore such name is derived from common dogs you see in Korea.  This combination of color is very rare in Jindo dogs however.  This type is very similar to pointers, and they are rather cute and affectionate pets at home.

[KJDAA note:  The Korean version of this description utilize Hanja/Chinese characters with the exception of the Badugi. 

• "Brown (tan)" corresponds to hwang sek, which is the common yellow color. 
• "Red" corresponds to jeok ja sek, which is a very dark red color.  Some of these reds have a spot of white above each eye. 
• Asian standards tend to group all the black dogs together.  The Black refers to solid black, black&tan, and black&tan whose tan has faded to white.
• "Brindle" always have black stripes.  The base brown color varies, just like there is a range of brown (tan) to red in dogs lacking stripes.
• "Badugi" has no Hanja/Chinese character assigned.  Part of that may be due to informality of the color and how it is not a common/favorable Jindo color.  It is found more in mainland non-Jindo dogs.] 

14.  Footsteps

• Footsteps should be firm and graceful.  Front legs should stand up straight when viewed from the back, and backs should form a straight line when viewed from the side.
• Back should be parallel to the ground when walking, and the hops should not sway from side to side too much.,
• White Jindo dogs should be quick, active, firm, and flexible when running.

15.  Skin

• Reddish brown is ideal for the color of the skin, and the skin should not be sagging.

16.  Whisker

• Jindo dogs should have straight and fine whiskers on both sides of their nose.  Whiskers should not be scattered or curled up.

17.  Claw

• Good Jindo dogs have short, strong and round claws.  They are usually in tight grips, touching the floor.  The sole of the feet should also be firm and protrude.
• Brown Jindo dogs should have black or light pink claws, and white ones should have light pink claws. 

18.  Anus

• It should be large enough since it means that the dog has a good digestive system, health, and strength.  The color should be dark.

19.  Teeth

• Good Jindo dogs have strong teeth.  They have straight teeth, and upper and lower teeth should lock together when closed.  There should be no missing teeth.
• Front upper teeth should slightly cover and lock together with lower canine teeth like scissor.
• Any missing teeth, irregular set of teeth, worn teeth, and stained teeth are unfavorable.
• The total of Jindo dog's teeth is forty-two.