Size - Allevamento d'Egitto

Size

The "standard" drawn up by Prof. Antonio Solaro in 1958 states that the height at the withers is of 60 cm in the male and 56 cm in the female, with an oscillation of more or less two centimeters.
In defining the standard the difference between sheep dogs and cattle dogs was not considered, thus the oscillation allowed for in height is the result of a compromise which tends to group them all without distinction. Actually, if the subject is well fed and cared for, as far as its genetic background will allow, it will easily reach the largest size.
We believe that a few centimeters above the maximum standard height is not to be considered a flaw, while on the other hand a few centimeters below the minimum standard height would mean incomplete development. Recent studies on various canine breeds have shown that when a breed is "retrieved" through selective breeding, weight and height increase in a few generations.
This increase is not believed to be a mutation of the breed, but merely the restoration of its original size. Other cousins of this breed, such as the Kommondor (Hungarian), the Briard (French), the Bovaro delle Fiandre, the shepherd dog of Southern Russia, or the Old English Sheepdog (British) all surpass in height and in weight the Bergamo Shepherd Dog of today.

                   

Reliable proof is provided from "Vecchio" who, in his pamphlet edited in 1912 thus described the Bergamo Shepherd Dog: "They are generally large dogs, long-haired and baring much resemblance to the Brie Shepherd; tall and well-built they have wooly fur which is curled and is either black, grey, white, muddy or hazel in color". Is the Bergamo Shepherd supposed to be square in shape? To better explain: viewed laterally, must the length of the body, measured from the tip of the shoulders to the tip of the buttocks, equal the height at the withers? After careful observation of a few hundred subjects we feel free to state that the body proportions of those which have a rectangular shape and those which have a square shape are more or less identical. With the exception of those subjects particularly unproportioned due to specific physical flaws, the functionality, in both cases, is in no way effected. Keeping in mind that the female's body traditionally tends to be rectangular for reproductive purposes, an oscillation in length of 1-2 centimeters is to be considered normal within the breed. As far as looks are concerned, we believe the square dog to be better proportioned and compact, and definitely more attractive.