The Papillon Standard
This page lists 3 Papillon Standards:
Along with 2 earlier standards (shown for comparison purposes)
The Current Papillon Standard
The current Papillon Standard, effective July 31, 1991 is located on the AKC Website.
Click here to view the current standard from the AKC Website
The Illustrated Standard (a one page document that contain the current Standard, along with illustrations) is published by the Papillon Club Of America, and is available for purchase. Click here for price & ordering info
(From the 1985 PCA Handbook)
The Board of Directors of the American Kennel Club has approved the following revised Standard for Papillons.
GENERAL APPEARANCE - The Papillon is a small, friendly, elegant toy dog of fine-boned structure, light, dainty and of lively action; distinguished from other breeds by its beautiful butterfly-like ears.
HEAD - Small. The skull of medium width, and slightly rounded between the ears. A well-defined stop is formed where the muzzle joins the skull. The muzzle is fine, abruptly thinner than the head, tapering to the nose. The length of the muzzle from the tip of nose to stop is approximately one third the length of the head from tip of nose to occiput.
Nose - Black, small, rounded and slightly flat on top.
Eyes - Dark, round, not bulging, of medium size and alert in expression. The inner corner of the eyes is on a line with the stop. Eye rims black.
Mouth - Lips are tight, thin and black. Teeth meet in a scissors bite. Tongue must not be visible when jaws are closed. Fault - Overshot or undershot.
Ears - The ears of either the erect or drop type should be large with rounded tips and set on the sides and toward the back of head.
(1) Ears of the erect type are carried obliquely and move like the spread wings of a butterfly. When alert, each ear forms an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the head. The leather should be of sufficient strength to maintain the erect position.
(2)Ears of the drop type, known as Phalene, are similar to the erect type, but are carried drooping and must be completely down.
Faults - Ears small, pointed, set too high, one ear up or ears partly down.
NECK - Of medium length.
BODY - Must be slightly longer than the height at withers. It is not a cobby dog. Topline straight and level. The chest is of medium depth with well-sprung ribs. The belly is tucked up.
Forequarters - Shoulders well developed and laid back to allow freedom of movement. Forelegs slender, fine-boned and must be straight. Removal of dewclaws on forelegs optional.
Hindquarters - Well developed and well angulated. Hocks inclined neither in nor out. The hind legs are slender, fine-boned, and parallel when viewed from behind. Dewclaws, if any, must be removed from hind legs.
FEET - Thin and elongated (harelike), pointing neither in nor out.
TAIL - Long, set high and carried well arched over the body. The plume may hang to either side of the body. Fault - low-set tail, one not arched over back or too short.
COAT - Abundant, long, fine, silky, flowing, straight with resilient quality, flat on back and sides of body. A profuse frill on chest. There is no undercoat. Hair short and close on skull, muzzle, front of forelegs and from hind feet to hocks. Ears well fringed with the inside covered with silken hair of medium length. Backs of the forelegs are covered with feathers diminishing to the pasterns. Hind legs are covered to the hocks with abundant breeches (culottes). Tail is covered with a long flowing plume. Hair on feet is short but fine tufts may appear over toes and grow beyond them forming a point.
SIZE - Height at highest point of shoulder blades, 8 to 11 inches. Weight is in proportion to height. Fault - Over 11 inches. Over 12 inches disqualifies.
GAIT - Free, quick, easy, graceful, not paddle-footed; or stiff in hip movements.
COLOR - Always parti-color, white with patches of any color. On the head color other than white must cover both ears, back and front, and extend without interruption from the ears over both eyes. A clearly defined white blaze and noseband are preferred to a solidly marked head. Symmetry of facial markings is desirable. The size, shape, placement or absence of patches on the body are without importance. Papillons maybe any parti-color, provided nose, eye rims and lips are well-pigmented black. Among the colors there is no preference.
The following faults shall be severely penalized. (1) Nose not black. (2) Color other than white not covering both ears, back and front, or not extending from the ears over both eyes. A slight extension of the white collar onto the base of the ears or a few white hairs interspersed among the color, shall not be penalized provided the butterfly appearance is not sacrificed.
Disqualification - An all white dog or a dog with no white.
DISQUALIFICATIONS Height - Over 12 inches. An all white dog or a dog with no white.
Approved March 11, 1975
(as printed in the 1950 handbook)
General Appearance - a graceful little toy spaniel, slender and of lively and dainty action.
Varieties - Two varieties are recognized. In one, the ears are carried upright at an oblique angle to the head, like the spred-out wings of a butterfly; in the other the ears are drop. The latter is known as Epagneul Nain.
Coat - Short and smooth on the head, muzzle, forepart of the front legs and on the back of the legs from the hocks downwards. Thin tufts of hair may be present between the toes and extend beyond them, but must not make the foot heavy; flat on the back and sides; abundant around neck, shoulders and breast; back part of front legs should be well fringed, the length of fringes decreasing up to the wrist; breeches covered with long tail; tail covered with a very long, flowing plume.
Head - Proportionate to the body and should appear small, being covered with short hair, while the remainder of the body is heavy-coated. The skull should be of medium width and slightly rounded between the ears. a fairly accentuated stop between skull and muzzle must not be too abrupt. The muzzle is abruptly thinner than the skull, getting more and more slender up to the nose; not the wedge-shaped appearance of the Pomeranian. The muzzle should be moderately long: jaws well adjusted together. The lips must be tight and on no account pendant. The muzzle must not be flattened.
Eyes - Rather large, round and set fairly low in the head. They should be dark in color. The expression must be lively and intelligent.
Ears - The ears are set on at sides in both the erect and drop, more backwards than forwards and fairly high. They must be sufficiently apart to show the slightly arched shape of the skull. In the erect variety the ears are carried obliquely like the spreading wings of a butterfly, the concha largely open and the inside entirely visible, crowned with silken hair. The ears should be large, the leather fine in texture but sufficiently strong to maintain the opened-up position while the dog is at attention or in action. The tip is rounded. In the drop variety the ears are similar except that they are carried drooping and flat against the head.
Neck - Not short or thick, but lost in the coat.
Body - Rather elongated, back fairly long and straight. Chest fairly deep; ribs slightly arched; stomach slightly turned up; loins moderately curving in.
Tail - Set on fairly high and carried like a squirrel. The carriage of tail may be concealed with an abundant plume.
Shoulders - Not too straight, very mobile and hidden by hair.
Fore Quarters - Fine and straight, the back part covered with abundant fringes, diminishing to the wrist, the front covered with short hairs.
Thighs - fairly muscular, very mobile and well covered with hair.
Hind quarter - Slender, parallel and covered to the hocks with abundant breeches, hocks fairly high-placed and elbowed; the remainder covered with short and smooth hair.
Feet - Thin, fairly elongated, toes close and arched, hair short but fine tufts may appear between toes and go beyond them provided they do not make the foot heavy.
Color - Unicolor, or any color, provided the latter is pure, except that the tawny shades may be smutty. Two colored, white thrown into relief by patches and ticking; the size and placement of the patches being without importance; a large saddle allowable. The tri-colored, similar to the two colored except that the white is thrown into relief by spots, patches, or by both, of two colors. In both the two-colored and the tri-colored the skull should be divided by a white blaze. The body should be as white as possible.