What do the Tibetan Spaniel and Bearded Collie have in common?

Aside from the obvious – that both are beautiful, highly intelligent dogs that have independent streaks and are coated –  there is another answer found in the tall weeds of AKC breed standard language.  See if you can spot it from their respective standards:

Tibetan Spaniel – Dogs with such a long coat that there is no rectangle of daylight showing beneath, or so profuse that it obstructs the natural outline, are to be severely penalized.

Bearded Collie: The Bearded Collie is a medium sized dog with a medium length coat that follows the natural lines of the body and allows plenty of daylight under the body. 

If you noticed that the word, “daylight,” appears in both standards, ding ding ding, you get a virtual cookie.  The Tibetan Spaniel and Bearded Collie share a unique connection in their breed standards in that both reference the term “daylight” in describing the desired outline of the dog.

Two questions emerge at this point: What does the term mean, and why is it called for in both standards?

As to its meaning, “daylight” in the dog fancy refers to the space or light showing underneath the body of the dog when one views the dog from the side. Many evaluators use this to evaluate the silhouette and proportions of a dog, especially when it comes to leg length, coat length, and grooming.

The key to why the phrase appears in both standards isn’t really about the presence of daylight, but how each breed standard uses the term to describe the ideal silhouette.

The Bearded Collie’s standard states that the coat should “follow the natural lines of the body and allow plenty of daylight under the body.”  In this wording, the presence of daylight is a good thing as it confirms that the dog isn’t not too low to the ground, not overly coated, and that the dog’s outline remains visible and true to the breed’s working heritage. In short, seeing “daylight” proves that the dog isn’t too low-set or excessively dripping in coat, and that the dog’s working heritage is evident in its outline.

In the Tibetan Spaniel, the absence of daylight because of a heavy or overly long coat is a fault because both may hide the dog’s outline and correct proportions. A Tibbie’s legs must be long enough to have a rectangle of daylight beneath the dog, but without being leggy (a fault);  the outline should give a well balanced appearance of a dog that is slightly longer in body than the height at withers. Too much coat would hide this under an evaluator who doesn’t use their hands to “dig in” a dog’s coat to feel structure and proportions.

As an aside, as of this writing, the aforementioned two breeds are the only ones whose AKC standards mention “daylight.”

Image: Tibetan Spaniel by Jne Valokuvaus and Bearded Collie by AnetaZabranska are from Shutterstock