Base colour
Totally black
- The undercoat need not be completely black but can also be dark grey provided it is totally hidden by the top coat.
- Permissible: A little greying for example on the muzzle due to age
About the Schipperke
Origin: Belgium
- Typical life span
- 12-14 years
- Size
- Small — from its typical weight
- Weight
- 4.5-7 kg
- Height
- 25-33 cm
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Sheepdogs and Cattledogs (except Swiss Cattledogs)
- Origin
- Belgium
- Known hereditary risks
- Not researched yet
About
What is a Schipperke?
Small, compact, tailless spitz-type dog with a distinctive fox-like face, thick double coat, and abundant ruff around the neck. Known as the 'little captain', this agile black dog has a confident demeanor and alert expression.
Schipperke history and origins
Developed in the Flemish regions of Belgium as a canal barge watchdog and ratter. The name means 'little captain' and the breed served as an adept guardian and vermin hunter on Belgian waterways for centuries.
Schipperke appearance and size
Typically 4.5-7 kg and 25-33 cm at the shoulder — published as one range rather than separately for males and females.
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Small guardian and companion dog
- Behaviour and temperament
“An excellent small guard dog, an exceptional alarm, bubbling with vitality, aloof with strangers. Active and busy, agile, tireless, perpetual1y interested in what is going on around it, inclined to snap if anyone approaches objects it has been given to guard, very gentle with children, always curious to know what is going on behind a closed door or behind an object which is being moved, showing its reaction by its high-pitched bark, its raised mane and hackles. It is an inquisitive dog which will hunt rats, moles and other vermin”
Quoted from FCI standard n°83. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Characteristics
- Size
- Small
- Exercise needsRead from what the breed was bred to do, in the registry’s own words: “Small guardian and companion dog” That is a working purpose, not a measured exercise requirement — an individual dog’s needs depend on its age, health and household.
- 2 of 5
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- 4 of 5
- Grooming needs
- 4 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- Not researched yet
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Schipperke
What you get with the Schipperke
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Small guardian and companion dog”
- The standard describes the breed as: “An excellent small guard dog, an exceptional alarm, bubbling with vitality, aloof with strangers”
- Longer-lived than a crossbred dog — median 14.2 years across 75 animals, against 12
What you are taking on
- High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “Around the neck the hair is much longer and more off-standing, beginning at the outer…”
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard; McMillan et al. 2024, median age at death. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
FCI standard · Schipperke
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording, tagged permissible.
Coat
The top coat is abundant, thick, straight and sufficiently harsh, with quite firm texture, therefore dry and resistant to the touch, forming an excellent protection together with the soft thick undercoat.
Very short hair on the ears, short hair on the head, the front part of the front legs, the hocks and rear pasterns.
On the body, the average length hair is close-lying.
Around the neck the hair is much longer and more off-standing, beginning at the outer edges of the ears, forming, especial1y in the male but also in the female, a wide and very typical ruff (long hair around the neck, in tufts on each side), a “mane” (long hair on the top of the neck, continuing as far as the withers and the shoulders) and a frill (long hair on the underside of the neck and on the chest, stretching between the forelegs and gradually fading away under the chest).
On the back of the thighs long and abundant hair covering the anal region, with tips angled inward in a very typical way, form the culottes.
The tail is furnished with hair the same length as that on the body
Colour
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Shortened from FCI standard n°83 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
What the breed standard says
- Size
- “Weight: Between 3 and 9 kg. An average weight of 4 to 7 kg is sought after”
- FCI distinguishes an ideal from what is permitted.
Quoted from FCI standard n°83. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
What the standard penalises
What a judge marks the Schipperke down for, and what puts one out of the ring, in the registry’s own words. This describes the breed standard — it is not a checklist for the animal in front of you, and a pet with a disqualifying fault is an unshowable dog rather than an unhealthy one.
Severe faults
Marked heavily against a specimen in the ring.
- Teeth: Lack of one incisor (1I), of three premolars 1 (3 PM1) or two premolars 2 (2 PM2)
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Schipperke in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
What to ask for in a Schipperke
No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the Schipperke on this platform yet. That is a gap in our records, not a clean bill of health — ask the breeder which hereditary conditions their lines are tested for, and ask to see the results for both parents, dated and from a named laboratory.
Gallery
No photographs yet
This is where Schipperke owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.
A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.
Puppies
No puppies listed right now
No Schipperke breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.