The following is a common standard for Old English Sheepdogs. Please note that standards can change frequently and often have slight variations in their wording. Also different clubs adopt different standards.

There are two catagories of Sheepdogs: those that are show quality, and those that for some reason (say their hair is too brown) are "flawed" and are therefore pet quality.

• Skull: Capacious and rather squarely formed, giving plenty of room for brain power. The parts over the eyes should be well arched and the whole well covered with hair
• Jaw: Fairly long, strong, square and truncated. The stop should be well defined to avoid a Deerhoung face.
• Eyes:Vary according to the color of the dog. Very dark preferred, but in the glaucous or blue dogs a pearl, walleye or china eye is considered typical. (A light eye is most objectional).
• Nose: Always black, large and capacious; coated all around
• Feet: Small, round; toes well arched, and pads thick and hard.
• Tail: It is preferable that there should be none. Should never, however, exceed one and a half or two inches in grown dogs. When not natural-born bobtails however, puppies should be docked at the first joint from the body and the operation preformed when they are from three to four days old.
• Neck and Shoulders: The neck should be fairly long, arched gracefully and well coated with hair. The shoulders sloping and narrow at the points, the dog standing lower at the shoulder than at the loin.
• Body: Rather short and very compact, ribs well sprung and brisket deep and capacious. The loin should be very stout and gently arched, while the hindquarters should be round and muscular and with well-let-down hocks, and the hams densely coated with a thick, long jacket in excess of any other part.
• Coat: Profuse, but not so excessive as to give the impression of the dog being overfat, and of a good gard texture; not straight, but shaggy and free from curl. Softness or flatness of coat to be considered a fault. The undercoat should be a waterproof pile, when not removed by grooming or season.
• Color: Any shade of gray, grizzle, blue or blue-merled with or without white markings or in reverse.
• Size: Twenty-two inches and upwards for dogs and slightly less for females. Type, character and symmetry are of the greatest importance and are on no account to be sacrificed to size alone.

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---Old English Sheepdogs are wonderful animals. They are good with children, are lovable, and make a good apartment dog, despite their size. They also have an instinct to herd and are very excitable. When we went out to get my dog, Endy, we were looking for a dog that wouldn't need that much room to run around because we live on a small street. Even though Endy is 80 pounds full grown and we aren't home during the day, she gets plenty of excercise and is very energetic. ---We also wanted a dog that wouldn't bite if we were attacked, because these days people seem to sue for everything. Old English Sheepdogs, because their instinct is to herd tend to get in between people and try to push them away if they feel that the person is threatened. Of course that can also work against you, Endy doesn't like it when people hug!

---As for the energetic part, a few years ago, when we'd just gotten Endy, we went to see the circus and they had a show where all these Old English Sheepdogs came out and were just totally rambunctious!! They ran around and acted silly and just seemed to not be able to stop bouncing. Yeah, sometimes Endy can be quiet, but she absolutely loves people, even if they don't love her back. While that can be annoying, it is one of her qualities that I love the most.

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