Good feet are essential in the quality Miniature Pinscher. We desire a deep-padded, catlike foot; well-arched and compact. Nails are to be blunt and short. Too often, we find splayed toes, lack of compactness and arch caused by weak pastern or thin bone development. (Pg. 14)

The old AKC breed standard of the 1950s describes the feet as "cat-like," with the "toes strong, well-arched and closely knit with deep pads and thick blunt nails." To have "spreading flat feet" was a fault.

The current AKC standard is similar in description of the cat-like feet. However, it does not emphasize flat feet as a fault so much as the old standard did. That is unfortunate, since the de-emphasis removes the incentive for abolishing flat-footedness from the gene pool.

We can see the effect today. Contrary to Mr. Jones' hopes, flat-footedness has not been phased out, and it exists even among the best of the breed. Below are thumbnail photos of some otherwise nice dogs who are incorrectly flat-footed. All of these dogs are modern American champions.

To compare, below are examples of the correct catlike, arched feet in Miniature Pinschers.