HEAD
HEAD—Long and dry, resembling
a blunt wedge in both frontal and profile views. When seen from the
front, the head widens gradually toward the base of the ears in a practically
unbroken line. Eyes almond shaped, moderately deep set, with vigorous,
energetic expression. Iris of uniform color, ranging from medium
to darkest brown in black dogs; in reds, blues, and fawns the color of
the iris blends with that of the markings, the deepest shade being preferable
in every case.
Ears normally cropped and carried
erect. The upper attachment of the ear, when held erect is on a level
with the top of the skull. Top of skull flat, turning with slight stop
to bridge of muzzle, with muzzle line extending parallel to top line of
skull. Cheeks flat and muscular. Nose solid black on black dogs,
dark brown on red ones, dark gray on blue ones, dark tan on fawns. Lips
lying close to jaws. Jaws full and powerful, well filled under the
eyes. Teeth strongly developed and white. Lower incisors upright
and touching inside of upper incisors-a true scissors bite. 42 correctly
placed teeth. 22 in the lower. 20 in the upper jaw. Distemper
teeth shall not be penalized.
DISQUALIFYING FAULTS: OVERSHOT
MORE THAN 3/16 OF AN INCH. UNDERSHOT MORE THAN 1/8 th. OF AN
INCH. FOUR OR MOSE MISSING TEETH.
DISCUSSION—Your first impression
of the head is does it fit the dog. Is the head a wedge, is it too
large, too long, too wide? Is it too small, too short or too narrow?
You will want the head pretty much the same length as the neck.
When looking at the head from
the front, the width of the skull should be twice the width of the muzzle
and half the width of the shoulders. The width at the ears will be
the widest and will taper slightly to the end of the muzzle. Looking
at the head from the side, you will want parallel planes on the backskull
and the muzzle. There should be fill under the eyes. The top
of the head between the ears should be flat on an adult, but occasionally
on young males, the occipital bone is still raised slightly. The
cheeks should not be prominent and should flow into the muzzle in a flat
line. The muzzle should be full and have good depth with strong underjaw.
The stop should be slight, but
not so as a Collie, but not certainly not as deep as a Great Dane.
EYES are almond shaped, rather
deeply set, and the darker the better. Light, round, prominent eyes
are to be faulted. The expression is energetic and vigorous. The
Doberman speaks through its eyes. One only has to look in his eyes
to see his mood. A Dobermans expression is not hard, but you can
see the expression of traits we seek in the breed, i.e. energetic, watchful,
determined, alert, fearless, loyal and obedient.
EARS NORMALLY CROPPED AND CARRIED
ERECT IS ON A LEVEL WITH THE TOP OF THE SKULL.
DISCUSSION—The words “normally
cropped” is a confusing statement. What this means is that the ears
are cropped in a normal cut that will fit the head of the dog. It
was not meant to mean that ears could be cropped or not cropped.
An uncropped dog would then be a deviation in our standard, and your job
would be to determine to what extent the deviation. AKC wrote and
asked our Parent Club to describe how the ears should look if the dog was
uncropped. Our Standard committee decided to retain the wording in
our standard and not choose to address an uncropped ear.
Look at the
Mouth of the Doberman Pinscher
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