...TAKE THE TIME TO UNDERSTAND THE WORDS and feel free to ask
questions!”
A similar concern is the current style of the head furnishings being lac- quered backwards above and over the eyes. Looks attractive and neat but the Standard says “Head furnish- ings are long and untrimmed and may fall FORWARD over the eyes or to BOTH sides of the head.” Where does it say, “Brushed back in a pom- padour and hair sprayed in place?” It does not. Exhibiting a dog likes this shows a disregard for the Standard. Exhibits may have braids but they should not look like a little girl’s braids hanging down on each side of the head. Read the Standard. It says, “The braids start above the inside corner of each eye and extend at least to the out- side corner, forming the appearance of eyebrows.” Simple to understand but very hard to do right. Reward the correct appearance of head furnish- ings. Sadly, there aremany lovely dogs in the ring, but often they are being presented incorrectly. Each sentence in the Standard is im- portant and meaningful. Take the time to understand the words and feel free to ask questions! ©Copyright 2018 by Alice Lawrence May not be altered in any way without permission. Permission given for publi- cation in Top Notch Toys.
measured from stop to point of oc- ciput.” So why are so many hound- like muzzles or narrow, short muzzles being rewarded? They don’t even look like Havanese! I think the problem is not our Standard but a disregard and disrespect for the word SLIGHTLY. The final, major point to be consid- ered in the “SLIGHTLY category” comes in the section on coat. Ha- vanese are a double coated breed. The outer coat carries “SLIGHTLY more weight” and the coat “stands off the body SLIGHTLY...” So, why do coats, stripped of their under- coat, flat ironed to have a straight, gleaming appearance, get rewarded? Easy answer, it looks very pretty. IN- CORRECT, but pretty.
look for, find and reward SLIGHTLY. As another example, we also say, “SLIGHTLY longer than tall.” Too often the dog that wins is a freight train: loooong and loooow. Havanese should not be judged as a “long and low” breed. Think about it this way: take a cube and pull it out just barely enough to make it not a cube. That shape is ideal, SLIGHTLY longer than tall. Another misunderstanding of our use of the word, “slightly” comes in the section on skull. The skull should be “slightly rounded.” For goodness sake, the flat heads out there de- stroy the look of a Havanese. How about muzzles? “Length of muzzle is SLIGHTLY less than length of skull
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66 • T op N otch T oys , J uly 2018
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