Everything is still in its proper place on these roughs from dome of forehead to Griffon POUT.
Fig. 3: Same black smooth puppy front and in profile.
“oh my” moment. Then see the same dog at 1½ years old and see the most gor- geous head imaginable. My Wisselwood puppies however, generally have a beau- tiful typy head at birth (or they never get it and remain “oh my”). This is what we call folding—or continuing to fold up to two years. Because juvenile folding is not uncommon in the devel- opment of our head/skull, we address it in the Illustrated Standard which I urge all to become familiar with. The entire head develops with age. I have noted mandibles continuing to sweep up with growth development and then, after a short rest period during which the bottom incisors peek out, they continue to tuck right up over the maxilla and finish off beautifully with the lips meeting cleanly together in front. It is quite miraculous to watch, especially when it develops properly. When some genes mix together the mandible may never fold into the upsweep and it remains straight. Since the mandible is a good bit longer than the maxilla—where can it go but straight out. This shovel mouth never properly finishes off or tucks up over the maxilla. This is why it may be nec- essary to feel the mandible if you have not yet trained your eye, or if the beard conceals the curve. TERM: DOME To complete this picture, the domed forehead is very important. The skull between ears is slightly rounded. The dome is in profile of the forehead starting immediately over the eyes and continuing to the top of the skull. See Figure 3. Even in the front view of the black smooth puppy, you can see obvious dome that you confirm in pro-
file. (Note that this puppy’s ears look out of balance. Puppies grow in spurts and she did grow nicely into her ears. Most breeders will wait until they are out of puppy stage before cropping.) Your eye will soon be accustomed to see through the rough coat. Judging the Smooth head should now be easy for you. The Roughs will require more use of your fingers and concentration. BITE The AKC has classified the Brussels Griffon as a T breed (among six other Toy undershot breeds) on its new “Oral Exam Chart by Breed”. This means that when examining the bite of these seven breeds, the judge is to use the THUMB EXAM . This chart will be especially helpful to judges of multiple breeds. We ask that when the judges use the Thumb Exam that NO part of their fingers or thumb go under the lips or in the mouth. Gently place the pad of your thumb in the center of the chin and tip it for- ward over the top lip towards the nose, but not over it. On the correct under- shot bite, your thumb will not be ver- tically straight. Your thumb will tilt slightly toward the nosepad so that you can feel (along with see) the proper “lay back” . Special attention will need to be made to our DQ for Bite Overshot , which none of the other Toy “T” breeds have. On the rare occasion that you cannot ascertain if the dog is overshot (or wry) using the Thumb Exam here also, please ask the exhibitor to show the bite. If you plan to use the dog and still cannot be sure, then very quickly look yourself by flipping the top lips up while focusing on the visual.
forehead and chin. Eyes are in line with the nose pad. You can actually see the upsweep to the mandible from the front. But the thing to note here is the beautiful lip seal or clean finish . The lips are plush, but not thick like the Pug. They are not long and do not overhang over the chin in front or form flews on the side of the mouth. This dog is clear- ly undershot without the need for you to look inside the mouth. Everything is in the right place. (For perfection of head, I would give the lovely dark eyes more size and of course smaller ears.) When you look at this face, you easily can see our saucy pout . If you cannot visually see the width of the jaw, muz- zle or fill under the eyes please gently touch the sides of the face under the eyes, rather than pulling the beard down which will make even the nicest muzzle look narrow. TERM: FOLD I will use two established lines to demonstrate this. Having lived near and shown with Jacque Jone’s Trey- acre’s Griffs in early years, I know that many dogs of her line fold as they age . You could look at one of her six month olds in the ring and have an
64 • T op N otch T oys , M arch 2017
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