“THE CHIN IS A HEAD
BREED wIth aBout one-thIrd of Its standard devoted to desCrIBIng the head.”
Wide across the level of the eyes. In pro- file, the forehead and muzzle touch on the same vertical plane of a right angle whose horizontal plane is the top of the skull. Stop—deep. Muzzle—short and broad with well-cushioned cheeks and rounded upper lips that cover the teeth. Nose—very short with wide, open nos- trils. Set on a level with the middle of the eyes and upturned. Nose leather is black in the black and white and the black and white with tan points, and is self-colored or black in the red and white. Bite—The jaw is wide and slightly undershot. A dog with one or two missing or slightly misaligned teeth should not be severely penalized. The Japanese Chin is very sensitive to oral examination. If the dog displays any hesitancy, judges are asked to defer to the handler for presentation of the bite. The Chin is a head breed with about one-third of its standard devoted to describing the head. In simplifying some of this description, it is easiest to remember that the ideal head is large for the size of the dog. When viewed from profile, its shape resembles a “3”—the foreskull and muzzle meet on the same diagonal line with the nose set inside the middle; ideally, this nose is slightly tipped back; a rule of thumb to use is that if the nose ever looks like some- thing can be hung from it, it is wrong. When viewed from the front, the Chin head is basically square-shaped with a slight rounding of its topskull caused
by ears which are set just beneath the crown; the nose sets between large, round, dark, lustrous eyes. When look- ing straight ahead, a small amount of white may be seen in the inner cor- ner of each eye; the eyes should never appear to be bulging or protruding; the muzzle is short and balances in width with the forehead; the cushions are broad and wide; the cheeks are some- times referred to a bubble-gum cheeks; the teeth are covered by the cushions; and the bite is slightly undershot. It is vital to remember that the Chin head is not rectangular shaped as in a Peke, nor rounded as an English Toy, nor snip- py as a Pap. Since these are all related breeds, each particular head shape is a key breed characteristic. Additional comment—It is not neces- sary to count the teeth in a Chin, and some missing teeth are not considered a penalization factor in the breed stan- dard. When examining bite, it is not necessary to pry open the jaw. Instead, running a thumb over the teeth should tell a judge what kind of a bite the dog has; if in doubt and not sure how to best open a flat-faced dog’s mouth, ask the exhibitor to do it. Also, beware of wry mouths, which can be detected when looking at a jaw line that appears to be crooked; a hint of a possible wry mouth is a tongue protruding out of the corner of the mouth—in such a case, always checks the bite. Note: Chins do have extremely long tongues—this is a breed
characteristic—and when they pant, they will roll those tongues upward! Nose color in a Chin is black for the black & white and black & white with tan points and black or self-col- ored for red & white. A pure lemon & white (which is what the lighter shade of red is called) with true color gene will have a pale self-colored nose. This is acceptable. As a personal preference, I would rather not see the whiskers trimmed. The standard does not address the ques- tion, but dogs with their whiskers in place are in keeping with the cat-like characteristics of the breed. Further- more, whiskers enhance the necessary broadness of the cushions. neck, topline, body Neck—moderate in length and thick- ness. Well set on the shoulders enabling the dog to carry its head up proudly. Topline—level. Body—square, moder- ately wide in the chest with rounded ribs. Depth of rib extends to the elbow. Tail—set on high, carried arched up over the back and flowing to either side of the body. Again, a proud dog must have good carriage. The neck needs some length to carry the head proudly. Topline is level; body, compact and square, with a moderate chest. The tail is set high and proudly carried up arched over the back and flowing down on either side. Chins should not have tails carried at
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