LET’S TALK ABOUT HEADS
by Lou Ann King
O ver the years I have been told, “Heads are easy.” If heads are so easy, why are there are so many that do not follow the blueprint set out by our standard? Yes, they may be easy to ‘fix’ in a genera- tion, but they are also easy to lose in that same one generation. It would seem that fanciers, exhibitors and breeders have great difficulty putting the description of how a Papillon head should look into the actual dog, which in turn makes it very difficult for judges to know what to do when judging our breed. First of all, one must read the whole de- scription and not bits and pieces as they are to describe the whole. So if one part of the head is not quite right, it changes the whole head. But depending on the qualities of the head as a whole, some imperfections
From the Papillon Standard: Head: Eyes dark, round, not bulg- ing, of medium size and alert in expression. The inner corners of the eyes are on line with the stop. Eye rims black. Ears: The ears of either the erect or drop type should be large with rounded tips, and set on the sides and toward the back of the head. (1) Ears of the erect type are car- ried obliquely and move like the spread wings of a butterfly. When alert each ear forms an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the head. The leather should be of sufficient strength to maintain the erect position. (2) Ears of the drop type, known as the Phalene,
are similar to the erect type, but are carried drooping and must be completely down. Faults: Ears small, pointed, set too high, one ear up, or ears partly down. Skull: The head is small. The skull is of medium width and slightly rounded between the ears. A well-defined stop is formed where the muzzle joins the skull. Muzzle: The muzzle is fine, abruptly thinner than the head, tapering to the nose. The length of the muzzle from the tip of the noise to stop is ap- proximately one-third the length of the head from tip of the nose to occiput.
An excellent example of two-thirds to one-third in profile.
An example of a strong head.
66 • T op N otch T oys , J uly 2019
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