Page 243 - Showsight February 2013

THE SPINONE ITALIANO
Toplines, Croups & Tailsets – Is There More?
By Carolyn Fry
As the Spinone Club of
America’s Judges Edu-
cation committee is
trying its best to step
up with an education
program and a new
“era”, with the committee members mak-
ing themselves more available to judges
and breeders, we often ask Spinone judges
some basic questions.
The answers we get regularly revolve
around toplines, croups and tailsets of the
Spinone and these are the areas that the
judge is basing his/her decisions upon.
In addition, most judges are checking for
divergent head planes.
It is good to hear that the judges have
these basics within their grasp, but we
would like to draw the following very
important points to your attention:
Expression
The almost-human expression, which
is considered to be an essential trait of the
Spinone, is created from widely-placed,
almost round, large and expressive eyes set
on the frontal plane of the head, which is
unusual and special to this breed. The defi-
nition of the stop, together with both the
sub and supra orbital structure (brow and
cheek chiseling) are minimally defined.
The above, together with the unusual
warm ochre color (in white/orange dogs)
contribute to the human expression.
Equally, in brown roan dogs the shade
of brown for the eyes is warm and soft.
A sharp or intense expression created by
incorrect eye color, shape or set (deemed
typical in the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon
and German Wirehaired Pointer) must be
severely penalized in the Spinone Italiano.
Head
The head is long, lean and divergent.
The Spinone head length is proportionally
long compared with any other Sporting
breed, approximately four-tenths of the
dog’s height. The skull is roof shaped, with
a marked occiput, well-defined inter-pari-
etal crest (rear edge of skull/nape of neck)
and gently sloping lateral walls. Particu-
larly, in profile, this area helps to define
breed type for the Spinone. From the front,
the refinement of skull adds to the long,
lean and divergent shape. It is never Grif-
fon-like (e.g. blocky, square, wide, well-
defined stop and intense expression). The
divergent planes can also be clearly viewed
from the front, when lifting the head in
your hands to view the expression and
finer details, such as skull shape, ear-set –
where the wide-open nostrils of this breed
“THE HEAd IS
LONg, LEAN ANd
dIvErgENT.
The Spinone head length
is proportionally long
compared with any
other Sporting breed,
approximately four-tenths
of the dog’s height.”
This is the correct profile movement for the Spinone. Please note
that the head could be a little longer in proportion on this outline.
The head length is 40% of the height at the withers.
ShowSight Magazine, February 2013 • 239