Page 188 - ShowSight - May 2020

THE HEAD IS THE BREED’S ICON
The segment of the Standard describing the head has the most detail and where—I believe—the Standard places the accent mark. The AKC/American Rottweiler Club Standard has 273 words, six subcategories, nine serious faults, and six disqualifications. The head contains the most verbiage of any section in the Standard. Why so much detail if the accent were intended somewhere else?
From the American Rottweiler Club Standard:
• Head of medium length, broad between the ears; forehead
line seen in profile is moderately arched; zygomatic arch and stop well developed with strong broad upper and lower jaws. The desired ratio of the back skull to muzzle is 3 to 2. Fore- head is preferred dry, however some wrinkling may occur when the dog is alert
• Expression is noble, alert, and self-assured.
• Eyes of medium size, almond shaped with well-fitting lids, moderately deep-set, neither protruding nor receding. The
desired color is a uniform dark brown.
• Serious Faults Yellow—bird of prey—eyes, eyes of different
color, hairless eye rim.
• DisqualificationEntropion,Ectropion.
• Ears of medium size, pendant-triangular in shape; when
carried alertly, the ears are level with the top of the skull and appear to broaden it. Ears are to be set well apart, hanging forward with the inner edge lying tightly against the head and terminating at approximately, mid-cheek.
• Serious Faults improper carriage—creased, folded or held away from cheek/head.
• Muzzle Bridge is straight, broad at base with slight tapering towards tip. The end of the muzzle is broad with well devel- oped chin. Nose is broad rather than round and
always black.
• Lips always black, corners closed; inner mouth pigment is preferred dark.
• Serious Faults total lack of mouth pigmentation— pink mouth.
• BiteandDentitionTeeth42innumber—20upper,22 lower—strong, correctly placed, meeting in a scissors bite— lower incisors touching inside of upper incisors.
• Serious Faults Level bite, any missing tooth.
• DisqualificationOvershot,undershot—whenincisorsdo
not touch or mesh—wry mouth, two or more
missing teeth.
The Rottweiler head is unique. Its distinctiveness separates the
Rottweiler from all others. Head and breed type are also correlated. A Rottweiler must have both to make his general breed type com- plete. One without the other renders his breed type incomplete. Now, with some having a tail, the Rottweiler is less distinguishable among breeds making proper head type paramount.
ESSENTIAL TRAITS FOR CORRECT ROTTWEILER HEAD TYPE
• Good length of skull from a well-developed stop to the occiput. The skull should measure 60% of the combined length of the skull and muzzle.
• Topskull is moderately arched.
• Good width from ear to ear in the topskull.
• Well-developed zygomatic arch. Well-developed stop.
• Strong depth and width of the muzzle (particularly in the base
of the muzzle) with a strong lower jaw. The muzzle should
measure 40% of the combined length of the skull and muzzle. • A noble, serious expression.
• In appearance, the Rottweiler head should exude masculinity,
power and substance, without exaggeration (the hyper-head of the Mastiff or Pitbull). Conversely, it should not possess an elongated, feminine, shallow zygomatic arch and muzzle type like that of the Doberman.
ICON OF THE BREED
“THE ROTTWEILER HEAD IS UNIQUE. ITS DISTINCTIVENESS SEPARATES THE ROTTWEILER FROM ALL OTHERS.”
186 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, MAY 2020
1. The length of the topskull and muzzle. Measured from the tip of the nose to the occiput.
2. Width of the topskull.
3. Zygomatic arch.
4. Muzzle length. Measured from the tip of the nose to the stop 5. Broad muzzle at the base. Correlated to the prominence of
zygomatic arch.
6. Length of the topskull. Measured from the stop to the occiput. 7. Strong lower jaw.
8. Almond shape, dark eyes, tight fitting eyelids, hair present on
eyelids, no ocular discharge.
9. Dark gum pigmentation—the color of dark chocolate.
10. Complete, correct dentition.
11. Ears, set correctly hanging close to the cheeks, of medium size. 12. Correct, moderate arch of the topskull.