One piece head

[SheltieLuver]

Bently has a nice stop... nothing wrong there. But his backskull slopes to much. When viewed from the side you want his muzzle and backskull to be on the same planes. Example... have two rulers, end to end, both sloping at the same angle, with one ruler just a bit higher than the other... the area between that is your stop. Now for your front profile... the best thing I can describe is a slice of pizza... just not very pointy. You want that smooth straightness from the ears all the way to the nose. Now for a puppy, you will get some bumps during the teething stage.

 

[BarbV]

Ember has a 2 piece head. Her skull and muzzle look like they belong to different dogs. One of the reason she is spayed. Actually Diva does too but she is not as bad. Diva looks ok from the side but flares out too much at the cheek level. IMO its her major fault,. We bred Diva because of her body qualites not her head. We tried to correct that when breeding her and so far it looks like we did in Porter(his head is one piece and smooth). I frankly alot of times need to put my hands on the head to tell on some dogs.

I attached 2 pictures that show Ember's head pretty well and then 1 picture of DIva and 1 of Porter. You can see the differnece in their heads. Porter's head is still changing and getting longer and leaner but you can still tell. When you put your hand on Diva and run it back you feel an sudden flare outward, Porter's feels like is one straight line.

I guess this is why I'm not a breeder.....I think Ember has a lovely face and profile. I actually find Porter's muzzle too broad (probably just the camera angle), but I think I feel what you mean when I run my hands along the sides of my dog's faces.

I think both my dogs have one piece heads. If I'm right, then I think I'm getting it. Tell me what you think from the photos. (p.s. this is for my education, not a beauty contest for my dogs). I looked for photos that would give both profile and as much "top down" as I had in my portfolio. Maybe not good enough.

Thanks much for your opinions. I'm trying to get the difference between 1 piece and 2 piece head. And the best examples I have are my own dogs.

 

[corbinam]

Bently has a nice stop... nothing wrong there. But his backskull slopes to much. When viewed from the side you want his muzzle and backskull to be on the same planes. Example... have two rulers, end to end, both sloping at the same angle, with one ruler just a bit higher than the other... the area between that is your stop. Now for your front profile... the best thing I can describe is a slice of pizza... just not very pointy. You want that smooth straightness from the ears all the way to the nose. Now for a puppy, you will get some bumps during the teething stage.

Ok that makes sense...thanks, Ashley! (PS: I have some picture of Gilly to post from today!)

 

[Justicemom]

Bently has a nice stop... nothing wrong there. But his backskull slopes to much. When viewed from the side you want his muzzle and backskull to be on the same planes. Example... have two rulers, end to end, both sloping at the same angle, with one ruler just a bit higher than the other... the area between that is your stop. Now for your front profile... the best thing I can describe is a slice of pizza... just not very pointy. You want that smooth straightness from the ears all the way to the nose. Now for a puppy, you will get some bumps during the teething stage.

Look at Bacca's picture that Barb posted. Good example of parallel planes when you look at them from the side.

.Thanks much for your opinions. I'm trying to get the difference between 1 piece and 2 piece head. And the best examples I have are my own dogs.

It is really hard for me to tell in pictures and I still learning too. But I really like Bacca's head sans ears. He has nice planes, nice width and finish of the underjaw. Nice stop. He looks one piece from the front in other photos I've looked at. Indy and it just might be his coloring(I looked at other pictures in your album) seems to have a slightly receeding backskull. The front profile looks ok. You are right that he has a wider backskull than muzzle when compared to Bacca. Both can be correct as long as the transition is smooth and not abupt. Ember looks ok too but if you put your hands on her going front to back along the muzzle when you get to her cheeks it feels like you hit a speed bumps and your fingers get pushed out. I frankly couldn't tell the difference until I felt a dog with a correct head.

Regarding Porter could be the angle or that he is a teething puppy.

 

[BarbV]

Look at Bacca's picture that Barb posted. Good example of parallel planes when you look at them from the side.



It is really hard for me to tell in pictures and I still learning too. But I really like Bacca's head sans ears. He has nice planes, nice width and finish of the underjaw. Nice stop. He looks one piece from the front in other photos I've looked at. Indy and it just might be his coloring(I looked at other pictures in your album) seems to have a slightly receeding backskull. The front profile looks ok. You are right that he has a wider backskull than muzzle when compared to Bacca. Both can be correct as long as the transition is smooth and not abupt. Ember looks ok too but if you put your hands on her going front to back along the muzzle when you get to her cheeks it feels like you hit a speed bumps and your fingers get pushed out. I frankly couldn't tell the difference until I felt a dog with a correct head.

Regarding Porter could be the angle or that he is a teething puppy.

Ok, I think I understand now...the "speed bump" analogy is very descriptive It also explains the hands-on judging that I saw at Westmisnter. Looks like they are checking for the same thing.