Skull Archives - Edie MacKenzie

Description Of A Labrador Retriever: Part 2

January 20, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

It is important for the Labrador Retriever to be well balanced. He should not be as tall and thin as a pointer, and he should not be as short and fat as a potbellied pig. No one feature should be so prominent as to detract from the total picture. If you look at a Labrador and notice only his huge head, the dog is probably unbalanced. If you look at a Labrador and see only his big feet or a long scraggly tail, you are probably not looking at a good specimen of the breed.

The Labrador Retriever ears should be set off the side of the skull, not too high and not too low. They should be of medium size, hanging so that the bottom tips are about two inches below the eyes. The ears should not be so big or so small that they draw attention to themselves. And they should never be long or folded as they are on many hounds.

The Labrador Retriever eyes are where we see that irresistible, sweet, kind and alert expression. Some are shaped like a rounded diamond. Although some round eyes can be attractive, they should not resemble the round eyes of a Cocker Spaniel, nor should they be too almond-shaped. A good color would be a warm brown-eye on all three colors (black, yellow or chocolate), maybe a bit darker on a yellow Labrador Retriever. If the eyes are too light, the dog’s expression will be ruined.

There should never be a harsh or mean look about a Labrador. When you look into a Lab’s eyes, you should feel instant friendliness. Usually, the moment your eyes meet, the Lab’s powerful tail starts wagging automatically.

The desirable Labrador Retriever head should sit on a strong neck of medium length. If the neck is too short, the dog looks as if his head is sitting on his shoulders; if the neck is too long, the dog appears elegant, like a setter, which is not correct. There is nothing elegant about this dog. He is agile, strong, and sturdy. As you continue down the neck, past the withers, the top line (the back) should be rather level, never sway-back or sloping to the degree that a Setter’s back does from the neck to the rump.

The Labrador Retriever chest should be deep with well-sprung ribs like a barrel. The shoulders should be long and sloping. The correct look requires long bones that form a ninety-degree angle as you look at the dog from the side, from the withers, to the sternum, to the elbow.

The front legs of a Labrador Retriever are well underneath the dog, allowing a prominent breastbone to show and creating the picture of a powerful chest.

Description Of A Labrador Retriever: Part 1

January 18, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

The Labrador Retriever standard was changed recently. The new standard describes the Labrador Retriever as a medium-sized dog, giving the appearance of a dog that is strong, muscular and active. The head, which includes a very specific kind and friendly expression, the coat and the tail are the breed’s three outstanding characteristics.

However, the head, coat, tail and temperament, all worn on the correct body or frame, are what give you the complete Labrador Retriever. Though temperament is not a physical trait, it is the essence of this breed. The Labrador’s kindly temperament is visible in his warm eyes as well as in his body language. If any of these things is missing, you do not have a Labrador.

The head of a Labrador Retriever is one of the breed’s most distinguishing characteristics. It should not remind you of any other breed. If it reminds you of a Coonhound, a Great Dane or some kind of Terrier, then it is not a correct Labrador head. The Lab has a fairly broad back skull and a nice stop. The stop connects the skull to the muzzle, and the eyes are set into the stop.

The skull and muzzle run on practically parallel planes. The head should not have big, heavy, apple cheeks or flews that are too pendulous. The head should have a neat, clean appearance unlike the sloppy or drooling look that is appropriate for a Saint Bernard. The muzzle should be strong and never snipey looking. The nose should be wide with well-developed nostrils, for that keen sense of smell.

A Labrador Retriever should have what is called a “scissors bite,” where the top front teeth come down right over (actually touching) the bottom front teeth, just as the blades of a pair of scissors cross each other to cut something. A level bite, where the top and bottom meet at exactly the same place, is acceptable but not desirable. Labradors should have full dentition and should not be overshot or undershot, where there is a gap of one-eighth to one-quarter inch or more between the top and bottom jaw.

Either of these conditions or a wry mouth (crooked jaw) would make it harder for the dog to carry game. However, if your dog is a family pet, it probably will not matter if his bite is not perfect. A Labrador Retriever will probably never miss a meal.

What Is A Dalmatian Patch?

December 16, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Most people wonder what a Dalmatian patch is until they have seen one. If you have ever seen a pointer with a black patch over an eye or covering an ear and a portion of his skull, that kind of marking is similar to a Dalmatian patch. A patch is larger than a normal Dalmatian spot, and is present at birth. When they occur, they are usually found on the head, but they can occasionally be located elsewhere on the body or tail. The breeds’ markings may be understood a bit better if you realize that genetically the dog is a solid black or liver-colored animal that also carries a gene for covering over the black or liver color.

Genetically speaking, for any breed of dog that carries variations of this “white masking of the black or liver base color,” the pattern of dark markings can show up in looks ranging from torn splotches of dark color to perfectly round dots of varying sizes. Selective breeding will determine how the dark markings appear. If you purposefully bred for larger and larger dark markings, you could wind up breeding a solid black or liver-colored dog, although it would not be a Dalmatian anymore under the standard’s specification.

This explanation of white masking over the dark base color also helps explain the standard’s concern with tricolor markings. The tan point markings on a black
and tan coat combination as in Coon hounds and Doberman Pinschers, for example, are on the head, under the neck, and on the chest, legs and tail. The
Dalmatian base color is supposed to be pure black or liver with no tan points.

If you had a black and tan base color pattern masked by a white coat, you could see the tan points of that pattern only if the white masking happened to allow the dark base color pattern to show through on parts of the head, neck, chest, legs or tail. That is where you would see the tan points showing through, and that is in fact where the Dalmatian standard looks for the tan tricolor markings. As the breed standard indicates, they are rare in the breed.

The Dalmatians’ gait is peculiar to the breed as well as within the breed. The standards of efficiency, endurance and power call for a movement that is “steady and effortless.” When the Dalmatian is working in his gait, his head position is forward and not erect, held slightly above the top line. His gait has the extended reach and drive noted in the standard, which are combined in an effortless power, rhythm and smoothness that is distinctive to the breed. This has to be seen in order to be recognized. Although many a Dalmatian may get close to the desired gait, fewer than one in a hundred will achieve it to perfection.

What Does A Dalmatian Look Like?

December 14, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

The Dalmatian is a breed of balance and moderation. You do not want a big head on a little dog or a small head on a big dog. Similarly, you do not want an extremely elegant head on a male dog or a very “doggy” head on a female dog. The females are generally more feminine versions of the males and this male/female difference should be quite apparent. The head should have clean lines and the Dalmatian should have a clean mouth, not drooling or loose-lipped. The standard does a good job of describing eyes, ears, stop, muzzle, nose, lips and scissors bite; and it also notes appropriate size and angle relationships.

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With regard to eyes, the major faults of ectropion and entropion eyelids refer to lids that turn into (entropion) or out/row, (ectropion) the eye. Trichiasis is a condition of one or more misdirected eyelashes, causing corneal or conjunctival irritation. These conditions are extremely rare to find in the show ring, but the fact that they have been carried forward in our breed standard indicates that these conditions have caused trouble in the past. Also, they are serious enough to be used as screening factors when making current breeding program selections.

The important thing to keep in mind is that the more you deviate from what the breed standard describes, the more you move away from symmetry, balance and intelligent expression. Picture a Dalmatian with close-set, yellow eyes, no stop between the forehead and top of muzzle, and uneven planes between the top of the skull and his pointy-nosed muzzle when viewed from the side. If, for example, a line drawn across the top of the skull was parallel to the ground and another line drawn across the top of the muzzle pointed more toward the ground, the dog would be “down-faced” and less intelligent looking than one with parallel planes. Such a dog does not have the intelligent expression desired in a Dalmatian. Not even perfect spotting could save the conformation standard shortcomings of a head like this.

The neck, top line, body segment calls for a smooth throat with no excess skin folds and a nicely arched, fairly long neck. The word “arched” denotes a curved structure. The top line should be smooth, without a dip or break between the withers and the back. The chest, back, loin and croup descriptions are clear. Tail docking refers to removing any portion of the tail, whether it is done at birth or later for any reason, through surgery. The front legs are to come straight down from the elbows to the pasterns, whether looking at the dog from the side or the front. Cow-hocks occur when the points of the hocks are closer together than the heels of the pads in normal standing position. The feet, coat and color and markings sections of the Dalmatian are reasonably clear.

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