Head

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The Scotty's strong head and tremendous jaws are built to grip and hold his prey.

Edwin Megargee
From the 1993 STCA Standard:

  • The HEAD should be long in proportion to the overall length and size of the dog. In profile, the skull and muzzle should give the appearance of two parallel planes.
  • The SKULL should be long and of medium width, slightly domed and covered with short, hard hair. In profile, the skull should appear flat. There should be a slight but definite stop between the skull and muzzle at eye level, allowing the eyes to be set in under the brow, contributing to proper Scottish Terrier expression. The skull should be smooth with no prominences or depressions and the cheeks should be flat and clean.
  • The MUZZLE should be  approximately equal to the length of nose with only a slight taper to the nose. The muzzle should be well filled in under the eye, with no evidence of snipeyness. A correct Scottish Terrier muzzle should fill an average man's hand.
  • The NOSE should be black, regardless of coat color, and of good size, projecting somewhat over the mouth and giving the impression that the upper jaw is longer than the lower.
  • The TEETH should be large and evenly spaced, having either a scissor or level bite, the former preferred. The jaw should be square, level and powerful. Undershot or overshot bites should be penalized.
  • The EYES should be set wide apart and well in under the brow. They should be small, bright, and piercing, and almond-shaped, not round. The color should be dark brown or nearly black, the darker the better.
  • The EARS should be small, prick, set well up on the skull, and pointed, but never cut. They should be covered with short, velvety hair. From the front, the outer edge of the ear should form a straight line up from the side of the skull. The use, size, shape, and placement of the ear and its erect carriage are major elements of the keen, alert, intelligent Scottish Terrier expression.

More words are used in the standard to describe the head than any other aspect of the Scottish Terrier. The head is a key element in establishing breed type and the Scottie head is, more than any other feature, what distinguishes this breed from the Cairn and the Westie.

 
The head is the first part of the Scottie to encounter prey underground. It is perfectly designed for fighting and killing without sustaining injury to any vital parts.

                               

The head must be long in proportion to the size of the dog. For a dog with an eleven-inch topline, a head of just over eight inches from occiput to tip of nose is correct. (See the Breeder's Guide Table.) Longer-bodied dogs must have longer heads to be in proper balance. There are some breeders who have taken the notion of proportionality to justify breeding short-headed Scotties because they are in balance with very short backs. This is a fallacy. When a Scottie's head is short, regardless of the size or shape of the dog, the head is incorrect for the following reasons:
  1. The standard calls for the head to be long "in proportion to the size of the dog." It doesn't say that short-backed, or small dogs may have short heads. Their heads may be shorter than the heads of bigger, longer dogs, but they must still be proportionately long.
  2. The Scottie's jaw muscles lie along the cheeks and attach to the skull. It is the length of the muscles that gives the jaws their power, not the breadth of the skull or prominence of the cheek. A dog with a short head cannot have the biting power of a dog with a long head, unless the cheek muscles are overdeveloped.
  3. Scotties have extremely large teeth which require plenty of space. A short-headed dog lacks the room to hold teeth of the correct size.
  4. The Scottie's long head is the "killing" end of the dog. It must be of sufficient size and power to take on some of the toughest underground fighters in the animal world.

When the planes are not parallel, the effect is very unpleasant.

Edwin Megargee

correctstop.jpg (7238 bytes)

The slightly-domed skull and the muzzle should form two parallel planes of equal length. This is a key element in correct expression. Lack of parallel planes, and skull and muzzle of unequal length are both common problems.

When the skull and muzzle are not parallel, a "down face" is seen more frequently than an "up face." The latter makes for a particularly unpleasant expression.

When the skull and muzzle are of unequal length, it is more common to see a short muzzle than a short skull. The short skull-long muzzle causes a "baboon-like" expression. The long skull-short muzzle  gives the head a somewhat infantile appearance.

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