By Jacqueline L. Stacy PICKING THE CORRECT AFFEN “Like in most breeds, you should value soundness, but don’t forget:
SORT FIRST ON TYPE AND FROM THERE SORT ON SOUNDNESS.”
T hank you ShowSight for asking me to write about my favorite subject: Th e A ff enpinscher. Th is article intends to help a judge newly approved for A ff enpinschers, established A ff en judges and BIS judges not approved for A ff ens select the correct A ff enpinscher. Th e newly approved judge will eventually be faced with an entry of A ff ens of typi- cal quality. Th us, when you get an entry of more than one, you may be really uncer- tain which of the exhibits before you is the best. Or when you judge a Group or BIS and an A ff en walks into the ring you may have the same dilemna. I truly believe this breed has a steeper learning curve than many; mostly due to the low entries and just not having enough of them to judge to really form an opinion. Like in most breeds, you should value soundness, but don’t forget: sort first on TYPE and from there sort on soundness. So what is soundness in an A ff en? A dog that stands on straight front legs set
directly under the withers; elbows close to the body; rear legs extending no further back than the ischium appearing some- what under the butt with rather short hocks. Add to that a level topline, a square outline, good carriage and a light, free gait tracking four square converging with speed. You now have a sound dog. Now, make it an A ff en. Head & Expression Monkey-like Expression: Th is is a com- bination of the placement, size and shape of the ears, eyes, nose and lip line Ears: Must be symmetrical. Can be erect, semi-erect, dropped or docked. Don’t get hung up on how big the ears are or what kind of break they have. Just make sure they are symmetrical. It all comes back to what the standard says which is. All are acceptable as long as the monkey- like expression is maintained. Now put these ears on a round and domed skull that is not coarse. Draw a line between the eyes and a line from the stop to the end of the nose and you’ll get the proper length of foreface. Th e length of muzzle will be nearly the same as is the
“SO WHAT IS SOUNDNESS IN AN AFFEN? A dog that stands on straight front legs set directly under the withers; elbows close to the body; rear legs extending no further back than the ischium appearing somewhat under the butt with rather short hocks.”
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