To paraphrase the venerated show judge, Beth Sweigart, the Affenpinscher isn’t a glamour breed, but more like a street urchin type dog kept in sculleries to dispatch of vermin. This isn’t to suggest the breed doesn’t have standards.
Of course the breed has *a* standard, but within that standard are “mini” standards that address each aspect of an ideal Affenpinscher. In our view, one of them is hugely important in helping set breed type, namely, the Affen’s famous “monkey-like” expression. The word, “Affen,” after all, is a literal translation from German: To “ape” or “mock.”
The standard writes that longer hair on the dog’s head, eyebrows and bear frame the face to emphasis this monkey-like appearance, but this framing can also emphasize how wildly wrong a particular dog’s type is if one element of its face is “off.”
In this post, that element is the bite.
Figuratively speaking, strong upturned jaws serve as neon arrows pointing at the Affenpinscher distinguishing “pout,” but this petulant look is shattered if the dog has the wrong bite. A level bite is “okay” as long as the monkey-like expression is maintained. An overshot bite is a severe penalty, and a wry mouth is a serious fault, but the dog’s teeth and tongue must not show when the mouth is closed!
Protruding teeth in a closed mouth makes the difference between a well bred Affenpinscher like Banana Joe, and an Affen like this poor chap. The breed should show a visibly pouty lower lip created by a slightly undershot or reverse scissors bite, and a jaw wide enough to accommodate six evenly placed incisors on the top, and six evenly placed incisors on the bottom – all hidden when the mouth is closed.
Needless to say, far more goes into a sound, typey Affenpinscher than a bite, but it’s hard to get past that mouth if the bite is wrong.
Image of Affenpinscher in collage: © Slowmotiongli/Dreamstime. Top photo by © Katamount/Dreamstime