It can take years to learn how to evaluate a dog, and most of us start out by learning the nuances of our own breed. Understandably, then, a lot of us don’t know terms used in other breeds because we haven’t needed to know them. Someone with a herding breed may not know, for instance, that in Bloodhounds, Scottish Deerhounds, Beagles, and Foxhounds, the tail is called the stern.
Another example: Owners of drop or prick eared dogs may wince at the mention of a break in the ear. Ouch! they might think.
The break in an ear, however, isn’t a literal break, and for someone just starting out in dogs, the term could be likened to a similar term in fashion. A pant or trouser “break” refers to the fold in the fabric that occurs at the bottom of the pant leg as it rests on the shoe. In dogs, a “break in the ear” is the place (or line) where the ear folds over. The Shetland Sheepdog Standard even calls for it: “Ears small and flexible, placed high, carried three-fourths erect, with tips breaking forward.” So does the Collie standard: “On the alert they [ears] are drawn well up on the backskull and are carried about three-quarters erect, with about one- fourth of the ear tipping or breaking forward.”
Some breeds that call for ears that “break” have dogs with natural ears, and these dogs may need an assist by having their ears “tipped.” That is a topic for another post.
Image: Shetland Sheepdog by ©Moredix|Dreamstime stock photo