The breed standard (AKC) for the Tibetan Spaniel calls for its eyes to be “set fairly well apart but forward looking, giving an apelike expression.” We encountered a few sources that had a giggle or two over the “apelike” requisite feature, but it seems to us that one need only look into the eyes of this breed to know that the authors must surely have meant an “almost human” countenance. Sill, we’d like to hear from Tibbie owners to see if our own interpretation is close.

That said, the aspect is so important to breed type that when twelve Tibetan Spaniel breeder-judges participated in a survey on their breed’s priorities, an “apelike expression” ranked as the fourth most vital virtue from the breed standard (“muzzle medium length, blunt with cushioning, chin shows some depth and width” came in first for anyone wondering).