THE DEERHOUND 89 



HEAD. The head should be broadest at the ears, 

 tapering slightly to the eyes, with the muzzle taper- 

 ing more decidedly to the nose. The muzzle should 

 be pointed, but the teeth and lips level. The head 

 should be long, the skull flat rather than round, 

 with a very slight rise over the eyes, but with nothing 

 approaching a stop. The skull should be coated with 

 moderately long hair, which is softer than the rest 

 of the coat. The nose should be black (though in 

 some blue-fawns the colour is blue), and slightly 

 aquiline. In the lighter-coloured dogs a black muzzle 

 is preferred. There should be a good moustache 

 of rather silky hair, and a fair beard. 



EARS. The ears should be set on high, and, in 

 repose, folded back like the Greyhound's, though 

 raised above the head in excitement without losing 

 the fold, and even, in some cases, semi -erect. A 

 prick ear is bad. A big, thick ear, hanging flat 

 to the head, or heavily coated with long hair, is 

 the worst of faults. The ear should be soft, glossy, 

 and like a mouse's coat to the touch, and the smaller 

 it is the better. It should have no long coat or 

 long fringe, but there is often a silky, silvery coat 

 on the body of the ear and the tip. Whatever the 

 general colour, the ears should be black or dark- 

 coloured. 



NECK AND SHOULDERS. The neck should be 

 long that is, of the length that befits the Grey- 

 hound character of the dog. An over-long neck 

 is not necessary, nor desirable, for the dog is not 

 required to stoop to his work like a Greyhound, and 

 it must be remembered that the mane, which every 

 good specimen should have, detracts from the 

 apparent length of the neck. Moreover, a Deer- 



