Welcome to the Clan Duncan Breeder's Notebook. All of us wear many "hats" as we travel through life. Here in the Breeder's Notebook, I put on two of my professional "hats," those of biologist and scientific illustrator, to bring you thoughts and perspectives from my own personal vision of the Sheltie. These pages are offered in a spirit of inquiry and with a desire to share.

If you are new to Shelties, I hope that this page will serve two functions: 1. Better understanding of Sheltie excellences and faults, and 2. Some understanding of how much knowledge, care, and planning goes into breeding a litter of good Sheltie puppies!

On this page of the Breeder's Notebook, I offer a look at the fit of Sheltie lips, including some of the common faults. The views are these: The first view is from the absolute front, not looking slightly down on the muzzle and underjaw as we tend to do, since we are much taller than a Sheltie. The side view is drawn as if the viewer's eye were at the lipline. Again this differs from our usual perception angle, and makes the underjaw look deeper than it usually does to us from our superior height. Remember, some variation in the proportions of nose size to muzzle size is perfectly all right with the AKC Sheltie Standard; so is some variation in depth, finish and rounding of underjaw. I have drawn what I consider to be a middle-of-the-road muzzle and underjaw on which to demonstrate these lip faults. Please note that this page deals only with LIP FAULTS, not with faults of the muzzle and underjaw themselves.

The Sheltie standard states that the lips MUST fit tightly together all the way around. Therefore, any gaps or flops are not correct Sheltie type. Faults of only the lips themselves are not huge ohmygoshIhavetoneuterthisdog faults, please! But they are faults against type, nevertheless. Our breed's engineers knew what they were about when they specified this MUST in the standard. Remember, our breed standard has few MUSTS, and this is one of them! A Sheltie with these lip faults, especially if they are exaggerated, does not exhibit true Sheltie type. We are lucky that our breed standard describes very functional, tight-fitting lips like those of wild canids. As a rule, Shelties do not have problems with cracking, rips, and tears in pendulous lips, and with infections in lip folds and muzzle-lip wrinkles. This is good! Many (but not all) of the lip faults, of course, are caused by underlying problems with both the teeth and the skull. I must give credit here again to the very patient and good-humored Merlin, who sat with me, with his muzzle held in position for several sittings so I could have a model on which to base the drawings. (Poor fellow, sometimes these poses were uncomfortable, especially the ones where his lower lip was pulled down.) I chose a bi-black so that shadings and/or merlings would not camouflage anything I wished to illustrate (and besides, Merlin is used to being my model). I have deliberately "purple-highlighted" these illustrations, since you cannot show much using black on black.

Here above is the correct lip fit: tight all the way around, no sags, no teeth or gums visible, no holes, no pockets. A Sheltie with correct lip fit will show very little if any of the hairless, rubbery lip skin when his mouth is closed. This means that the lip skin will stay moist and tight, sealing off the mouth neatly. This is good; exposed lip skin may get very dry, crack, and bleed, or may sunburn and blister.

Above we see incorrect lip fit caused by two bite problems, overshot (left) and undershot. Note that the teeth are visible in both cases. A dog unable to close his mouth because of poor tooth alignment may drool, and will certainly lose more moisture through his mouth than a dog able to close his lips. In the West where humidity is low, dogs like these and like the two examples below, drink more water to keep themselves hydrated.

Above are illustrations of lips failing to meet because the skull and lower jaws have alignment problems. The front-on illustration shows an exaggerated example, and the side view shows a less problematic example. By skull-lower jaw alignment problems, I mean that either the skull is too narrow for the jawbones, or the jawbones are too wide for the skull (whichever this is, the results are the same and the effects are indistinguishable; it's like saying, "These pants are too small for me." Or, "I am too large for these pants." Both are true, but which one best describes the problem, depends upon the point of view! (I know which I prefer!) When there is a poor fit between skull and jawbones, the molars and premolars, top and bottom, interfere with one another. The lower molars are supposed to fit just inside the upper molars, with the slightest possible "kiss" or even a tiny gap between the two sets. This makes for good tight fit between the skull and jawbones and good tearing power for the molars and premolars. If the skull-jawbone fit is poor, the lines of back teeth meet, making it impossible for the dog to close his mouth, and thus his lips stay open. This makes the dog look like he has a deeper underjaw than he really has, because it cannot tuck up neatly where it is supposed to fit.

Shown above, "Collie mouth" is a condition in which the centers of the two lower jawbones drop forward in a point right where the two halves meet. This is a weak condition, and causes the lower incisors to drop forward (and in rare cases where the skull is involved, too, involves the upper incisors), making it impossible for the lips to meet. This condition usually worsens with age, and drooling results. From the side, Collie mouth looks much like the side view of the muzzle in the illustrations below.

Shown above left is visible lower lip, a rather common fault. The lower lip, for some reason, may be tightly pulled down away from where it should meet the upper lips in a tight seal. A less common cause of this problem is loose-fitting, or slack lower lip, where the lip is not tight and falls loosely away from the gum. If the lower lip is pulled down or is loosely falling down, you will see the lower lip when you look at the muzzle front-on; it will not be hidden. The center illustration shows the side view of this fault, which is nearly invisible from ringside. The illustration on the right shows a more severe expression of this problem, where the lower lip is down so far that the lower gums and bases of the lower incisors are visible. In its less serious forms, down lower lip is not much of a problem. In more severe cases, the lower lip may crack and bleed (if the dog is living in an area with little humidity), or the dog may drool.

Flews? What are flews? Flews, commonly seen on many sporting dogs and scent hounds, are pendulous lips that hang down and "wave in the breeze." Sheltie puppies often go through a stage where they have a little bit of flews with the sides of the upper lips, but usually grow out of it. However, sometimes flews persist into adulthood. They most often appear as little extensions of the upper lips on the side of the muzzle near the front, hanging down a bit on the sides to more than overlap the rubbery, skinless area of the lip seal. If not exaggerated, they are not a real problem, and sometimes may be seen to add a little softness to the look of the muzzle. However, flews are absolutely un-typical of our breed, so should be faulted when present. I have not illustrated flews from the side; they are nearly invisible unless the mouth is opened, but in some cases may make the lipline look like it is swinging up in a "smile" in the direction of the eyes. Flews make the underjaw seem shallower than it really is.

Above is a minor fault of the upper lips, which I call "whistle-hole." Here the upper lips fail to meet in the center, leaving a little "blow hole." I once knew an obedience Sheltie with whistle-hole upper lips, and when he had completed an exercise, if it wasn't hot enough for him to pant, he would breathe hard through his closed lips and whistle! This is a minor fault, but it wouldn't be a good idea to double up on it too strongly.

Finally, here is a fault that is becoming more and more common, and is not true to the type of our breed. This is loose lips, where the corners of the lips actually form a visible "pocket" of loose lip skin. You see this "corner pocket," very exaggerated, in Bulldogs, Mastiffs, Bloodhounds, and many sporting dogs. This is not a sheepdog thing! The lip skin has some soft serrations or scallops of skin in the lips near the place where upper lips and lower lips come together. In the Sheltie, these little nubbins should be HIDDEN, not out flapping in the breeze where they can be torn, or more likely, can dry, crack, and bleed.

Most lip-fit faults are minor faults of type, and should be regarded with persepctive -- as should all faults. These are not, for the most part, faults that will affect the overall Sheltie, nor will they have much effect upon a Sheltie's ability to perform, to live a long life, or to be an excellent companion. However, they are faults, and should be noted and weighed when planning breedings.

I haven't included every problem of lip fit, but Merlin says, "That's enough for now!" Please click on the two buttons below for more pages from the Breeder's Notebook.