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Guiding judges on selecting the best Affenpinscher: type, soundness, temperament, movement, and expression.
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This article was originally published in Showsight Magazine, March 2013 issue.
Thank you, ShowSight, for asking me to write about my favorite subject: The Affenpinscher.
This article intends to help a judge newly approved for Affenpinschers, established Affen judges, and BIS judges not approved for Affens select the correct Affenpinscher.
The newly approved judge will eventually be faced with an entry of Affens of typical quality. Thus, when you get an entry of more than one, you may be really uncertain which of the exhibits before you is the best. Or when you judge a Group or BIS and an Affen walks into the ring, you may have the same dilemma.
I truly believe this breed has a steeper learning curve than many, mostly due to the low entries and just not having enough of them to judge to really form an opinion.
Like in most breeds, you should value soundness, but don’t forget: sort first on TYPE and from there sort on soundness.
So what is soundness in an Affen? A dog that stands on straight front legs set directly under the withers; elbows close to the body; rear legs extending no further back than the ischium, appearing somewhat under the butt with rather short hocks. Add to that a level topline, a square outline, good carriage, and a light, free gait tracking four square converging with speed. You now have a sound dog. Now, make it an Affen.
Monkey-like Expression: This is a combination of the placement, size, and shape of the ears, eyes, nose, and lip line.
Ears: Must be symmetrical. Can be erect, semi-erect, dropped, or docked. Don’t get hung up on how big the ears are or what kind of break they have. Just make sure they are symmetrical. It all comes back to what the standard says, which is: All are acceptable as long as the monkey-like expression is maintained.
Now put these ears on a round and domed skull that is not coarse. Draw a line between the eyes and a line from the stop to the end of the nose and you’ll get the proper length of foreface. The length of the muzzle will be nearly the same as the distance between the eyes. That tells you that down faces, long muzzles, narrow lower jaws aren’t to be rewarded, nor are short or upturned muzzles.
Eyes: Must be round (no corners and no eye white), medium-sized, very dark in color, and set in the middle of the head.
Nose: Should have nice big open nostrils, blunt, and always be black.
Lower Lip Line: Should be obvious and appear to be a padded upside-down U-shape.
Okay, stand back—look directly at the face straight on and ask yourself if it looks like a monkey. Now look at the others in the class and compare them to each other. Determine which has the best head.
I want Toy dogs to be toy-sized. The Affen standard allows for a huge range in size—without DQs or ideals. It’s 9½”-11½” for either sex. This is a huge difference. It is extremely difficult to keep the breed small yet sturdy while retaining leg length, and far too easy to get them on the big and bigger and beyond size. Again, look at the class and assess accordingly.
Proportion should be square. Though we allow for bitches to be slightly longer, measure from forechest to ischium and from withers to the ground. Body depth should be just to the top of the elbow on adults—most puppies aren’t there yet. Please don’t reward the spindly-looking ones with no bone or the short-legged ones that look like their legs have been cut off at the knees. They should not be delicate in any way. The neck is short and thick. Hind legs do not extend beyond the butt. Now look at the dogs in the class: which possesses the best proportion?
Everything about having an Affen in your ring should be comical and enjoyable. Yes, it must be trained well enough to stand on the table for exam, walk easily and freely around the ring, yet this breed should not be mechanical. They are impulsive. That’s typical and okay. Many will spend time on their hindquarters playing around much to their handler’s dismay. No big deal.
If the behavior makes you smile and even chuckle a bit, it’s correct and should be rewarded. Now look at the dogs in the class: which exudes the most attitude and character?
The action should be light, free, sound, and confident.
Topline: Must remain level, not sloping downward from withers to the set-on of tail—not low in shoulder or high in rear, not arched over the loin. Not hackneyed or high action.
Now look at your class and add the carriage of the head and the tail. The neck is to be short, so don’t expect an exaggerated high head carriage. When natural, the tail should be carried curved slightly over the back when in motion. Tails that curve over the back or touch the side of the quarters, in addition to poker straight tails and tails pointing to 2 o’clock, are equally faulty. They destroy the outline. Docked tails, though seldom seen these days, are perfectly acceptable. Again, determine who is best.
This is the least of my concerns for the breed—yes, it’s good to have rough, harsh coats, but be aware, the standard speaks to allowing for longer and softer hair on the head, neck, chest, stomach, and legs. That’s most of the dog. Some present-day naysayers of the Affenpinschers shown today wrongly believe that the harder the coat, the better, wanting very little furnishings—and prefer little to no trimming. Others believe the presentation on most Affens shown today has gone way too far and sculpted the dogs to look a-typical. I concur.
The proper amount of coat and the trim must allow the judge to see the outline of the dog, its face and its expression, and still allow for a shaggy look. That’s a near oxymoron and not easily achieved.
Color is not material. Judge them all the same and remember points on the black and tan are not spoken about in our standard, so what would be a mismarked black and tan in a different breed is okay for an Affen. Again, look at your class and select the trim that pleases you.
Now it’s time to really choose. You’ve judged them all—none of them are perfect and some excel in areas that others don’t and lack in others excel in. You assessed breed type if you have followed the above six points.
Remember: don’t fault judge. Put up the best overall type. This will be the one that most screams monkey-like terrier.
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