EVOLUTION OF THE HEAD
THE HISTORY OF THE DOWNFACED, EGG-SHAPED HEAD
The current AKC standard provides us with this definitive word picture:
Should be long, strong and deep right to the end of the muzzle, but not coarse. Full face it should be oval in outline and be filled completely up giving the impression of fullness with a surface devoid of hollows or indentations, i.e., egg shaped. In profile it should curve gently downwards from the top of the skull to the tip of the nose. The forehead should be flat across from ear to ear. The distance from the tip of the nose to the eyes should be perceptibly greater than that from the eyes to the top of the skull. The underjaw should be deep and well defined.
Yet during the early decades of the breed there was no mention of downface. The English standard of 1904 described a head changed little if at all from those of Hinks’ original White Cavaliers:
. . . long, flat, and wide between the ears, tapering to the nose, without cheek muscles. There should be a slight indentation down the face, without the stop between the eyes. The jaws should be long and very powerful . . .
The contemporary Bull Terrier Club of America (BTCA) standard agreed word for word. Then in 1905, almost out of the blue, BTCA added: ‘Preferably the foreface should have a decided “downness”. The following year the section on the head was revised again to read:
Courtesy of Passionate Productions
. . . should be long, but type should not be sacrificed to length. Skull flat and widest at the ears. Viewed from above it should taper gradually and merge into the muzzle without break in the line. There should be a slight indentation down the middle, but without “stop” and without noticeable brow. Forehead filled right up the eyes, and should have a perceptible “downness.” . . . Muzzle wide and tapering, but without so much taper as to make the nose appear pinched or snipey.
Not until 1915 was the English standard amended to include both egg-shaped and downfaced:
(1) Appearance: Oval, almost egg-shaped. Fairly long, but strength must not be sacrificed for length. Not too wide or coarse, and cheek muscles should not be prominent.
(2) Profile: Should be almost an arc from the occiput to the tip of the nose. The more down-faced the better. No stop or indentation.
So how and why did the concepts of downface and subsequently egg-shaped arise? There is scant information in the contemporary doggie literature – downfaced appearing first in 1903 and egg-shaped not until the new English standard was proposed in late 1914.
. . . Certainly Bull Terriers were in transition at this time, their popularity in England impacted severely by the 1895 ban on ear cropping; enthusiasts were scrambling to refashion the head. There was talk of ‘filled-up faces’ – fill under the eyes, strength of muzzle. The flat (straight) head produces at best only moderate fill; on the other hand the downfaced head can be selectively bred to be truly filled up and this became the goal.
Over time downfaced and filled up became synonymous; though in fact downface was the means and fill the objective . . .
This excerpt is taken from the “Thoughts of a Contrarian” written by Dr. David O. Harris, to provide a basis for the development of “downface and egg-shaped” as called for in breed standards for Bull Terriers. The complete article is included in his book, Made in Birmingham, A History of the Bull Terrier. Prior to his passing in 2013, Dr. Harris kindly gave written permission to utilize this book for education purposes.
