National Border Collie Council - Extended Standard Head

Head

Standard - The skull is broad and flat between the ears, slightly narrowing to the eye, with a pronounced stop, cheeks deep but not prominent. The muzzle tapering to the nose, is strong and the same length as the skull. The lips are tight and clean and the nose is large with open nostrils. The nose colour in all dogs will be a solid colour, with no pink or light pigment, and shall complement the background colour of the dog.

The head should be broad and flat between the ears with a well defined stop and the occiput (upper, back point of the skull) not too pronounced. If there is a pronounced occiput it will either affect the proper ratio of the head or it will mean the skull, minus the occiput, is too short.

The muzzle should be well rounded with a flat bridge, not narrow, with a moderately strong chin and underjaw, making a snipy or weak muzzle undesirable. There must be a moderate amount of chiselling to the foreface below and to the side of the eye.

When viewed from the side the skull should be flat, the planes of the foreface and skull parallel and of equal length. When viewed from above, the skull tapers into the muzzle.

So as not to affect the overall balance of the dog, the head must be in proportion to the rest of the body.

Pigmentation should not be gauged by nose colour alone. Correct colour of pigment can be verified on lips, eye rims, etc. which must mirror the nose colour. The black and white, the red, the tri colour (black, white & tan), and the blue merle Border Collies have black noses, the chocolate a liver nose and the blue’s nose is slate colour.