• Lesson of the Day •

The Allover Pattern and Some Questions
Del Findley liked to suggest soap carvings to illustrate proper interrelationship of qualities which add together to create Collie expression. Take your knife, several bars of soap and work it out for yourself. First cut a well-blunted lean wedge as per the Standard. Once a wedge is formed, the basic problem is to create a spot to place the eyes. Round off the muzzle; in so doing make a stop between skull and muzzle but keep planes parallel. Where the flat skull meets the rounded muzzle, there are sharp craggy corners. These can be cut back diagonally. In the area of this cut is an ideal spot to set the eye. It is oblique to see forward or to the side. It does not protrude or in any way spoil the smooth lines or lie open to easy injury. Generally speaking errors in head shape are likely to be reflected in expression of the eye.
Oren Kem in Dog News, 1961