Julie,
I find that doing head studies of Dobes and Danes is very difficult. You have to find the right angle and head-on usually doesn't work given the narrowness of their heads. My best results have come from shooting them slightly turned like this one.



Or closer to profile like this Dane image.



PeggySue, the issue of ear position and expression is one that is usually addressed in the breed standard so the concept of "getting the ears up" for certain breeds makes them look alert and prepared. Here, for example, is an unretouched shot of the Rottweiler Brito (Ch Brito Od Dragicevica) showing his earset up and his expression alert and ready for action.



And it works the same for the smaller breeds like this Frenchie. The ears should be up and the dog should look alert.



The whole concept of cropping was to make the dogs look more imposing given what their job was and what they were bred to do. Natural-eared Danes and Dobes just don't look the same. I'm not going to address the ethical issues of cropping or docking but the aesthetic issues are based on what the breeds were created to do and how their appearance enhances their ability to do that job.

Jim

This particular dobe really can't have a profile photo as she lacks underjaw and in the photos, it makes it more apparent. I guess her head is not her best attribute.

Whippets have the same issue of lacking underjaw. Dot could use a little more.

This bitch has a nice amount of underjaw and big soft eyes like whippet people want to see



This is a nice photo of Dot's head, nice enough I would use it in public, her ears are correct, it doesn't emphasize any bad stuff about her and she looks sweet



McGuire has a body to die for. His front end is one of the best I have seen. He is a beautiful stallion of a whippet dog. His head is *ok*. His ears are thicker and heavier than I like and I would like to see a larger eye. He has plenty of underjaw though. Notice the difference between his eyes and ears and Dot's



Cinnamon has *perfect* whippet ears. They never fly, they never droop, they are truly perfectly set and exactly as the standard calls for. She has a lovely head and big big eyes without being bug eyed(yes, there are bug eyed whippets) I love Cinnamon's delicate little head. To me, she has a gold standard head.

I love head studies of the whippets. Though Dot lacks just a hair in underjaw, she isn't what is called "snipey"



Though adorable, this whippet has a very snipey head due to TRULY lacking underjaw and length of muzzle







I find all this thought into heads and head studies very interesting.