The Head

One of the most striking features of the SBT is the head. The standard is not the most comprehensive one, so some comments are needed. To illustrate them, we'll use Mamuz (Dugar de Baladrar Marquis of Sade), whose head is the best one I have seen.

Head and Skull: Short. Let the ambiguities begin. "Short" is a comparative word, so we need to ask ourselves short as compared to what? In the original, 1935 standard, there are several instances in which the STB features are compared to those of a terrier. Many experts agreed that we should understand that such comparisons are made with a typical shaped terrier, as in a Fox or an Airedale, dogs with very long heads and almost no stop. Accordingly, when the standard calls for a short head, it does not mean a bulldog head, but one that is shorter then those of typical terriers.

...deep though with broad skull. Deepness refers to the height of the head, which must be considerable. The broadness is clearly shown in this picture:

Very pronounced cheek muscles, distinct stop, short foreface, nose black. According to Alan Mitchell, the height of the stop should be approx. one inch. Most important, the stop should exist. Many dogs simply lack any stop worth mentioning. The short foreface is one of the most debated points in the standard. Please let us remember that we are comparing our STB with a Fox Terrier, so the foreface should not be extremely short, as we would lose the typical STB expression, and, far worse, we would start having breathing troubles. How short is short enough? To Alec Waters, a skull/foreface proportion of two by one should be regarded as ideal, with half inch of tolerance in either way. This ratio is typical of short-faced breeds, and can be seen in the first photo. I don't think a shorter face would be desirable. The big cheek muscles, remainders of the STB's gladiator past, are indispensable to correct expression. They show fairly clearly in all pictures, but far better in Turron's one in the first entry.
Mouth: Lips tight and clean. Jaws strong, teeth large, with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws. Not much to say here, as the standard is very specific for once. It is remarkable how well the bite is described, and this should be regarded as an indication of how very important the proper scissor bite is, as nothing else is acceptable.

Eyes: Dark preferred but may bear some relation to coat colour. Round, of medium size, and set to look straight ahead. Eye rims dark. A picture is worth a thousand words. Eyes are round, not triangular or slanted. Only with that eye shape can a dog have the proper STB expression. Today's FCI and KC standards regretfully omit an important feature that was in past ones, and remains in the AKC's: when the coat surrounding the eye is white, they eyelids can be pink. Ears: Rose or half pricked, not large or heavy. Full, drop or pricked ears highly undesirable. The first picture shows the rose ear. In the third one, the dog's undivided attention gets them close to half prick. As a final comment, we have some lines in Latin America that pass along pricked ears. Such animals should not be used for breeding.