In forming a judgment of a Bulldog the general appearance is of most importance, as the various points of the dog should be symmetrical and well balanced, no one point being in excess of the others so as to destroy the impression of determination, strength, and activity which is conveyed by the typical specimen.  His body should be thickset, rather low in stature, but broad, powerful, and compact.  The head should be strikingly massive and large in proportion to the dog’s size.  It cannot be too large so long as it is square; that is, it must not be wider than it is deep.  The larger the head in circumference, caused by the prominent cheeks, the greater the quantity of muscle to hold the jaws together.  The head should be of great depth from the occiput to the base of the lower jaw, and should not in any way be wedge-shaped, dome-shaped, or peaked.  In circumference the skull should measure in front of the ears at least the height of the dog at the shoulders.  The cheeks should be well rounded, extend sideways beyond the eyes, and be well furnished with muscle.  Length of skull—­that is, the distance between the eye and the ear—­is very desirable.  The forehead should be flat, and the skin upon it and about the head very loose, hanging in large wrinkles.  The temples, or frontal bones, should be very prominent, broad, square and high, causing a wide and deep groove known as the “stop” between the eyes, and should extend up the middle of the forehead, dividing the head vertically, being traceable at the top of the skull.  The expression “well broken up” is used where this stop and furrow are well marked, and if there is the attendant looseness of skin the animal’s expression is well finished.

The face, when measured from the front of the cheek-bone to the nose, should be short, and its skin should be deeply and closely wrinkled.  Excessive shortness of face is not natural, and can only be obtained by the sacrifice of the “chop.”  Such shortness of face makes the dog appear smaller in head and less formidable than he otherwise would be.  Formerly this shortness of face was artificially obtained by the use of the “jack,” an atrocious form of torture, by which an iron instrument was used to force back the face by means of thumbscrews.  The nose should be rough, large, broad, and black, and this colour should extend to the lower lip; its top should be deeply set back, almost between the eyes.  The distance from the inner corner of the eye to the extreme tip of the nose should not be greater than the length from the tip of the nose to the edge of the under lip.  The nostrils should be large and wide, with a well-defined straight line visible between them.  The largeness of nostril, which is a very desirable property, is possessed by few of the recent prize-winners.

When viewed in profile the tip of the nose should touch an imaginary line drawn from the extremity of the lower jaw to the top of the centre of the skull.  This angle of the nose and face is known as the lay-back, and can only properly be ascertained by viewing the dog from the side.