Dandie Dinmont Terrier

History

Used by Gypsies in the early 1700s around Scotland, the Dandie Dinmont Terrier is believed to be of the Skye and Scotch Terrier bloodlines. The Scotch Terrier is a breed that no longer exists and is not to be confused with today's Scottish Terrier bloodlines. The Dandie Dinmont Terrier was used for hunting small rodents such as mice and rats that would be harmful for farm owners as well as Otters, Badgers, and Skunks.

Appearance

With an appearance unlike many other breeds, the Dandie Dinmont Terrier is long, stocky and rectangular in shape. Both males and females measuring 8-11 inches in height and weighing 18-24 pounds in weight, this breed is considered a small breed. They carry a large oval shaped head that fades into a short, somewhat square muzzle. Their eyes are large and round and are available in dark brown. The Dandie Dinmont Terrier has large, floppy ears that are pendant shaped and frame their face while their tail is approximately 9 inches in length, flat on top and long hair in the shape of a half circle on the bottom side of the tail creating a "sword like" appearance. This breed has a short to medium length coat that is generally soft and fully with a slight wave to its texture. Available in blonde, salt and pepper, as well as all shade variations of these combinations. Typically, salt and pepper coated puppies are born in a solid black.

Temperament

The Dandie Dinmont Terrier is a wonderful addition to any family with children of all ages and the elderly. Not recommended for any household with non canine pets due to their natural hunting traits of small animals. This breed is generally extremely upbeat, happy, joyful and loving to be around. Requiring a fair owner who only uses positive reinforcement training methods, this breed also requires a daily walk as well as playtime indoors. This breed also makes a wonderful watchdog as it will bark when company arrives, however it is recommended at a young age to teach your Dandie Dinmont Terrier to only bark until you've witnessed the company yourself, otherwise this breed can develop a habit of consistent barking. Suited for both apartment and country living situations.

Grooming

This breed requires daily brushing as well as professional grooming every so often.

Special Notes

Prone to Glaucoma and Epilepsy, back issues and weight gain, as well as Hypothyroidism in older aged dogs. Please fully educate yourself about the Dandie Dinmont Terrier prior to adding one to your family to ensure this is the correct breed for you so you are able to make a life long commitment to your new addition. Do not add this dog to your home unless you are able to provide life long physical and financial care. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.