Border Terrier

A small sized dog of the terrier group, the Border terrier is rough coated and was bred originally for hunting vermin and fox. They share their ancestry with other terriers like Dandie Dinmont terriers and Bedlington terriers. They are active and lively dogs with a playful nature.

The Border terrier can easily be recognized by their heads shaped like otters. They have short and broad skulls with a scissor bite and a strong muzzle. Border terriers have short ears shaped like v’s that fall downward to their cheeks. They are usually seen in colour combinations of blue and tan, wheaten, red and grizzle and tan. They have only a few whiskers that are very short. Their tails are naturally tapering at the base, thick and short. Border terriers are well proportioned and have narrow bodies. The male dogs stand at a height of 33 to 41 cms and the females at a height of about 28 to 36cms. They are fairly light dogs weighing about 5.9 to 7 kgs for a male and 5.2 to 6.4 kgs for a female. The Border terriers have a two layered coat with a soft undercoat that is short, harsh, dirt resistant, wiry weather and dense. Lying close to it is the non curly non wavy outer layer. Due to their double layered coat a lot of dead hair accumulates that needs to be stripped by hand atleast two times in a year. In about eight weeks the top then begins to grow back. A weekly brush for a few lucky dogs is all it takes sometimes.

The Border terrier is a confrontational and even tempered dog that is aggressive on occasion and a little bit stubborn. These dogs will pick a fight with other dogs and it’s quite hard to stop them. These terriers have a surprisingly high ability to jump and are fast runners given the small size of their legs. They take very well to task training but are slower learners when being taught mere tricks.

These terriers will do anything to please their owners but still have the capacity to think independently and take initiative. They are even tempered and love being around people making them very good therapy dogs especially for children. They can be taught to get along with cats if they are raised with them but on a normal basis, will go tearing after any small animals. These dogs love to just sit around watch their surroundings. These terriers are not well behaved on long walks as they will need breaks at regular to intervals to just sit, roll in grass or watch what’s going on around them. Once they are tired it can be pretty hard to get them to move again.

Borders have a high threshold for pain and are strong willed. The main illnesses that this dog suffers are different forms of indigestion due their instincts to kill; they eat small animals and even toys that can cause their illness quite frequently.