Irish Terrier | Dog Breed Information & Facts – Pictures

The guard, hunting dog is the Irish Terrier. It is also called the “universal rural dog.” This name is justified by the unpretentiousness of the breed, their ability to survive in any conditions.

This is a born leader. He is infinitely loyal to his family, fearless, will not yield to any danger. Therefore, it can become a loyal companion and responsible guardian of property for its owner.

The Irish Terrier is a very intelligent, bold and energetic breed, which turns out to be an excellent choice for people who get along well with physical activity.

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The Irish Terrier is on the list of medium -sized dogs. The representatives of the race are distinguished by a solid physique with very developed muscles. They can be qualified as strong, massive, but not rude.

This elegant medium-sized terrier has a rough coat which is available in red, red or yellow-red wheat. The size of the adult males is 46 – 50 cm, the females of 46 – 48 cm. Their weight is around 10 to 12 kg

• Head: The skull is elongated with a smooth narrowing towards the muzzle. The front line of the forehead with a snap -free muzzle. Sweet relief of cheekbones.
• Jaws: The teeth are white in the full complex, healthy. The jaw is strong, allowing a firm socket. The bite looks like a tick.
• Ears: the ears are triangular, moderately thick, miniatures, forward. The ends of the ears hang slightly. The ears are tied high.
• Eyes: the eyes are small, dark in color. The gaze is significantly alive, understanding.
• Frame: The body is athletic, moderately long. Harmonizes perfectly with the other parts of the body. The neck is elongated, athletic with a gentle and extended transition to the shoulders. The back is strong and muscular. The kidney is slightly convex. The chest is deep, strong, not large and wide.
• Members: The legs are fine, parallel and elegant. The shoulders are long, placed at right angles. The posterior limbs are more massive and stronger. The legs are rounded, small but strong with strong claws.
• Pelage: the root of the hair is thick and hard with a characteristic break, but is uniformly resting on the body. On the head, it is shorter than on the other parts, on the muzzle, it forms a small beard. Color – golden red, red or red wheat. There may be white marks on the chest.

The Irish Terrier race has a joyful, open and friendly character. In addition, this manifests not only in the family circle, but also in relation to foreigners, your friends who come to your home and that the dog sees for the first time, to children, and in general compared to the world around.

Kindness, responsiveness and playfulness, one might say, are the main distinctive aspects of the character of these dogs.

If you live in the private sector, the dog will be an excellent goalkeeper for you, and you will certainly find out about the approach of danger or simply on foreigners. In addition, all small rodents, such as rats or moles, will be mercilessly exterminated, the Irish Terrier knows a lot about these things. It flows into his blood.

The Irish Terrier is predisposed to the following diseases:

• Hypothyroidism – disorders of the thyroid gland.
• Portosystemic shunt is an abnormal anastomosis between the portal system of the liver and the caudal vena cava, through which part of the blood, bypassing the liver, enters the general bloodstream.
• Myopathy is a violation of the processes of development of muscle tissue.
• Microphthalmos is a congenital malformation of the eye, in which one or both eyeballs are reduced in size.
• Cryptorchidism – one or both testes in males did not descend from the abdominal cavity into the scrotum.
• Progressive retinal atrophy is a hereditary disease that affects the ability of a terrier to see.
• Cystinuria is a hereditary disease caused by a defect in the absorption of the cystine amino acid in the renal tubules.
• Muscular dystrophy is a chronic disease characterized by progressive muscular degradation.
• Joint dysplasia – leads to a pronounced violation of the musculoskeletal function of the limbs.
• Von Willebrand disease – develops in the presence of a defective von Willebrand factor in the blood or its deficiency in the blood.
• Thrombopathy – insufficient blood clotting, occurs due to an abnormality of red blood cells.

Irish terriers feel good not only in the territory or in the apartment if a daily walk of 2.5 to 3 hours per day is planned.

Care consists of conventional procedures:

• The hair is combed once a week.
• The seasonal cutting procedure is carried out 1 time in 6 months.
• Bat your dog if necessary using shampoos for rough hairs.
• The ears are checked 3 times a week, the dirt is eliminated with a special lotion.
• The eyes of the eyes is monitored daily.
• Brush your teeth once a week.
• The nails are cut once every 3 months.

• No dirt sticks to the fur of the Irish Terrier.
• These terriers were used as messengers during the First World War.
• An Irish terrier dog served on a Canadian destroyer, which could detect a hostile submarine, while it was not tapped even on ship’s devices. Sensing the enemy, the dog immediately gave a signal with a clear bark.
• In his novels, Jack London repeatedly gave one of the main roles to the Irish Terrier.
• The Irish terrier is called the chosen one of the gentleman and the farmer’s best friend.

The homeland of the Irish terrier is Ireland. This breed is one of the oldest on the globe. But officially it is believed that these dogs appeared in the mid-nineteenth century.

The history of the breed is not exactly known. There are different versions regarding its occurrence and regarding which types of dogs are the ancestors of the Irish Red Terrier.

According to one version, the direct ancestor of the modern Irish terrier is a black and tan wire-haired terrier. It was bred two hundred years ago for small rodent hunting and fox hunting. Now, unfortunately, this breed is considered extinct.

Another version indicates that in the ancestors of the Irish terrier there is a large wheaten terrier. Inhabited the area of ​​the Irish county of Cork. He is also considered the progenitor of Welsh and Lakeland Terriers.

There is another version, but it is the most implausible and little confirmed by facts. According to it, the Irish Terrier came from the Irish Wolfhound. In other words, it is a small copy of the wolfhound. The relationship, of course, between these breeds exists, but it’s very distant.

This breed was officially recognized as an independent breed in 1870. After that, for nine years, breeding was somewhat chaotic. Representatives of the breed were distinguished by a variety of sizes, colors and body types.

Seriously, the breeders engaged in breeding in 1879. The purpose of the breeding was to obtain standard Irish terriers with certain sizes and coat colors.