Norfolk Terrier

About the Norfolk Terrier

The Norfolk Terrier and the Norwich Terrier were a single breed until 1964, when the Royal Kennel Club separated them on ear carriage alone: the Norfolk carries a neat drop ear and the Norwich a prick one. Both were developed around Cambridge and East Anglia to bolt foxes and kill rats, and both are still genuinely game.

A dog stands about 25 to 26 cm, low, compact and surprisingly substantial for the height, with a hard, wiry, straight coat in red, wheaten, black and tan, or grizzle, kept in order by hand-stripping. These terriers are more sociable with their own kind than most of the group and were kennelled in packs. A stud should be sound, dense in bone and cheerful, and the drop ear should sit close and neat.

Heart disease deserves attention here, and mitral valve problems appear as dogs age, so ask whether the stud has been listened to by a vet and what was heard. A patella assessment and an annual eye examination are the standard requests, and hip scoring is worth asking about. Listen to the dog breathe after exercise too, since narrow airways have been recorded in the small East Anglian terriers.

Health & breeding

We check every hip, elbow, eye and DNA result you give us against the Royal Kennel Club’s public records by hand, and we record who checked it and when. The Royal Kennel Club’s public records may not include all the screening a dog has had, so a dog with no Royal Kennel Club record showing is not necessarily untested.