Skye Terrier

About the Skye Terrier

The Skye Terrier has been recorded in the Hebrides since at least the sixteenth century and was kept on the crofts of Skye and the western isles to work fox, badger and otter among the cairns. Its fame owes as much to Victorian sentiment as to work, and it is now among the rarest dogs in Britain, with a handful of puppies registered in a year.

The dog is twice as long as it is high, standing about 25 to 26 cm, beneath a long, hard, straight outer coat that hangs like a curtain over a short, woolly undercoat. Ears may be prick or drop, and both are correct. Colours run from black through dark and light grey to fawn and cream, always with black points. This is a distant breed with strangers and single-minded about its own people, so a stud should be steady rather than fearful.

The long back and short legs make spinal trouble a fair thing to ask about, along with any history of forelimb lameness during a puppy's growth, which the breed clubs know well. An eye examination and a patella assessment are worth requesting. Above all, ask about the pedigree: in a breed this small, the coefficient of inbreeding and how widely a stud has already been used matter more than any single certificate.

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.