Cesky Terrier

Calmer than many terriers; gentle with its family.
A Cesky Terrier
Photo: ceskyfreund36
Adult weight
6–10 kg
13–22 lb
Lifespan
12–15 yrs
Handler demand
Suits a first-time owner
Class · Companion
also Family

What it's like

The breed is known for being calmer and less quarrelsome than many terriers. It is usually affectionate and gentle with its family and reserved with strangers. It makes an alert watchdog and keeps the curiosity and persistence of a working terrier.

Day to day
Activity
A good daily walk and play
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Suits a first-time owner
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Bonded to its family
Independence
Cooperative, with its own ideas
Around the home
Sensitivity
Average
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Chases; needs managing
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
Is a Cesky Terrier right for you?
Take the breed matcher

Living with one

It has a long coat. It sheds through the year rather than in big seasonal moults. Plan on daily brushing. It needs a moderate amount of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Cesky Terrier is a small dog, heavier than a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and lighter than a Pug.

The dog is long and low, with drop ears, a strong head and a tail carried low at rest. Its fine, silky, slightly wavy coat comes in shades of grey-blue or, less often, light coffee, often with lighter markings on the head, beard, legs and underside. Puppies are born black or brown and lighten as they grow. When the coat is clipped, a beard, eyebrows and longer hair on the legs and underside are left in place.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male Cesky Terrier puppy is already as heavy as a grown Yorkshire Terrier. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
10 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight7
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
02.557.5102m4m6m9m12m18m
02.557.5102m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
1.8–3.0 kg 4.0–6.6 lb
1.9–3.2 kg 4.2–7.1 lb
3 months
2.4–4.0 kg 5.3–8.8 lb
2.5–4.1 kg 5.5–9.0 lb
4 months
3.3–5.4 kg 7.3–11.9 lb
3.3–5.5 kg 7.3–12.1 lb
5 months
3.9–6.6 kg 8.6–14.6 lb
3.9–6.5 kg 8.6–14.3 lb
6 months
4.5–7.4 kg 9.9–16.3 lb
4.4–7.3 kg 9.7–16.1 lb
7 months
4.8–8.0 kg 10.6–17.6 lb
4.7–7.9 kg 10.4–17.4 lb
8 months
5.1–8.5 kg 11.2–18.7 lb
5.0–8.3 kg 11.0–18.3 lb
9 months
5.3–8.8 kg 11.7–19.4 lb
5.2–8.7 kg 11.5–19.2 lb
10 months
5.5–9.1 kg 12.1–20.1 lb
5.3–8.9 kg 11.7–19.6 lb
11 months
5.6–9.3 kg 12.3–20.5 lb
5.5–9.1 kg 12.1–20.1 lb
12 months
5.7–9.4 kg 12.6–20.7 lb
5.6–9.3 kg 12.3–20.5 lb
15 months
5.9–9.8 kg 13.0–21.6 lb
5.8–9.6 kg 12.8–21.2 lb
18 months
6–10 kg 13–22 lb
6.0–9.9 kg 13.2–21.8 lb

Lifespan

No vet study has measured how long Cesky Terriers live yet. The 12–15 years shown is a general figure without a published source.

Where it comes from

The Cesky Terrier is a Czech terrier bred to hunt fox and badger, though now mostly a house dog; the geneticist František Horák made it by crossing a Sealyham Terrier with a Scottish Terrier. Horák, of Klánovice near Prague, began fixing the type in 1949, and the FCI recognised the breed in 1963. It is the national dog of Czechia, and its body coat is clipped rather than hand-stripped4,8.

The Cesky Terrier, also known as the Bohemian Terrier, came out of Czech geneticist František Horák's wish for a hunting terrier suited to the forests of Bohemia. He crossed the Scottish and Sealyham Terriers, seeking a dog with a narrower chest than the Scottish Terrier, so that it could follow quarry underground, and a lighter build. He also wanted it calm enough to hunt in packs. In the nineteen-eighties a further Sealyham cross was made to strengthen the breed, which has since spread to Britain and North America.

Breed standard

The Cesky Terrier is judged against standard no. 246, in group 3, Terriers4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Cesky Terrier figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a small breed is most likely at the early end.

Compare with related

Sealyham Terrier
Terriers · Small
Scottish Terrier
Terriers · Small
Australian Terrier
Terriers · Small
Rat Terrier
Terrier · Small
Or compare the Cesky Terrier with any breed you choose
Track your own Cesky Terrier
Log a minute a day and watch them sit on these curves. Free.

Sources

Uncited on this page: Lifespan — no reviewed source yet, so it is a general reference figure rather than a published one.
Something wrong on this page?
Parts of this page were written by AI ·