Kerry Blue Terrier

Terriers

Medium

Median 12.4 y

FCI group 3 · Terriers · Derived from the adult weight midpoint (14 kg)

Median survival across 536 UK dogs (VetCompass, McMillan 2024) · half live 9–14 y

The Kerry Blue Terrier or Irish Blue Terrier is an Irish breed of dog of terrier type. It was originally bred to control vermin including rats, rabbits, badgers, ferrets, foxes, otters, hares, deer and wolves, but later became a general working dog used for a variety of jobs including herding cattle and sheep.

Smart

Alert

People-loving

Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · reference ranges from the Kintail breed dataset

Adult weight

Reference

Male

15–18 kg

Female

10–13 kg

The breed standard (FCI 3)

Weight for age

Stock data

Male

Female

Expected range

Expected range from the breed's own adult weight, kilograms. Growth reference: Salt et al. 2017, WALTHAM (9–15 kg band).

Heat cycles · females

Stock data

First heat

8–12 mo

typical

Interval

180 d

typical

Bleeding

~9 d

typical

Proestrus 9d

Estrus 9d

Diestrus 52d

Anestrus 110d

General figures for dogs, not for this breed — individual cycles vary widely.

Questions people ask

Adult males usually weigh 15–18 kg and females 10–13 kg. Most are close to their full size by around 18 months, though the last little bit of filling out takes longer. Growth reference: Salt et al. 2017, WALTHAM (9–15 kg band).

No Kerry Blue Terrier cycle figures are published here yet, so this is general guidance rather than a breed number: 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.

The median is 12.4 y. Median survival across 536 UK dogs (VetCompass, McMillan 2024) · half live 9–14 y. How the later years go comes down to weight, teeth, exercise and regular check-ups far more than to the breed.