Manchester Terrier

Quick-witted and alert, keen to chase small animals.
A Manchester Terrier
Photo: Roger Ahlbrand
Adult weight
5–10 kg
11–22 lb
Lifespan
15–17 yrs
Class · Companion
also Sport, Field

What it's like

In temperament it is lively, quick-witted and alert, with a terrier's keenness to chase small animals. It tends to attach closely to its own people and can be reserved with strangers.

Day to day
Activity
A good daily walk and play
Intelligence
Needs daily brain work
Handler demand
Needs steady training
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
Likely to chase small pets
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 Manchester Terrier right for you?
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Living with one

It has a short coat. It sheds through the year rather than in big seasonal moults. Plan on a brush once a week. It needs a moderate amount of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

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

It is a sleek, compact terrier with a long, wedge-shaped head, small dark almond-shaped eyes and small V-shaped ears that fold forward close to the head. The back arches slightly over the loin, giving a racy outline that hints at its reputed sighthound blood. The short, glossy coat is jet black and rich mahogany tan, with sharply defined markings: tan spots on the cheeks and above the eyes, a black thumb mark on each foreleg and fine black pencil lines along the toes.

Varieties

AKC divides this breed by weight. Pick the variety your dog is for a band that fits.
Variety
Weight
Height
Toy
Standard
5.4–10 kg (breed club figure)6

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 3 months, a male Manchester Terrier puppy is already as heavy as a grown Chihuahua. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
10 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight8
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
02.557.5102m4m6m9m12m18m
02.557.5102m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
1.5–3.0 kg 3.3–6.6 lb
1.6–3.2 kg 3.5–7.1 lb
3 months
2.0–4.0 kg 4.4–8.8 lb
2.1–4.1 kg 4.6–9.0 lb
4 months
2.7–5.4 kg 6.0–11.9 lb
2.7–5.5 kg 6.0–12.1 lb
5 months
3.3–6.6 kg 7.3–14.6 lb
3.3–6.5 kg 7.3–14.3 lb
6 months
3.7–7.4 kg 8.2–16.3 lb
3.6–7.3 kg 7.9–16.1 lb
7 months
4.0–8.0 kg 8.8–17.6 lb
3.9–7.9 kg 8.6–17.4 lb
8 months
4.3–8.5 kg 9.5–18.7 lb
4.2–8.3 kg 9.3–18.3 lb
9 months
4.4–8.8 kg 9.7–19.4 lb
4.3–8.7 kg 9.5–19.2 lb
10 months
4.5–9.1 kg 9.9–20.1 lb
4.5–8.9 kg 9.9–19.6 lb
11 months
4.6–9.3 kg 10.1–20.5 lb
4.5–9.1 kg 9.9–20.1 lb
12 months
4.7–9.4 kg 10.4–20.7 lb
4.6–9.3 kg 10.1–20.5 lb
15 months
4.9–9.8 kg 10.8–21.6 lb
4.8–9.6 kg 10.6–21.2 lb
18 months
5–10 kg 11–22 lb
5.0–9.9 kg 11.0–21.8 lb

Health and lifespan

In UK lab records, mast cell tumour turns up more often in Manchester Terriers than in crossbreeds: it is more likely. It is rated serious. These are figures for the breed as a whole, not a prediction for your dog.
Listed by likelihood level, highest first, then by how serious it is, then by name.
  • Mast cell tumour
    Lab-confirmed cases
    More likely
    Impact: serious
Lab-confirmed: compares dogs whose tumour samples went to a lab with dogs seen in general practice, so the figures run higher than vet-record ones.

Lifespan

No vet study has measured how long Manchester Terriers live yet. The 15–17 years shown is a general figure without a published source.

Where it comes from

Developed in and around mid-19th-century Manchester as a ratter for its towns and mills, the Manchester Terrier has some old Black and Tan Terrier and probably some Whippet in its ancestry. The city's weekly shows in public houses gave it classes of its own, and in time it took the city's name. The Royal Kennel Club registers its toy form separately, as the English Toy Terrier4,10,11.

The Manchester Terrier's later history was uneven. When the Kennel Club stopped allowing dogs with cropped ears in the show ring in the late nineteenth century, breeders had to work towards a neat natural ear, and the breed lost ground in the process. Its numbers fell further during the twentieth century, and the Royal Kennel Club now lists it among its vulnerable native breeds. Kept to kill rats quickly and cleanly, it was also used for rabbiting, and its speed and agility still reflect that work.

Breed standard

Kennel clubs do not all register this breed the same way. One registry divides it into two varieties by weight, each with its own weight range.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Manchester 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

German Pinscher
Pinschers & molossoids · Medium
Doberman Pinscher
Pinschers & molossoids · Medium
Fox Terrier (Wire)
Terrier · Small
Lakeland Terrier
Terriers · Small
Or compare the Manchester Terrier with any breed you choose
Track your own Manchester Terrier
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Sources

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