Scottish Terrier

Loyal at home, reserved with strangers, keen to dig.
A Scottish Terrier
Photo: Carlos Valenzuela
Adult weight
8.5–10.5 kg
19–23 lb
Lifespan
12.7 yrs
Class · Companion
also Watchdog

What it's like

In temperament the breed is confident and independent, often reserved with strangers but loyal to its own household. It is determined and spirited, with a strong instinct to dig and chase, and is often described as dignified.

Day to day
Activity
A good daily walk and play
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Needs steady training
With people
Affection
Likes its own space
Loyalty
Sticks close to its people
Independence
Decides for itself
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 Scottish Terrier right for you?
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Living with one

It has a wire or harsh coat. Loose hair stays caught in the coat until it is brushed, stripped or clipped out. Plan on a brush once a week, plus hand-stripping two or three times a year. It needs a moderate amount of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Scottish Terrier is a small dog, about the weight of a grown Pug.

Bred to go to ground after foxes, badgers and other quarry among rocks and cairns, the Scottie is a compact, sturdy dog with short legs, a deep chest and a long head with a pronounced beard and eyebrows. Its ears are small and pricked, and its tail is carried upright. The harsh, wiry outer coat lies over a dense, soft undercoat and comes in black, wheaten or brindle.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male Scottish Terrier puppy is already as heavy as a grown Jack Russell. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
10 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight6
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
0510152m4m6m9m12m18m
0510152m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
2.2–2.7 kg 4.9–6.0 lb
2.4–3.0 kg 5.3–6.6 lb
3 months
2.9–3.6 kg 6.4–7.9 lb
3.1–3.8 kg 6.8–8.4 lb
4 months
4.1–5.1 kg 9.0–11.2 lb
4.2–5.2 kg 9.3–11.5 lb
5 months
5.1–6.3 kg 11.2–13.9 lb
5.0–6.2 kg 11.0–13.7 lb
6 months
5.9–7.3 kg 13.0–16.1 lb
5.7–7.1 kg 12.6–15.7 lb
7 months
6.5–8.0 kg 14.3–17.6 lb
6.3–7.7 kg 13.9–17.0 lb
8 months
7.0–8.6 kg 15.4–19.0 lb
6.7–8.2 kg 14.8–18.1 lb
9 months
7.3–9.0 kg 16.1–19.8 lb
7.0–8.7 kg 15.4–19.2 lb
10 months
7.5–9.3 kg 16.5–20.5 lb
7.3–9.0 kg 16.1–19.8 lb
11 months
7.8–9.6 kg 17.2–21.2 lb
7.5–9.3 kg 16.5–20.5 lb
12 months
7.9–9.8 kg 17.4–21.6 lb
7.7–9.5 kg 17.0–20.9 lb
15 months
8.2–10.2 kg 18.1–22.5 lb
8.1–10.0 kg 17.9–22.0 lb
18 months
8.5–10.5 kg 19–23 lb
8.4–10.4 kg 18.5–22.9 lb

Health and lifespan

In vet and lab records from the UK and North America, the conditions below turn up more often in Scottish Terriers than in crossbreeds. Toe melanoma stands out as far more likely. The most serious are mouth melanoma (much more likely) and lymph node cancer (more likely), and both can shorten a life. 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.
  • Toe melanoma
    Lab-confirmed cases
    Far more likely
    Impact: serious
  • Mouth melanoma
    Lab-confirmed cases
    Much more likely
    Impact: life-limiting
  • Skin melanoma
    Lab-confirmed cases
    Much more likely
    Impact: moderate
  • Lymph node cancer
    More likely
    Impact: life-limiting
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

In UK vet records, the typical Scottish Terrier lived to about 12 and a half years, shorter than the typical small breed.

Where it comes from

The Scottish Terrier is a short-legged Highland terrier kept to hunt foxes and other vermin. Through the 1800s several Scottish terrier types competed for the name until the Aberdeen strain prevailed, and the breed as known today dates from Captain Gordon Murray in the late 1870s, with a standard in 1881 and a club in 18824,10.

The Scottish Terrier, widely known as the Scottie and once often called the Aberdeen Terrier, settled into a fixed type in the later nineteenth century, as breeders separated it from other Highland terriers. It soon spread to England and North America and became a fashionable companion in the interwar years. A black Scottie paired with a West Highland White Terrier advertised Black & White whisky, and Fala, the Scottie owned by Franklin D. Roosevelt, became a familiar public figure in his own right.

Breed standard

The Scottish Terrier is judged against standard no. 73, in group 3, Terriers4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Scottish 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

Skye Terrier
Terriers · Medium
Cesky Terrier
Terriers · Small
Standard Schnauzer
Pinschers & molossoids · Medium
Dandie Dinmont Terrier
Terriers · Small
Or compare the Scottish Terrier with any breed you choose
Track your own Scottish Terrier
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Sources

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Parts of this page were written by AI ·