SkyeTerrier

Originating in the 17th century, it was initially bred to catch small prey and is now used as a companion dog.

The Skye Terrier was bred on the isolated Scottish island of Skye, whose inhabitants specialize in hunting otters, badgers and foxes of the breed. With its keen sense of smell and agile, robust, muscular body, it is more than capable of finding them and digging their dens to capture them. The short, sturdy legs of the Isle of Skye Terrier are well suited to digging, and its double coat protects it from rivals and bad weather. Initially, the pendulous-eared breed was more popular, but later in the 19th century, the standing-eared breed became common as pets and show dogs, due in part to Queen Victoria's fondness for this breed type. The Isle of Skye Terrier's coat is similar to that of other terriers, being long, messy, dense and coarse. The head is richly trimmed and the eyes, nose and muzzle are completely covered with hair, which is an advantage for a working dog, but too long for a companion dog, as it affects not only vision but diet.

Eyes are brown, preferably dark brown, medium sized, close together, and with a vibrant and intelligent glow.

Ears are neat and symmetrical, with elegantly trimmed hair. They may be vertical or pendulous. In the case of standing ears, they are medium sized, higher, located on the outer edge of the head, with the tips of the ears more widely separated, and the distance between the tips of the ears greater than the distance between the roots of the ears. With pendulous ears, the ears are slightly larger, lower in position, and hang flat on the top of the head.

The posterior aspect of the head is of medium width, tapering toward the muzzle, and the muzzle is sturdy. The stop is slight. The muzzle is dark, with medium fullness. Strong and absolutely healthy jaw. The noseglass must be black. Dudley noses, flesh colored or brown nosepieces are out of order. The bite is clipped or pincer bite.

Double coat. The undercoat is short, dense, soft and downy. The outer coat is stiff, straight and flat. 5.5 inches long, no longer necessary. The coat on the body is straight and drops down to the sides of the body, splitting from the head to the middle of the tail. The hair on the head is perhaps shorter, and the muzzle and eyes are covered by a long "veil" that forms the eyebrows and beak. The ears are surrounded by long trimmed hairs that hang straight down from around the ears and the tips of the ears, forming a tassel and accenting the shape of the ears. The terminal hairs are blended into the coat of the neck. The tail has a nice trim coat.

The coat color must be a single color consistent with the skin color, perhaps in different shades, and can be black, orchid, gray of varying shades, silver, light brown or cream. There should be no markings or spots other than black markings on the ears, muzzle and tail tip, the darker the spot color the better, black is preferred. The color of the head and legs is close to the color of the body.

There is no need to mimic the color and pattern of the standard dog, the breed only allows white markings on the chest no larger than 2 inches in diameter. The color of the puppy's coat may be very different from that of the adult dog's coat. Therefore, the color can change dramatically as the puppy develops; so puppies under 18 months of age are allowed to vary in color. Regardless, puppies do not have to rigidly mimic the colors and patterns of standard dogs, except for cream colored dogs that have black stripes around the body, but adults are only allowed to have white markings on the chest no more than 2 inches in diameter.

In action, the legs are straight and forward. The forelimbs remain straight when viewed from the front. The distance between the paws is the same as the distance between the elbows. The main propulsive force comes from the hind limbs. When the front limbs move forward, do not lift them too high. The whole movement can be said to be smooth, lively and easy, more or less like a flowing painting. As a working terrier, it is important to have not only a healthy body, but also a willingness to work, which the Skye Terrier has, and the dog is easy to train. He is a canine role model in the workplace and a source of joy in the home in life.

He is a typical working terrier who enjoys chasing games and going out, and appears to be energetic, brave, powerful and agile. Unaware of fear, good-tempered, loyal and intelligent, he appears friendly and cheerful with familiar people; reserved and wary of strangers.