Wheaten Terrier

Size: Females 30-35 lbs. Males 35-40 lbs.

Color: Wheaten!!

Energy Level: lively and alert ; typical terrier.

Life expectancy: twelve years or more

Children: They relate well to children, although they are exuberant and may overwhelm a toddler.

Other animals: Usually quite compatible with other dogs.

Abilities: Great at keeping a smile on your face all day. A great watch dog, announcing anyone who approaches your house.

Shedding/Grooming:High maintenance and must be groomed regularly. Their hair grows fast and requires clipping every 1-2 months. Brushing regularly is necessary to avoid matting. No shedding.

Health: Basically healthy. They have a higher than normal incidence in PLN (protein losing nephropathy), PLE (protein losing enteropathy_, renal dysplasia and Addision's Disease.

Best with: A spot next to you in your bed, a safe fenced yard, a warm place to snuggle, and a lot of patience and loving.

Not for: People who are gone a lot, demand perfect obedience, people who don't consider their dog as a part of the family, don't have a fence.

Pros: You become their world, fun, adorable, compact , love to go everywhere with you, great companions, very affectionate.

Cons: you become their world, can have separation anxiety, stubborn, must be fenced or on-leash

General info:Fortunately for the breed, we don’t see too many Wheatens needing rescue here in Seattle. But if you are not in a hurry, we usually have a few SCWTs every so often. Otherwise, if you travel, there are some available out of state. The best source is: www.Petfinder.org. They list all across the U.S. Many of their Wheatens are actually Wheaties (mix…but very Wheaten like).

For information about the breed and if the breed is right for you please look at the Wheaten Club of America website: www.scwtca.org

The Wheaten rescue in Kansas always seems to have a lot of dogs. Their website is: www.WheatenTerrierRescue.org.

If you are looking at Wheatens because of their non-allergy quality, you might want to consider some other non-allergic breed, such as poodles, many poodle mixes and bichon frises. Standard size poodles are really very sweet, calm and smart. Without the traditional clipping, they are furry cute like Wheatens. Also, greyhounds shed very little and you might consider them.