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General Appearance
The Scottish Terrier is a small, compact, short-legged, sturdily-built dog
of good bone and substance. His head is long in proportion to his size. He
has a hard, wiry, weather-resistant coat and a thick-set, cobby body which
is hung between short, heavy legs. These characteristics, joined with his
very special keen, piercing, "varminty" expression, and his erect ears and
tail are salient features of the breed. The Scottish Terrier's bold,
confident, dignified aspect exemplifies power in a small package.
Size, Proportion, Substance
The Scottish Terrier should have a thick body and heavy bone. The principal
objective must be symmetry and balance without exaggeration. Equal
consideration shall be given to height, weight, length of back and length of
head. Height at withers for either sex should be about 10 inches. The length
of back from withers to set-on of tail should be approximately 11 inches.
Generally, a well-balanced Scottish Terrier dog should weigh from 19 to 22
pounds and a bitch from 18 to 21 pounds.
Temperament
The Scottish Terrier should be alert and spirited but also stable and
steady-going. He is a determined and thoughtful dog whose "heads up, tails
up" attitude in the ring should convey both fire and control. The Scottish
Terrier, while loving and gentle with people, can be aggressive with other
dogs. He should exude ruggedness and power, living up to his nickname, the
"Diehard."
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Step 1
General Appearance; Size, Proportion, Substance and
Temperament
Typical before pictures.
Begin looking for your
"Scottie in the Rough" by considering the dog's overall appearance, size and basic
structure. Try to look past the obvious exterior appearance and look
for the inner qualities that truly define the dog. At first, the dog
may be nervous and difficult to approach. The Scottie temperament which
calls for them to be alert and independent can make appear aloof until
you have gained their respect.
The official breed standard puts the Scottie at 18-22 pounds. The smallest
we’ve placed in rescue was about 15 pounds and the largest 44 pounds. But these are atypical. One of the easiest ways to tell the difference
between a Scottie and a Cairn is the Scottie’s larger size and weight,
as they can often be very similar in appearance and color when ungroomed.
Scotties should be sturdy, strong, short legged and thick boned with
a muscular chest and neck. They are often referred to as being square or brick shaped.
They should be short-backed but a
little longer than high. The Skye Terrier is a similar breed that has a
much longer back than the Scottie. The Scottie should have large paws designed for
digging. A typical
neck size is 14 inches, but can go as low as 12 inches on a small
(under 20 pound) Scottie or younger dog or as large as 16 inches on a
larger adult male who might be in the 28-30 pound range.
Yes, grooming does make a difference!
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Head
The head should be long in proportion to the overall length and size of the
dog. In profile, the skull and muzzle should give the appearance of two
parallel planes. The skull should be long and of medium width, slightly
domed and covered with short, hard hair. In profile, the skull should appear
flat. There should be a slight but definite stop between the skull and
muzzle at eye level, allowing the eyes to be set in under the brow,
contributing to proper Scottish Terrier expression. The skull should be
smooth with no prominences or depressions and the cheeks should be flat and
clean. The muzzle should be approximately equal to the length of skull with
only a slight taper to the nose. The muzzle should be well filled in under
the eye, with no evidence of snippiness. A correct Scottish Terrier muzzle
should fill an average man's hand. The nose should be black, regardless of
coat color, and of good size, projecting somewhat over the mouth and giving
the impression that the upper jaw is longer than the lower. The teeth should
be large and evenly spaced, having either a scissor or level bite, the
former preferred. The jaw should be square, level and powerful. Undershot or
overshot bites should be penalized. The eyes should be set wide apart and
well in under the brow. They should be small, bright and piercing, and
almond-shaped not round. The color should be dark brown or nearly black, the
darker the better. The ears should be small, prick, set well up on the skull
and pointed, but never cut. They should be covered with short velvety hair.
From the front, the outer edge of the ear should form a straight line up
from the side of the skull. The use, size, shape and placement of the ear
and its erect carriage are major elements of the keen, alert, intelligent
Scottish Terrier expression.
Neck, Topline, Body
The neck should be moderately short, strong, thick and muscular, blending
smoothly into well laid back shoulders. The neck must never be so short as
to appear clumsy. The body should be moderately short with ribs extending
well back into a short, strong loin, deep flanks and very muscular
hindquarters. The ribs should be well sprung out from the spine, forming a
broad, strong back, then curving down and inward to form a deep body that
would be nearly heart-shaped if viewed in cross-section. The topline of the
back should be firm and level. The chest should be broad, very deep and well
let down between the forelegs. The forechest should extend well in front of
the legs and drop well down into the brisket. The chest should not be flat
or concave, and the brisket should nicely fill an average man's
slightly-cupped hand. The lowest point of the brisket should be such that an
average man's fist would fit under it with little or no overhead clearance.
The tail should be about seven inches long and never cut. It should be set
on high and carried erectly, either vertical or with a slight curve forward,
but not over the back. The tail should be thick at the base, tapering
gradually to a point and covered with short, hard hair.
Forequarters
The shoulders should be well laid back and moderately well knit at the
withers. The forelegs should be very heavy in bone, straight or slightly
bent with elbows close to the body, and set in under the shoulder blade with
a definite forechest in front of them. Scottish Terriers should not be out
at the elbows. The forefeet should be larger than the hind feet, round,
thick and compact with strong nails. The front feet should point straight
ahead, but a slight "toeing out" is acceptable. Dew claws may be removed.
Hindquarters
The thighs should be very muscular and powerful for the size of the dog with
the stifles well bent and the legs straight from hock to heel. Hocks should
be well let down and parallel to each other.
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Step 2
Head; Topline, Neck, Body; Forequarters, Hindquarters
Scottie
Schnauzer without cropped ears
If your Scottie
in the Rough passes the first step and you have acquired
enough respect to conduct a hands-on examination, begin to
search for some of the finer features of the dog's head,
neck, and fore chest.
The Scottie head should be
large in proportion to his body and the face is somewhat elongated
for the size of the dog. This
elongation in length can vary from one Scottie to another.
The Scottie head should divide into two equal parts at the
stop*. So the distance from the stop to the tip of the nose
should be the same as
the stop to the back of the skull. On other breeds (such as
the Westie or Cairn) the nose will
be set much closer to the face. Scottie eyes are typically
dark brown to black, should be small and narrow, and
contribute to a beady and intense
look. Scottie teeth are characteristic of the "large dog in a
small package" description.
* The stop is the slight rise in the skull bone directly
between the eyes.
Scottie with erect ears.
Same Scottie with folded ears.
The ears and tail should be pointy and erect. The nose
itself should be large, but we’ve had some that were button
like. Sometimes one
or both of the ears don’t come all the way up during the final puppy
growth spurt. Scotties can fold their ears close to the
skull, but they will normally carry them raised to the full
alert position.
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McDuff (shown to
the left) has one floppy ear. Floppy
ears (which can't be raised) are not recognized as a genetic defect in
the Scottish Terrier because the condition is most often
attributed to an untreated chronic ear infection or hematoma which has
caused a fissure in the ear cartilage. The ears
should never be docked or the tail cropped in a Scottie. If you see
either of these characteristics, you may have a black Schnauzer instead
of a Scottie. |
Pet store Scotties are often longer in body than the
short backed show dog. Their tails can be longer and even
curve over their backs (called gay tail). Without being
trimmed short and shaped like an inverted carrot, the hair on the
tail can be long and even flaglike. They can have rounder
eyes that are even mustard in color. The legs can be longer,
or just the back legs longer, giving a swayback appearance,
but should still look short. The ears should be small, but
can be large and donkey like.
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Black Scottie with gay tail
White Scottie?
No, this is a Wheaten Scottie.
Notice the color on the topline &
flanks.
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Another important factor is that the square appearance seen
in Scotties
on T-shirts and handbags is not their natural ungroomed look. A Scottie needs
to be professionally groomed into that shape about every 7 weeks. The
cheeks, ears and head are shaved almost to a surgically short length. The
beard, eyebrows and mustache are long and shaped into that square
characteristic look. In a shelter situation where they come in ungroomed,
dirty and badly matted, it will be difficult to see this shape unless you
are very familiar with their bone structure. Just feeling underneath the
hair and taking some approximate weights and measurements will help
significantly.
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Coat
The Scottish Terrier should have a broken coat. It is a hard, wiry outer
coat with a soft, dense undercoat. The coat should be trimmed and blended
into the furnishings to give a distinct Scottish Terrier outline. The dog
should be presented with sufficient coat so that the texture and density may
be determined. The longer coat on the beard, legs and lower body may be
slightly softer than the body coat but should not be or appear fluffy.
Color
Black, wheaten or brindle of any color. Many black and brindle dogs have
sprinklings of white or silver hairs in their coats which are normal and not
to be penalized. White can be allowed only on the chest and chin and that to
a slight extent only.
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Step 3
Coat, Color and General Health
The final step to
finding your Scottie in the Rough is to examine the
dog's coat texture, color and general health conditions.
The Scottie coat
must have color (a truly white Scottie would be an albino
with pink eyes and pink skin), but the color can be
anything from solid black, to brindle (any multicolor, but
commonly black and silver), or even Wheaten. The Wheaten
colored Scottie (versus the Wheaten Terrier which is a much
bigger, unrelated breed) may
be anywhere from platinum blond (cream) to cinnamon in color.
Because the color is on the tip of the hair, a clippered
Wheaten Scottie will appear even lighter in color. A Wheaten
Scottie might be mistaken for a Westie if the coat color were
considered first instead of last.
A small amount of white coat is sometimes seen on the chin (milk
chin) and / or chest. Scotties have even been seen with a
white ring of hair around the tail.
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Scotties, like most Terriers, are double coated; with a
hard wiry outer coat and a soft undercoat. When hand
stripped, the outer coat will remain hard as it was
originally intended. However, when cut with clippers,
the outer coat is not removed and the remaining coat
will grow old and become soft and velvety. When ungroomed, a Scottie can resemble a bear,
with very long bushy hair on the head, body and even the
tail. When unbrushed, the long outer coat hairs can form into
dreadlocks and mats which will need to be removed with heavy
duty scissors and clippers. (Click
me to see the after picture.) |
The coat on Pet
store Scotties is sometimes not double coated, allowing you
to see their skin. Some health conditions (like allergies or
skin infections) and even flea infestations can affect the
skin and coat. Dermatitis (a treatable skin reaction often
attributed to fleas) can leave the skin thickened and the
coat will become very sparse or splotchy.
Once you have
finally found your Scottie in the Rough, please do him
the biggest favor of all and see to it that he receives a
complete physical examination by a qualified Veterinarian who
will look for hidden health conditions.
Professionally groomed Scotties in a variety of coat
colors.
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