- Should be “whole coloured” being red, red-wheaten or yellow-red.
- White sometimes on the chest.
- A small amount of white is frequently to be seen in all self coloured breeds
About the Irish Terrier
Origin: Ireland
- Size
- Medium — from its typical weight
- Weight
- Male
- 11-13 kg
- Female
- 11-12 kg
- Height
- Male
- 46-48 cm
- Female
- 43-48 cm
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Terriers
- Origin
- Ireland
- Also called
- Terrier Irlandes
- Known hereditary risks
- Not researched yet
About
What is a Irish Terrier?
Medium-sized terrier with a distinctive wiry, fiery red coat and bold, spirited temperament. Known for its courage and loyalty, it is one of the oldest terrier breeds.
Irish Terrier history and origins
One of the oldest terrier breeds, developed in County Cork, Ireland as all-purpose farm dogs for hunting vermin and guarding homes. Their courage was proven in World War I where they served as messenger dogs and sentinels.
Irish Terrier appearance and size
Males typically weigh 11-13 kg and stand 46-48 cm at the shoulder; females 11-12 kg and 43-48 cm.
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Versatile farmyard dog, family pet, guard dog with utter contempt for danger or hurt, hunter and gundog
- Behaviour and temperament
“The Irish Terrier, while being game and capable of holding his own with other dogs, is remarkably loyal, good tempered and affectionate with mankind, but once he is attacked, he has the courage of a lion and will fight to the bitter end. The dog’s reputation for getting into scraps with others, sometimes even in the showring, is undeserved. Though the terrier may be fierce when the circumstances call for it, the Irish Terrier is easily trained and a gentle pet, living up to his early description as “the poor man’s sentinel, the farmer’s friend and the gentleman’s favourite””
Quoted from FCI standard n°139. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Characteristics
- Size
- Medium
- Exercise needs
- —
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- —
- Grooming needs
- 4 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- Not researched yet
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Irish Terrier
What you get with the Irish Terrier
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Versatile farmyard dog, family pet, guard dog with utter contempt for danger or hurt, hunter and gundog”
- The standard describes the breed as: “The Irish Terrier, while being game and capable of holding his own with other dogs, is remarkably loyal, good tempered…”
- Longer-lived than a crossbred dog — median 13.5 years across 521 animals, against 12
What you are taking on
- High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “Hair on face of same description as on body but short (about three-quarters of a…”
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard; McMillan et al. 2024, median age at death. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
FCI standard · Irish Terrier
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording.
Coat
Should be dense and wiry in texture, having a broken appearance but still lying flat, the hairs growing so closely and strongly together that when parted with the fingers, the skin cannot be seen, free of softness and silkiness and not so long as to hide the outlines of the body, particularly in the hindquarters and free of lock or curl.
Hair on face of same description as on body but short (about three-quarters of a centimetre long), almost smooth and straight, a slight beard is the only long hair (and it is only long in comparison with the rest) that is permissible and is characteristic.
A “goats” beard is suggestive of there being silky and bad hair running through the coat generally.
Notes
- Legs: Free of feather and covered, like the head, with as hard a texture of coat as body but not so long
Colour
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Shortened from FCI standard n°139 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
What the standard penalises
What a judge marks the Irish Terrier down for, and what puts one out of the ring, in the registry’s own words. This describes the breed standard — it is not a checklist for the animal in front of you, and a pet with a disqualifying fault is an unshowable dog rather than an unhealthy one.
Disqualifying faults
Puts an animal out of the ring altogether.
- Nose: Any colour other than black.
- Colour: Any other than red, yellow red or red wheaten. A small patch of white on chest is permissible as in other whole-coloured breeds. Jaws: Decidedly undershot or overshot.
- Feet: Corny excrescence or cracks on pads
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Irish Terrier in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
What to ask for in a Irish Terrier
No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the Irish Terrier on this platform yet. That is a gap in our records, not a clean bill of health — ask the breeder which hereditary conditions their lines are tested for, and ask to see the results for both parents, dated and from a named laboratory.
Gallery
No photographs yet
This is where Irish Terrier owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.
A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.
Puppies
No puppies listed right now
No Irish Terrier breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.