- A good clear wheaten of shades from light wheaten to a golden reddish hue
About the Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
Origin: IrelandIrish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Terriers
- Origin
- Ireland
- Also called
- Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Irlandes
- Known hereditary risks
- Not researched yet
About
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Wheaten Terriers were always used by small farmers to kill vermin or help with the work about the farm. They were used for a long time in the difficult job of hunting badgers and otters
- Behaviour and temperament
“Spirited and game. Good tempered. Most affectionate and loyal to his owners. Most intelligent. A trusty, faithful friend, defensive without aggression”
Quoted from FCI standard n°40. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Characteristics
- Size
- —
- Exercise needsRead from what the breed was bred to do, in the registry’s own words: “Wheaten Terriers were always used by small farmers to kill vermin or help with the work about the farm. They were used for a long time in the difficult job of hunting badgers and otters” That is a working purpose, not a measured exercise requirement — an individual dog’s needs depend on its age, health and household.
- 4 of 5
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- 1 of 5
- Grooming needs
- 5 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 Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
What you get with the Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Wheaten Terriers were always used by small farmers to kill vermin or help with the work about the farm”
- The standard describes the breed as: “Spirited and game. Good tempered. Most affectionate and loyal to his owners. Most intelligent. A trusty, faithful…”
What you are taking on
- High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “Trimmed dogs: Coat cut close at neck, chest and skull, and left especially long over eyes…”
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard. 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 Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording.
Coat
A single coated dog.
Texture soft and silky to feel and not harsh.
Young dogs excluded from this.
Trimming permitted.
Trimmed dogs: Coat cut close at neck, chest and skull, and left especially long over eyes and under jaw.
Whiskers encouraged.
Profuse feathering on legs.
Body coat trimmed to follow the outline of the dog but not sculpted.
Tail trimmed close and neatly tapered.
Untrimmed dogs: The coat at its longest not to exceed five inches (12,7 cm).
Soft, wavy or loosely curled with the sheen of silk.
Under no circumstances should the coat be "fluffed out" like a Poodle or an Old English Sheepdog.
Dogs shown in this condition should be heavily penalised as they give a wrong impression of type and breed.
Special attention is drawn to puppy coat development.
Pups are seldom born with the correct coat of maturity, care must be taken when assessing this point.
They go through several changes of colour and texture before developing the mature adult coat.
This usually occurs between 18 months and 2½ years.
They come reddish, greyish and sometimes clear wheaten.
The masks are generally black.
Sometimes there is a black streak down the centre back or black tips to the body coat.
These dark markings clear away with growth
Notes
- Pups: Are seldom born with the correct colour or texture coat.
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°40 — 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 Soft Coated Wheaten 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.
- Yellow eyes.
- Dull, thick, woolly or cottony textured hair.
- White coat. Brown coat. Dogs carrying any of the above eliminating faults should never be bred from
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
What to ask for in a Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the Irish Soft Coated Wheaten 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 Soft Coated Wheaten 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 Soft Coated Wheaten 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.