Dandie Dinmont Terrier

Feed the Dandie Dinmont a high-quality food formulated for its life stage, whether puppy, adult, or senior. Follow the serving size on the package, which varies with weight, lifestyle, health, and age, and review your feeding plan with your veterinarian.

Some Dandies gain weight easily, so watch calorie intake and reduce portions if your dog puts on weight. Extra weight is hard on any dog and harder on a long-backed one, where it can add strain to the back and joints. Treats help with training, but too many add up, so give table scraps sparingly if at all and avoid cooked bones and high-fat foods.

Most Dandies do well eating twice a day, with meals about 12 hours apart. Puppies may need to eat more often, up to four times a day, to help keep blood sugar steady.

Because these are smart dogs, a slow feeder bowl or food puzzle adds mental work at mealtime and slows fast eaters. The breed is healthy overall, so supplements are not necessary unless your veterinarian recommends them, such as a joint supplement or fish oil.

The Dandie Dinmont does not shed, but the coat still needs steady care. It has two parts: a soft coat, shorter and found on the topknot, legs, and belly, which is trimmed with scissors; and a stiffer, longer pencil coat that looks like fine pencil marks.

To keep the classic look, the coat is stripped of dead hair by hand a couple of times a year, using a tool the breeder recommends, and you can pluck long hairs daily with thumb and forefinger. Brush every day or every other day to prevent matting, which can lead to skin trouble. Maintaining the traditional coat takes a couple of hours each week. If that look is not a priority, clipping with a groomer who can follow the Dandie pattern works too.

Use grooming time to check the skin for sores, scratches, and signs of fleas or ticks, and contact your veterinarian if you notice changes. Check the ears regularly for redness, odor, or discharge, and clean dirty ears with a gentle, veterinarian-approved solution. Check the eyes regularly, and trim the nails at least monthly.

A Dandie does well with about a half hour of exercise twice a day, such as a brisk walk or chasing a ball across the yard. Two relatively long walks a day are ideal. The long-and-low build is not made for a running or jogging pace or long distances, so this is not the breed for a jogging or biking partner.

Keep your Dandie on a leash or in a securely fenced area outdoors. The breed was bred to hunt, and even a well-trained dog will dart off after what it sees as prey. With enough exercise, the Dandie does as well in the city as on the farm and lives happily in apartments and houses alike.

These smart dogs enjoy having something to do. The breed takes to dog sports such as agility, earthdog trials, flyball, tracking, frisbee, musical freestyle, and competitive obedience, plus hiking and retrieving.

As former farm dogs they stay alert and bark occasionally to flag something, but they are generally soft-spoken, barking mainly at unexpected noises. Give a Dandie a little active time each day and it will happily lounge with the family.

Dandies are sturdy and energetic, yet adaptable and eager to please, big dogs in a little body. As typical terriers, they can be stubborn, independent, and a little too sure of themselves, so train your Dandie well to have a well-mannered companion who follows your lead in unexpected situations.

Training takes patience, but the breed responds well to reward-based methods that use tasty treats or favorite toys. Consistency and positive reinforcement are key, and holding the dog's attention matters, since terriers were bred to work on their own. Start socializing your puppy as soon as you bring it home, since early exposure to new situations helps it grow into a confident, friendly, polite adult.

These friendly dogs enjoy time with people and adapt to travel or quiet time at home. Most Dandies are great with children and tend to get along with other dogs.

Their hunting history can make them a tricky match for smaller pets, so introduce other animals carefully. Adult cats are usually seen as peers, but for a Dandie to treat a kitten as a peer rather than prey, the two do better raised together. If something runs, the breed's instinct is to chase.