The breeds · companion
AKC Toy · UKC Terrier · FCI standard 236
Silky Terrier.
AKC standard: 'a true toy terrier', moderately low set, 'of sufficient substance to suggest the ability to hunt and kill domestic rodents'; temperament keenly alert, quick, friendly, responsive; shyness or excessive nervousness faulted. UKC: the Silky is a true toy terrier with substance sufficient to hunt and kill domestic rodents; called the Australian Silky Terrier in its native land. FCI 236 utilization: 'Toy Terrier / companion dog'; Group 3 Terriers, Section 4 Toy Terriers, without working trial; 'a courageous and dignified Toyterrier'. RKC lists it in the Toy group: 'toy breed he may be but he is still capable of despatching rodents'. Wikipedia (editorial): bred primarily as an urban pet and companion, though known for killing snakes in Australia; notes AKC places it in the Toy group while FCI places it with the terriers and 'it is universally agreed that the breed's type is Terrier'..
Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.
The body
What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.
Height at the shoulder
Span of AKC, UKC and FCI. AKC and UKC do not split by sex; FCI says females 'can be slightly less' with no figure.
Weight
Single editorial figure from the AKC page header; no standard prints a weight, so low and high are the page's 'around 10 lb' and center is left blank.
Coat
Shedding
AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.
Heat tolerance
Derived from the standard's coat (single, medium-length silky coat; no undercoat). The rubric has no exact bin for a medium single coat; 3 is a judgment call. No measured data.
How long they live, and what they cost
Measured on real dogs, with the sample and the spread. Never a guess.
Median lifespan
UK population; small sample, wide CI. The AKC page band (13 to 15 yr) is not used here.
The dog at home
What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.
Exercise need
RKC band 'up to 30' mapped to 30 minutes.
Exercise need
AKC bands are not mapped to the library scale.
Energy
AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.
Grooming load
RKC band 'every day' mapped to 4 on the 1 to 5 library scale (daily or regular grooming).
The work
What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.
Role
Group placement differs by registry: AKC and RKC Toy, FCI Group 3 Terriers (Section 4, Toy Terriers). The AKC group was not read from the AKC page (header blank); AKC Toy placement is Wikipedia's statement.
Primary game
Also used on
Single editorial source.
Field trial standard
Earthdog levels and scoring were not read.
More
akc bands
Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.
How to read this page
Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.
Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 6 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.
- Also called
- Australian Silky Terrier, Sydney Silky
Every breed, read the same way.
The breed index grows as entries clear the standard. Gun dogs first.
All published breedsYour silky terrier, on the record.
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