Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English Template:Infobox dog breed
The Australian Terrier is a small breed of dog of the terrier type. The breed was developed in Australia, although the ancestral types of dogs from which the breed descends were from Great Britain.
AppearanceEdit
The Australian Terrier is a small dog with short legs, weighing around Template:Convert and standing about Template:Convert at the withers, with a medium length shaggy harsh double coat that is not normally trimmed. Fur is shorter on the muzzle, lower legs, and feet, and there is a ruff around the neck. The coat colours are blue or silver and tan with a lighter coloured topknot, and with markings on face, ears, body and legs of a colour described in the breed standard as "tan, never sandy", or a solid red with a sandy variation. The tail was traditionally docked, in order to protect the dog from spinal injury while working and hunting in the field.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
The Australian Terrier is descended from the rough coated type terriers brought from Great Britain to Australia in the early 19th century. The ancestral types of all of these breeds were kept to eradicate mice and rats. The Australian Terrier shares ancestors with the Cairn Terrier, Shorthaired Skye Terrier, and the Dandie Dinmont Terrier; Yorkshire Terriers and Irish Terriers were also crossed into the dog during the breed's development.<ref name="Clark/Brace">Template:Cite book</ref>
Development of the breed began in Australia about 1820, and the dogs were at first called the Rough Coated Terrier. The breed was officially recognised in 1850, and later renamed as the Australian Terrier in 1892.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Australian Terrier was shown at a dog show for the first time in 1906 in Melbourne, and was also shown in Great Britain about the same time.<ref name="Clark/Brace" />
HealthEdit
The Australian Terrier is known to be susceptible to the auto-immune disease Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada-like syndrome.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
A 2002 survey by the Australian Terrier Club of America found that the top three causes of death were old age (17%), cancer (15%), and diabetes (13%). The most common conditions affecting dogs were diabetes mellitus (10%), luxating patella (9%), ear infections (5%), cataracts (5%), flea allergy dermatitis (5%), ruptured cranial cruciate ligament (4%), and hypothyroidism (4%).<ref name="ATCA survey">Australian Terrier Club of America 2002 ATCA Health Survey Results Template:Webarchive. Note: There is not a direct link to the ATCA 1997 Health Survey, but the results are discussed extensively in the 2002 Survey Report. Retrieved February 2007</ref>
Life expectancyEdit
Life expectancy in the 2002 American survey was 11 years. Bitches lived roughly a year longer than dogs.<ref name="ATCA survey"/> A survey in the UK of breed club members found the Australian Terrier to have a median life expectancy of just above 12 years.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
TemperamentEdit
The breed standard describes the ideal Australian Terrier temperament as spirited, alert, "with the natural aggressiveness of a ratter and hedge hunter".<ref>American Kennel Club Website Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 7 November 2008</ref> The Australian Terrier ranks 34th in Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs, being of above average "Working and Obedience" intelligence, indicating good trainability.<ref>The Intelligence of Dogs, by Stanley Coren, Chapter 10, pages 183-185, Free Press, 2005, Template:ISBN</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
Template:Sister project Template:Terriers Template:Australian dogs