Cesky Terrier - TOP 10 Interesting Facts

1) Origin
The Cesky Terrer is relatively young dog breed, developed in the 1900s by czech breeder Frantisek Horak by crossing Sealyham Terrier with the Scottish Terrier. Horak wanted to create a great light, short legged and well pigmented hunting dog with narrow chest and moderately sized head, which would be excellent at digging and that would have very good stamina and endurance. He started the breeding in 1940s and the breed was officially presented to public in 1956.
2) Utilization
Just like with all the terrier breeds, even the original purpose of Cesky Terrier is hunting. These dogs were bred to hunt in Czech forests. They were most often hunting foxes, but also hares or even deers. These dogs used their strong sense of smell, independence, good endurence and short body which enables them to follow the prey under the ground.
3) Companion
Today, these dogs are not hunting that often as in the past, but their loving, affectionate and loyal personality makes them perfect family companions as well. These dogs are known to create a strong bond with its family and they crave for attention from us. The Cesky Terrier can live with kids in the family as well, but of course, you should never leave any dog breed with very young child unsupervised. These dogs can also live with other dogs in the family, especially if raised together from the puppyhood, but other smaller household pets like hamsters or rabbits might be problematic due to the Ceskys higher prey drive.
4) Color
Interesting fact is, that the Cesky Terrier changes color as it grows. These dogs are born black or black and tan and the color will fade as the dog ages. When the dog is 3 years of age or older, than its coat should be in shades of gray, ranging from charcoal to platinum.
5) Exercise
This is quite active dog breed which needs regular exercise to stay in good shape and happy. Daily longer walks, some fun training sessions and regular playtime will keep the dogs mind and body stimulated. Thanks to the Cesky Terriers working ethic and intelligence, they also make good adepts for various dog sports and they do compete in agility or in obedience trials. It is important to exercise your dog, otherwise, it might develop some unwated behaviour such as destruction.
6) Size
This is pretty small, short legged dog breed, but with quite strong and sturdy body. The average height is between 10-13 inch, which is 25-33 cm and weight is usually between 16-22 pounds, which is 7-10 kg. There are no extreme size differences between males and females.
7) Rarity
Even though officially recognized by many kennel clubs around the world, even including the biggest kennel clubs such as AKC or FCI, this is still relatively rare breed, which can be mainly found in its homeland, which is Czech Republic and Slovakia. You can also find these dogs in neighboring Czech countries, such as Germany, they also gained some popularity in Scandinavian countries or in Great Britain. The popularity of this dog is slowly growing and today, you can even find these dogs in the USA, but their numbers in America are in hundreads, so you would be very lucky to see them in here.
8) Watchdog
The Cesky Terrier loves its family, but it is also known to be quite alert and cautious around strangers. This is why these dogs can be pretty good watchdogs, as it is almost guaranteed that they will alert you when they will hear or see something suspicious around the house. It is also a reason, why they should be extensively socialized with strangers as puppies.
9) Maintenance
The Cesky Terriers coat does require some maintenance. Most similar shor legged terriers have coats, that need to be hand stripped. The grooming of Cesky is little bit easier and hand stripping is not necessary, but the coat should be cut with clippers or scissors. Regular brushing is also needed to prevent matting and tangling. Just like with all dogs, you should also regularly check the dogs ears, eyes, teeth and nails and clip them or clean them if needed.
10) Health
The Cesky Terrier is known to be usually very healthy dog breed with average lifespan between 13-15 years. Of course, they may suffer from some health issues and this breed ocassionally suffers from Scottie Cramp, Cerebellar Abiotrophy or some allergies.