Teddy Roosevelt Terrier breed guide

Teddy Roosevelt Terriers are delightful companions in the home that learn quickly and are ready for any activity their owners join. They get along with other dogs without belligerence and keep their prey drive without obsessive compulsion.

AKC calls them fearless hunters yet fun-loving, friendly and sensible. Their intelligence, intuitiveness and eager-to-please mentality make them easy to train.

Teddy Roosevelt Terriers live 14 to 16 years. AKC says the majority are healthy and breeders screen for patellar luxation and eye disease and test breeding dogs genetically.

The Teddy Roosevelt Terrier is very low maintenance and easy to groom: a seasonal shedder, it needs only weekly brushing with a soft brush or rubber curry mitt, with an occasional bath.

With seemingly boundless energy, it can exercise through backyard play, preferably fenced, walks several times a day and indoor games such as hide-and-seek or chasing a ball rolled along the floor.

The breed was developed in the United States from the small and medium dogs that came with early American immigrants, mostly small hunting and terrier types whose job was to clear homes and farmsteads of vermin.

AKC says those terriers probably included crosses between the Smooth Fox Terrier, Manchester Terrier, Beagle, Whippet, Italian Greyhound and the now extinct White English Terrier and over time the dogs were selected for hunting ability and a harmonious nature at home.