Scottish Terrier

✨ Key Takeaways

Quick Facts

Common Names & Variants

Modern aliases

Historical names

⚖️ Pros & Cons

Physical Appearance

Recognized colors

Coat

Other

Ears: Prick. Tail: Carrot-shaped, erect.

🕰 History

The black earth-dog of Aberdeenshire

This is the terrier that came up out of the cairns of north-east Scotland — a low, heavy-boned, black-coated digging dog from the granite country around Aberdeen, bred to be jammed down a rock crevice after a fox or a badger and to come back out alive. For most of the 19th century nobody called it a Scottish Terrier. It was the Aberdeen Terrier, after the city whose fanciers did most to fix the type, and it was one strand of a tangled family of short-legged Highland earth dogs that also produced the Cairn, the West Highland White and the Skye. Those four breeds share a single rough working root, and the Scottie's own identity — the long head, the close black jacket, the upright carrot tail, the bristling beard — was sorted out of that common stock only in the last quarter of the century, on the show bench and in the correspondence columns of the sporting press.

The working dog underneath the show dog was unsentimental. A Highland crofter or gamekeeper needed a terrier small enough to follow vermin into a rock pile, hard enough to face a cornered badger in the dark, and tough enough to live cheaply outdoors in a brutal climate. That job shaped everything the breed now is: the short legs that let it work close to the ground, the powerful jaw and neck, the dense weatherproof double coat, and above all the stubborn, self-reliant temperament that earned the breed its oldest nickname.

The "Diehard"

The name the breed wears most proudly is the Diehard. The story attaches it to George Douglas, the first Earl of Dumbarton, who is said to have so admired the gameness of his Scotch terriers that he called them his "diehards" and borrowed the word for his regiment — the Royal Scots became known as "Dumbarton's Diehards." Whether the regimental link is exact or embroidered, the nickname stuck because it describes the dog: a terrier that does not quit, that goes to ground against an animal twice its weight and refuses to back off. Breed people still use "Diehard" as an affectionate shorthand, and it captures the Scottie's essential difference from the more biddable gun dogs and herders — this is a working terrier with a working terrier's mind.

Untangling the Highland terriers

The hardest and most honest part of the breed's history is the part where the Highland terriers were pulled apart into separate breeds. Before dog shows, the words Scotch, Highland, Cairn, Skye and Aberdeen Terrier were used loosely and interchangeably for what were really regional and family variations on one rough island-and-mountain digging dog. Pedigrees were thin or absent. When organised showing arrived in the 1860s and 1870s, judges needed something to judge against, and that forced the question of what a "Scottish" terrier actually was — a question that produced years of furious argument in the dog papers. A famous run of letters in the late 1870s, sparked by the writer who used the pen-name "Strathbogie," demanded a written standard and a clear separation of the types. Captain Gordon Murray and S. E. Shirley are usually credited with setting the type around 1879, and J. A. Adamson of Aberdeen is the breeder whose 1870s show winners — Roger Rough, Tartan, Bon Accord and Splinter II — stand at the head of early Scottish Terrier pedigrees. The first written breed standard followed in 1880, and the Aberdeen dog became the accepted Scottish type.

The collision with the breed's cousins matters here, because the West Highland White Terrier and the Cairn Terrier descend from the very same Highland earth-terrier root and were separated out of the same arguments. The honest position is that these are siblings, not parent and child: the Scottie did not give rise to the Westie or the Cairn, and none of them gave rise to the others. What set the Scottish Terrier apart was the Aberdeen breeders' preference for a longer, more powerful head, heavier bone, the upright "varminty" carrot tail, and a hard close coat most often seen in black or dark brindle. That black-coated, big-headed silhouette is what the world now reads instantly as "Scottie," and it is genuinely the breed's own, fixed by a particular set of north-east Scottish fanciers rather than borrowed from its relatives.

Clubs, standards and the move to America

Organisation followed the standard quickly. The Scottish Terrier Club of England was founded in 1881 and a Scottish club in 1888, and the two later agreed a combined standard. The American Kennel Club recognised the breed in 1885 — placing the Scottie among the older breeds on the register — and the Scottish Terrier Club of America was organised soon after. The breed standard was revised again around 1930, when four prepotent dogs, Heather Necessity, Albourne Barty, Albourne Annie Laurie and Marksman of Docken, reshaped the modern type and refined the head and outline still further. Documentation from before the show era is genuinely thin, and a good deal of the pre-1870s story is reconstruction and club tradition rather than stud-book fact; what is firmly dated is the late-Victorian arc — the standard of 1880, AKC recognition in 1885, the English and Scottish clubs of the 1880s.

Fala, Barney, and the little dog on the Monopoly board

Few breeds of any size have left a cultural footprint to match this one. The most famous Scottie in history belonged to Franklin D. Roosevelt: Fala, a gift from the president's cousin Margaret Suckley, became so well known that Roosevelt built a 1944 campaign speech around a mock defence of the dog's honour, and Fala is the only presidential pet commemorated in a statue at a presidential memorial in Washington. Half a century later George W. Bush kept two Scotties in the White House, Barney and Miss Beazley, and Barney starred in a run of short "Barney Cam" films produced by the White House. And on millions of kitchen tables the breed sits in pewter: the Scottish Terrier token was added to the Monopoly board in the 1950s and has remained one of the game's most beloved playing pieces. For a dog that began as an anonymous vermin-killer in the Aberdeenshire rocks, it is an extraordinary second act.

Temperament & Personality

A big personality in a small, square body

The Scottie's character is the whole point of the breed, and it is not a lapdog character wearing terrier clothes. Bred to work alone, underground, against dangerous quarry, the dog was selected for independence, self-confidence and a refusal to give up — and those traits did not soften when the breed moved indoors. The result is a small dog with an outsized, deeply serious sense of itself: dignified, opinionated, intensely loyal to its own people and frankly indifferent to strangers. People who love the breed love exactly this. People who expected a portable, biddable companion are sometimes startled by how much dog is inside the twenty-pound frame.

The aloof one in the room

Scotties tend to be reserved rather than effusive. The breed bonds hard, usually to one or two people, and shows its affection through proximity and watchfulness more than through the open, everybody's-friend warmth of a retriever. With its family it is playful, funny and stubbornly devoted; with visitors it is polite at best and unimpressed at worst, sizing newcomers up before deciding whether they merit attention. That dignified reserve is breed-typical and not a fault — but it does mean early, broad socialisation matters, so the natural standoffishness does not curdle into suspicion or snappiness.

Stubborn is the wrong word — independent is the right one

The Scottie's reputation for stubbornness is really a reputation for independence. A dog bred to make its own decisions at the bottom of a badger sett does not look to a handler for instruction the way a sheepdog does, and it sees little reason to repeat a command it has already obeyed once. This is not stupidity — the breed is sharply intelligent — it is a working temperament with its own agenda. Training works when the dog is convinced the request is worth its while and fails when it is bored or bullied. Short, motivating, reward-based sessions get results; drilling and heavy corrections get a dig-in-the-heels Diehard who simply waits you out.

The terrier engine is still running

Under the dignified exterior is a fully functional earth-dog. The Scottie will dig — in the lawn, the flower bed, the sofa cushions — and it retains a strong prey drive toward squirrels, rats, cats it does not know and other small fast-moving things. A securely fenced garden is close to essential, because a Scottie that catches a scent will go after it with the same single-mindedness its ancestors took into the cairns, and recall competes poorly with a fleeing rabbit. The flip side is that the same drive makes the breed a tireless, courageous little companion on a walk and a genuinely effective vermin alarm: not much moves in a Scottie's territory without the household being told about it.

Honest about the edges

The breed has real failure modes worth naming. Scotties can be scrappy with strange dogs, especially same-sex ones, the legacy of an animal bred to work and fight alone rather than in a pack. Some lines guard food and toys and need clear early management. The independence that is charming in an adult can make house-training and recall slow going in a puppy. And the breed's reserve, untended, can shade into a sharpness that is hard on small children who do not read a dog's warnings. Matched to an owner who wants a characterful, dignified, low-shedding companion with a sense of humour and a will of its own — and who finds that combination delightful rather than frustrating — the Scottie is one of the most rewarding terriers alive. It is emphatically not a beginner's pushover.

🏡 Living With a Scottish Terrier

A devoted dog on its own terms

Living with a Scottish Terrier means living with an opinionated companion that loves you deeply but rarely fawns. The Scottie was bred to go to ground alone after fox and badger in the Aberdeenshire hills, and that solitary working past shows in the temperament: this is a dignified, self-possessed dog that tends to bond hard with one or two people, stays aloof and watchful with strangers, and decides for itself how much affection it is in the mood to give. It is far more reserved than the sunny, everybody's-friend West Highland White Terrier it descends from alongside. A Scottie will follow its person room to room and lean against a leg, but it is not a lap dog that needs constant cuddling, and it copes with a few hours alone better than a clingier breed — provided it has had its exercise and is not simply bored.

Moderate exercise, a high prey drive, and a fence that means it

The Scottie's exercise need is moderate rather than athletic — a couple of brisk daily walks plus some play and a sniffing-and-investigating outing satisfy most adults. The catch is what is underneath that modest mileage: a genuine earth-terrier prey drive. A Scottie will dig, will bolt after a squirrel, cat, or rabbit with sudden single-minded focus, and will not reliably recall off a chase no matter how good its training looks in the kitchen. That means a securely fenced yard (with attention to digging under the line) and a lead in any unfenced space are not optional. Give the breed a legitimate outlet for the instinct — earthdog trials, scent games, a sanctioned digging pit — and you get a calmer, more satisfied dog than the one left to invent its own excavation projects in the flowerbeds.

Children, other animals, apartments, and the alarm bark

A Scottie suits a calm, respectful family and does well with older children who understand it is not a toy; it can be too short-fused for the grabbing and rough handling of toddlers, and it will not tolerate being teased. The prey drive and a strong terrier streak of same-sex dog reactivity mean introductions to other dogs — and to cats and small pets — must be careful, and an adult Scottie is often happiest as the only dog or in a long-established pairing. The breed adapts well to apartment living thanks to its size and modest exercise floor, but prospective owners should know the Scottie is a committed alarm-barker: a watchful "big dog in a small body" that announces every visitor, which neighbours in thin-walled buildings will notice. Shedding, by contrast, is light — the harsh double coat drops very little hair.

🎓 Training & Exercise

An intelligent dog that refuses to be a robot

The Scottish Terrier is bright and quick to understand what you want — the difficulty is convincing it that complying is worth its while. Bred to make independent life-or-death decisions underground without a handler, the Scottie comes wired to think for itself, and it brings a famous stubborn streak to training. It will master a command in a few repetitions and then visibly weigh whether to bother on the seventh. This is not stupidity and it is not defiance to be crushed; it is the very self-reliance the breed was selected for. Owners who expect the eager, please-the-handler responsiveness of a retriever are routinely frustrated. The realistic goal is a well-mannered, reliable Scottie, not a precision obedience competitor.

What motivates a Scottie — and what backfires

The breed responds to short, varied, genuinely rewarding sessions, never to drilling. Mindless repetition is the fastest way to lose a Scottie's attention; it will simply decide the game is dull and disengage. Keep sessions brief, change up the exercises, and pay well — high-value food and the chance to do something it actually enjoys. Harsh corrections, nagging, and heavy-handed dominance tactics backfire badly: a Scottie meets force with a dug-in, sulky resistance and learns to distrust the handler rather than to comply. Patience and consistency win where pressure fails. Inconsistency is its own trap, because a clever, willful dog quickly learns exactly which rules you do not actually enforce and exploits the gap.

The commands that matter and early socialisation

Because the breed's recall will never fully override a live chase, the highest-value training is the management kind: a solid "leave it," a reliable "wait" at thresholds and kerbs, and calm acceptance of the lead and crate. Early, generous socialisation is especially important for a breed that is naturally aloof and can tip toward suspicion or same-sex reactivity without it; introduce a Scottie puppy to many people, surfaces, sounds, and well-mannered dogs while the window is open. Front-load grooming handling too — teach the puppy to accept the beard, feet, and furnishings being touched, because a coat this high-maintenance demands a dog that stands quietly for it.

✂️ Grooming & Coat Care

The hard jacket, the beard, and the skirt

The Scottie's coat is its signature and its biggest commitment: a harsh, wiry, weatherproof outer jacket over a soft dense undercoat, kept long on the lower body as the trademark "skirt" and on the face as the beard and bushy eyebrows, with feathered "furnishings" on the legs. Day to day this coat needs brushing and combing several times a week — right down through the furnishings and skirt, not just over the top — to stop the longer hair from matting. The beard and the leg furnishings are mess magnets: they pick up food, mud, and water at every meal and every wet walk, so a Scottie owner is forever wiping and combing the face and undercarriage. The payoff is a famously low-shedding dog that drops very little hair around the house.

Hand-stripping versus clipping — a real choice

How the coat is maintained is a genuine fork in the road for Scottie owners. A show coat is hand-stripped: the dead outer hairs are plucked out by hand or with a stripping tool on a rolling schedule, which preserves the correct harsh, weatherproof texture and keeps the colour — particularly the black — rich and deep. Most pet owners instead have the dog clipped every six to eight weeks, which is faster and cheaper but changes the coat: clipping cuts rather than removes the dead hair, so over time the texture softens toward woolly and the black noticeably fades and greys. Neither is wrong, but a buyer should choose with eyes open, because the crisp jacket and deep colour seen in photos are the product of stripping, not clipping.

Ears, eyes, nails, teeth, and the furnishings routine

The Scottie's prick ears are open and well ventilated, so they are less infection-prone than a drop-eared breed's, but the hair in and around them still needs tidying and a routine check. Keep the eyebrows and the hair above the eyes trimmed or combed clear so they do not irritate the eyes. Nails grow fast on a digging breed and need trimming every couple of weeks. Brush the teeth several times a week from puppyhood — a lifelong, high-leverage habit for any small dog. Above all, build a daily furnishings habit: comb out the beard, the skirt, and the leg feathering, and dry them after wet walks, because these long, soft areas are exactly where mats form tight to the skin if they are neglected.

🍖 Diet & Nutrition

A compact dog that hides weight gain in its silhouette

The headline diet issue for a Scottie is weight control made deceptively hard by the coat. This is a short-legged, heavy-boned, low-slung dog whose long skirt and dense jacket hide a thickening waistline, so owners routinely miss creeping weight until the dog is genuinely overweight. Extra pounds are a real burden on a breed built low and long, loading the spine and joints and crowding an already compact frame. Feed measured meals matched to the dog's ideal weight rather than free-pouring a bowl, keep treats inside a daily calorie budget, and judge condition by hand — feeling for the ribs and the tuck behind the ribcage under the coat — rather than by eye, because the silhouette lies. A lean Scottie is the single easiest thing an owner controls for its long-term comfort.

Puppy growth and the move to adult feeding

Scottie puppies are small-breed pups and grow up on a small-breed puppy food, fed in several small meals a day because little dogs have little stomachs and faster metabolisms. With litters averaging four, breeders usually raise pups individually and send them home already on a set routine — keep that food and schedule steady for the first weeks to avoid digestive upset, and change foods gradually over about a week when you do switch. Most Scotties move to twice-daily adult feeding once growth slows in the first year, with portions set by ideal adult weight — roughly 18–22 lb depending on sex and frame — and the dog's activity, then adjusted by body condition over time.

Beards, treats, and steady routine

Two breed-specific feeding realities are worth planning for. First, the beard turns every meal into a cleanup: wet and semi-moist foods soak into the facial furnishings and need wiping, which is one practical reason many Scottie owners lean toward kibble or carefully managed feeding. Second, this is a food-motivated terrier that will happily train for treats, so it is easy to overshoot calories during training — carve treats out of the daily ration rather than adding them on top. There is no breed-wide bloat profile here as there is in deep-chested giants, so the main discipline is simply measured portions, two meals a day, and resisting the pleading of a clever dog that has learned exactly how to ask.

🐶 Buying & Adopting a Scottish Terrier

Start at the parent club, not a classified ad

The Scottish Terrier Club of America (STCA) is the AKC parent club and the right starting point. It maintains a code of ethics for member breeders, a breeder-referral resource, and a coordinated rescue network. A breeder worth buying from will be an STCA member in good standing, will register litters with the AKC, will health-test both parents, will offer a written contract and health guarantee, and will talk openly about the breed's known issues — including its bleeding-disorder and bladder-cancer history — rather than insisting their lines are simply "healthy." Expect a good breeder to interview you in turn; Scotties are placed carefully, not sold on demand.

The health screening to ask a breeder for

The CHIC screening profile for the Scottish Terrier covers three areas, and a responsible breeder can show results on both parents: a von Willebrand Disease DNA test (the breed carries the severe type III form of this inherited bleeding disorder, which a DNA test identifies in carriers and affected dogs), an OFA patella evaluation for the kneecaps, and an eye examination by a boarded veterinary ophthalmologist (OFA/ACVO). Beyond CHIC, many breeders also DNA-test for craniomandibular osteopathy — the "Scottie jaw" bone condition tied to the SLC37A2 gene — and add OFA cardiac screening. It is fair and useful to ask about two further realities of the breed: "Scottie cramp," a benign inherited movement quirk, and the breed's notably elevated risk of transitional cell carcinoma (bladder cancer) relative to other breeds. A breeder who produces the DNA and OFA paperwork and discusses these frankly is the one to trust; "no need to test, our dogs are healthy" is the answer to walk away from. (This is consumer fact-checking guidance, not veterinary advice.)

Rescue and the older-dog option

The STCA coordinates breed rescue through a national network of volunteers, and regional Scottish Terrier rescue groups regularly take in adolescents and adults whose owners underestimated the stubbornness, the grooming, or the prey drive. For an adopter willing to take on an adult with a known temperament rather than wait for a puppy, breed rescue is an excellent and ethical route — and a grown Scottie's character, which is the whole point of the breed, is usually already an open book.

Price, waiting lists, and the red flags

A well-bred Scottish Terrier puppy in the United States runs roughly USD 1,200–2,500 as of 2024, depending on region, lineage, and parent titles, and the better breeders keep waiting lists of several months because litters average only about four pups. The patterns to walk away from are familiar: puppies priced well below that with immediate availability, no health-testing documentation, and no parent-club connection. Be wary, too, of anyone marketing "rare" colours at a premium — the Scottie standard recognises black, brindle in any shade, and wheaten, all normal variation rather than a separate or superior type. A fair price from a health-testing, STCA-affiliated breeder, even after a wait, is far cheaper than the lifetime cost of a poorly bred dog.

📜 Breed Name Etymology — iDogNames original research

A geographic name that won an argument

The name Scottish Terrier looks self-explanatory and is anything but, because for most of the 19th century it was a contested label that several different dogs claimed at once. Terrier itself is the older and clearer half: it comes through Old French chien terrier, "earth dog," from the Latin terra, "earth" — a working description of a dog that goes to ground after its quarry. Any dog that hunts vermin underground is, etymologically, an earth dog, and the Highland diggers were terriers in the most literal Latin sense. The qualifier Scottish is where the trouble lived.

Through the middle decades of the 1800s, "Scotch Terrier," "Highland Terrier" and "Scottish Terrier" were used loosely for almost any rough working terrier from Scotland — including the dogs we now call Cairn, Skye and West Highland White. The words named a country of origin, not a fixed breed. Only when dog shows forced fanciers to define and separate the types did "Scottish Terrier" narrow down to the particular black-coated, long-headed Aberdeen dog described in the 1880 standard. So the breed's formal name is the spoils of a Victorian taxonomic argument: the Aberdeen dog won the right to be the Scottish Terrier, while its cousins were given more specific names.

The Aberdeen Terrier

The breed's most important historical alias is Aberdeen Terrier, and it is a true geographic name. The fanciers of Aberdeen, J. A. Adamson chief among them, did more than anyone to fix and promote the type in the 1870s, and for a time the dog was known as plainly by the city as the Scottish Terrier is now known by the country. The name faded once the national label was settled, but it survives in breed histories and in the affectionate diminutive Aberdeenie. To call a Scottie an Aberdeen Terrier is to name it after the exact place that made it, the way a Dandie Dinmont is named for a Walter Scott character or a Sealyham for a Welsh estate.

Scottie and the Diehard

The everyday name is Scottie, a straightforward affectionate clipping of "Scottish" that has long since outgrown the formal name in conversation — most owners say Scottie and most of the public knows the silhouette under that name. The breed's oldest character-name, Diehard (sometimes Die-hard), is not geographic at all but temperamental: the story credits the first Earl of Dumbarton with calling his game little terriers his "diehards" for their refusal to quit, and lending the word to his regiment. Where most breed names describe where a dog came from or what it looks like, "Diehard" describes how the dog behaves — a rare case of a temperament becoming a name.

What the breed is not called

An honest etymology has to mark a boundary that trips up newcomers: the Scottish Terrier is not the same dog as several breeds whose names sound as though they should overlap. The Scottish Deerhound is an enormous coursing hound and shares nothing but the adjective. The Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier is Irish, not Scottish, despite "wheaten" being one of the Scottie's own coat colours. And the Cairn Terrier — whose name comes from the Gaelic for the rock piles both breeds were sent into — is a separate Highland sibling, not a junior Scottie. The shared word "cairn" is a fossil of the era when the names were interchangeable, and it is a reminder that the Scottie's clean modern name was carved out of a much messier vocabulary.

Pronunciation

The name is said exactly as spelled: /ˈskɒtɪʃ ˈtɛriə/, "SCOTT-ish TERR-ee-er," with the stress on the first syllable of each word. The clipped form Scottie is /ˈskɒti/, "SCOTT-ee," rhyming with "dotty." There is no hidden Gaelic pronunciation to learn here — unlike many Highland names, this one is plain English — though the older alias Aberdeen carries the Scots stress on its final syllable, "ab-er-DEEN."

Name forms at a glance

🏛 Naming Traditions — iDogNames original research

Naming a dog whose whole story is Scottish

The Scottie offers a naming owner an unusually rich and coherent set of sources, because almost everything about the breed points back to one place. The dog is Scottish to its bones, black-coated, granite-hard in temperament, and famous enough to have its own roll of historical owners. That gives five strong layers to draw on: Aberdeen and the north-east Scottish landscape the breed actually came from, the Scots and Gaelic language of its home, the breed's black-and-brindle colouring, its "Diehard" working character, and its remarkable cast of famous real-life Scotties from Fala to Barney. Generic "tough little dog" names sell the breed short; the names that fit are the ones rooted in its specific Scottish story.

Aberdeen and the north-east

Because this breed is the Aberdeen Terrier, the city and its region make the most authentic landscape layer of all — more specific than generic "Scotland" names. Aberdeen itself, or its diminutive Aberdeenie, names the dog after the exact place that fixed the type. Deeside and the rivers Dee and Don that frame the city give grounded water-names. Granite suits both the breed's home — Aberdeen is the Granite City — and its hard, unyielding character. The wider north-east and Highlands add Cairn (the rock pile the breed worked, and a nod to its sibling breed), Brae (a Scots hillside), Glen, Heather and Bracken from the moor. For a dog bred in the Aberdeenshire rocks, these names are not decoration; they are its actual origin.

The Scots and Gaelic given-name layer

Scottish given names suit the breed's dignity. For males, Angus (Gaelic Aonghas, "one strength") is almost the default Scottie name and a fine one; Hamish (the Gaelic James), Duncan ("brown warrior"), Fergus ("man of vigour"), Lachlan, Rabbie (after Robert Burns), Tam (the Scots Tom of Burns's Tam o' Shanter) and Wallace (after the patriot) all carry the right weight. For females, Isla, Skye, Bonnie (genuine Scots for "pretty"), Maisie, Greer, Elspeth (the Scots Elizabeth) and Nessie fit a small dog with a large sense of itself. These names plant the dog in its home culture rather than a generic dog-name list, which is the whole idea.

Colour and coat

The Scottie's colouring is so iconic that it makes a naming theme on its own. The black dog of the popular imagination invites Coal, Soot, Inky, Onyx, Jet and Shadow; the Scots word Dubh (pronounced "doo," meaning "black") is a quietly perfect choice for a black Scottie that nods to the Gaelic at the same time. The breed's other two correct colours get their own names: a brindle dog suits Brindle, Tweed or Whisky, and a wheaten one suits Wheaten, Barley, Honey or Oatie. Naming the dog for its actual jacket is a long terrier tradition and reads as knowledgeable rather than cute.

The Diehard temperament

The breed earned a temperament name, so a temperament theme is fair game. Diehard itself is bold but earned; gentler versions of the same idea include Rebel, Tank, Boss, Brave and Captain — the last a nod to Captain Gordon Murray, who helped set the breed type in 1879. The Scots word Crannog or the plain Grit capture the same stubborn courage. For a dog that goes to ground against a badger and refuses to quit, a name that acknowledges the gameness is more honest than one that pretends it is a lapdog.

The famous Scotties

No small breed has a better roll of historical namesakes, and they make ready-made names with real stories behind them. Fala — Franklin Roosevelt's Scottie, the only presidential pet with a statue at a presidential memorial — is the grandest of them. Barney and Beazley (for Miss Beazley) honour the two Scotties of the George W. Bush White House. Monopoly, or the token names Pewter and Token, wink at the famous board-game piece. Jock recalls the loyal Scottie of Disney's Lady and the Tramp. And Greyfriars or Bobby nod to Greyfriars Bobby, the most famous loyal dog in Scottish lore — a Skye terrier by tradition, but a fitting Scottish-terrier name all the same. These name the dog after its own breed's fame, which for the Scottie is a deep well.

🐾 Themed Names for Your Scottish Terrier — iDogNames original research

Aberdeen & the north-east landscape

Names from the Granite City and the rivers, hills and moors of the breed's true homeland.

• Aberdeen — the city whose fanciers fixed the type; the breed's own home
• Granite — Aberdeen is the Granite City; suits a hard, grey-natured dog
• Dee — the river that runs through Aberdeen to the sea
• Don — the city's second river; short and strong
• Deeside — the royal valley above Aberdeen
• Brae — a Scots word for a hillside
• Cairn — the rock pile the breed was sent into; a nod to its sibling terrier
• Glen — a Highland valley; plain and fitting
• Heather — the moorland flower of the dog's home country
• Bracken — the hill fern; a working-country name

Scots & Gaelic names — male

Strong Scottish given names for a dignified, square little dog.

• Angus — Gaelic Aonghas, "one strength"; almost the default Scottie name
• Hamish — the Scots Gaelic James; warm and unmistakably Scottish
• Duncan — Donnchadh, "brown warrior"; a king's name in Scots history
• Fergus — "man of vigour"; an old Gaelic royal name
• Rabbie — the Scots Robert, after the poet Robert Burns
• Tam — the Scots Tom of Burns's Tam o' Shanter
• Wallace — after William Wallace, the Scottish patriot
• Lachlan — "from the land of lakes"; a full-mouthed name
• Bruce — after Robert the Bruce; regal and Scottish
• Jock — the Scots everyman name, and Disney's loyal Scottie

Scots & Gaelic names — female

Scottish female names from the islands, the literature and the language.

• Isla — after the Hebridean island and the river; clean two syllables
• Skye — the great Hebridean island; short and evocative
• Bonnie — genuine Scots for "pretty"; not an Americanism
• Maisie — a Scots diminutive of Margaret; bright and easy to call
• Greer — a Scots surname-name; crisp and modern
• Elspeth — the Scots form of Elizabeth; period-true
• Nessie — the Loch Ness affectionate name; playful and Scottish
• Ailsa — after Ailsa Craig, the granite island in the Firth of Clyde
• Iona — the holy island off Mull; gentle and historic
• Catriona — the Gaelic Catherine, immortalised by Robert Louis Stevenson

Colour & coat

Names for the black, brindle and wheaten jackets that are the breed's three correct colours.

• Coal — for the classic black Scottie; plain and apt
• Dubh — Gaelic for "black" (said "doo"); a perfect black-dog name
• Inky — soft and affectionate for a jet-black coat
• Onyx — the black gemstone; glossy and hard
• Jet — short, sharp, deep black
• Shadow — for the black dog that follows you room to room
• Brindle — names the striped coat outright
• Whisky — for a brindle or wheaten dog; a Scottish wink
• Wheaten — for the pale gold coat; one of the breed's true colours
• Barley — warm and grain-coloured, for a wheaten Scottie

The Diehard temperament

Names that honour the gameness and grit that earned the breed its oldest nickname.

• Diehard — the breed's own historic nickname; bold but earned
• Captain — for Captain Gordon Murray, who set the breed type in 1879
• Rebel — for the independent, decide-for-myself terrier mind
• Tank — for the heavy-boned, low-slung, immovable build
• Boss — for the dog that runs the household and knows it
• Grit — plain and exact for a Diehard
• Brave — for the dog that faced a badger underground
• Major — military and dignified, like the breed itself
• Duke — a touch of nobility for a small aristocrat
• Sarge — for the watchful little sergeant of the house

The famous Scotties

Names borrowed from the breed's remarkable cast of real and fictional namesakes.

• Fala — Franklin Roosevelt's Scottie; the most famous of the breed
• Barney — George W. Bush's White House Scottie and "Barney Cam" star
• Beazley — for Miss Beazley, Barney's Scottie companion
• Monopoly — for the beloved board-game token
• Pewter — the metal the famous Scottie token is cast in
• Token — playful, for the same game piece
• Jock — the loyal Scottie of Disney's Lady and the Tramp
• Bobby — after Greyfriars Bobby, the loyal dog of Scottish lore
• Suckley — for Margaret Suckley, who gave Fala to Roosevelt
• Highland — for the breed's old catch-all name and its homeland

📋 Breed Standard at a Glance

General appearance

The AKC and UK Kennel Club standards describe the Scottish Terrier as a small, compact, short-legged, sturdily built dog of good bone and substance — a thickset earth-terrier with a long head, a hard weatherproof coat, and an unmistakable outline. The impression is of power and determination packed into a low, square frame: an active, agile working terrier that carries its head and tail up and moves with a bold, confident bearing far larger than its size suggests. Exaggeration is faulted; the standard describes a functional vermin dog, not a fragile toy.

Size, coat, and colour

The breed stands about 10–11 inches at the withers (roughly 25–28 cm), with males weighing approximately 19–22 lb and females about 18–21 lb. The coat is the defining feature: a broken double coat with a soft, dense undercoat and a hard, wiry, weather-resistant outer jacket, kept long on the lower body, legs, and face to form the characteristic skirt, furnishings, beard, and eyebrows. Recognised colours are black, brindle in any shade, and wheaten; the black is the popular image of the breed but is only one of the standard's accepted colours. The dense, harsh texture of the jacket is essential and is best maintained by hand-stripping.

Head, movement, and temperament

The head is long in proportion to the dog, with small, bright, almond-shaped dark eyes set well under the brow, and small, pointed, erect (prick) ears. The tail is of moderate length, thick at the root and tapering, carried erect with a slight curve — the carrot-shaped tail of the breed. Movement is smooth, free, and powerful, with good reach and drive from a low-slung but agile body. Temperament is part of the standard and is the heart of the breed: bold, alert, confident, dignified, and self-reliant — loyal and loving with its family yet reserved and aloof with strangers, never shy and never aggressive without cause.

🏆 Famous Scottish Terriers

Notable real dogs of the breed profiled on iDogNames.

🏆 Recognition

Recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1885 as a Terrier breed. FCI standard No. 73 (Section 2 — Small-sized Terriers), recognized in 1934.

Other registries

Breed clubs

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Are Scottish Terriers good family dogs?

For the right household, yes. The Scottie is fiercely loyal and devoted to its own people but reserved and aloof with strangers, and it tends to bond closely with one or two family members rather than fawning on everyone. It suits calm homes and older children who respect that it is a dignified, independent terrier rather than a tolerant cuddle-toy, and it is often too short-fused for the grabbing of toddlers. Careful introductions are needed around other dogs and small pets because of its terrier prey drive and tendency toward same-sex dog reactivity.

Do Scottish Terriers shed a lot?

No — the Scottie is a low-shedding breed and drops very little hair, which is part of its appeal for tidy homes. The trade-off is grooming: the harsh wiry double coat with its beard, eyebrows, leg furnishings, and skirt needs combing several times a week to prevent mats, plus regular hand-stripping or clipping every six to eight weeks. Low shedding does not mean low maintenance.

How much exercise does a Scottish Terrier need?

Moderate — a couple of brisk daily walks plus play and some sniffing-and-investigating time satisfy most adult Scotties. The important caveat is the breed has a strong earth-terrier prey drive and will bolt after squirrels, cats, and rabbits and dig with enthusiasm, so a securely fenced yard and a lead in open spaces are essential. Activities like earthdog trials and scent games give the digging-and-hunting instinct a healthy outlet.

How long do Scottish Terriers live?

Typically 12 to 15 years. The Scottie is a generally long-lived small breed, and good weight control, dental care, and routine veterinary attention help dogs reach the upper end of that range. Like all breeds it has known health concerns a responsible owner should be aware of, including an inherited bleeding disorder and an elevated breed risk of bladder cancer.

Are Scottish Terriers easy to train?

Not especially — the Scottie is intelligent and learns quickly, but it is famously stubborn and independent, bred to make its own decisions underground without a handler. It will not perform mindless repetition and decides for itself whether complying is worthwhile. Short, varied, well-rewarded sessions work; harsh corrections and nagging backfire and produce a dug-in, sulky dog. Expect a well-mannered companion rather than a precision obedience competitor.

Are Scottish Terriers hypoallergenic?

The Scottie is low-shedding, which some allergy sufferers tolerate better than a heavily shedding breed, but no dog is truly hypoallergenic — allergens come from dander and saliva as well as hair. Anyone with a dog allergy should spend extended time around the breed before committing to one.

How much does a Scottish Terrier puppy cost?

A well-bred, health-tested puppy from a parent-club breeder typically runs USD 1,200 to 2,500 as of 2024, depending on region, lineage, and titles, often with a waiting list of several months because litters average only about four pups. Be wary of puppies priced well below that with no health-testing paperwork, and of anyone charging a premium for a "rare" colour — black, brindle, and wheaten are all standard.

📚 Sources & Further Reading

Every load-bearing factual claim on this page is anchored to one of the sources below. iDogNames does not synthesize from secondary aggregators.

• akc breed page Scottish Terrier — AKC Breed Profile — American Kennel Club (2024)
• fci standard pdf FCI Standard No. 73 — Scottish Terrier — Fédération Cynologique Internationale (2011)
• kc uk standard pdf Scottish Terrier — Breed Standard — The Kennel Club (UK)
• breed club official Scottish Terrier Club of America — breed history, health and rescue — Scottish Terrier Club of America
• academic paper Herbicide exposure and the risk of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder in Scottish Terriers — Glickman LT, Raghavan M, Knapp DW, Bonney PL, Dawson MH; J Am Vet Med Assoc 224:1290–1297 (PMID 15112777) (2004)
• academic paper Topical flea and tick pesticides and the risk of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder in Scottish Terriers — Raghavan M, Knapp DW, Dawson MH, Bonney PL, Glickman LT; J Am Vet Med Assoc 225:389–394 (PMID 15328714) (2004)
• academic paper Muscular hypertonicity. Episodes in Scottish terrier dogs — Meyers KM, Dickson WM, Lund JE, Padgett GA; Arch Neurol 25:61–68 (PMID 5169523) (1971)
• academic paper The mode of inheritance of craniomandibular osteopathy in West Highland White terrier dogs — Padgett GA, Mostosky UV; Am J Med Genet 25:9–13 (PMID 3799725) (1986)
• wikipedia Scottish Terrier — Wikipedia — Wikipedia

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