The American Hairless Terrier is a new breed created in the year 1970; this dog breed was a modified version of the well-known dog breed rat terriers.
The name of the dog exactly depicts its appearance as the coat of the canine doesn’t have hair on it which needs more maintenance to stay disease free.
The temperament of the canine and its unique hairless appearance make the dog breed one of the most demanding species of the present day.
The breed is well known for being an active partner to their owners and being hypoallergenic, due to which the environment of the home remains disease free and clean.
Here’s a detailed description of the American Hairless Terrier, breaking down the provided information and offering key takeaways for potential owners:
The American Hairless Terrier: A Unique and Adaptable Companion
- Origins: The American Hairless Terrier (AHT) is a relatively new breed, developed in the 1970s from a hairless Rat Terrier. Their unique appearance and playful nature have made them increasingly popular.
- Appearance: The defining feature of the AHT is its hairlessness. They have smooth, warm skin that comes in a variety of colors and patterns. Some AHTs do have a short, fine coat.
- Temperament: This breed is intelligent, affectionate, and playful. They are known for forming strong bonds with their families and being good with children. While they can be wary of strangers, early socialization is key.
- Health: While generally healthy, AHTs are prone to certain skin issues due to lack of hair. Sun protection is crucial, and they are sensitive to both hot and cold temperatures. Keeping an eye out for hip dysplasia, heart conditions, and other common dog ailments is crucial.
Adaptability and Lifestyle Considerations:
- Apartment-Friendly: AHTs are highly adaptable to apartment living due to their small size and moderate energy levels.
- Good for Novice Owners: Their intelligence and eagerness to please make AHTs suitable for first-time dog owners, provided the owner is dedicated to training and socialization.
- Alone Time: AHTs can tolerate being alone for a few hours but may become destructive if left for too long. Crate training and providing mental stimulation can help.
- Weather Sensitivity: Owners must protect their AHTs from both extreme heat and cold. Clothing and sunscreen are essential, as their hairless skin leaves them vulnerable.
Key Takeaways for Potential AHT Owners
- Hairless Care: The AHT’s skin requires special attention for protection from the elements and to prevent dryness or irritation.
- Socialization is Key: Early socialization with other dogs, people, and environments is crucial to prevent shyness or wariness around strangers.
- Playful and Loving: AHTs thrive on attention and playtime, making them great companions for active individuals or families.
- Health Precautions: Proper skincare, regular vet checkups, and awareness of potential breed-related health issues are essential for responsible AHT ownership.
FAQs
- Price: AHTs can be expensive, ranging from around $2000-$4000.
- Lifespan: AHTs typically live 14-16 years.
- Skin Conditions: They may be prone to allergies and dryness, requiring consistent skincare.
- Weight: AHTs weigh between 2.5 and 12 kg.
- Swimming: They are not natural swimmers.
- Group Classification: Terrier
- Colors: AHTs come in various colors and patterns.
- Coated Version: Exists, but referred to generally as a Rat Terrier.
The American Hairless Terrier is a special breed requiring dedication but with the potential to be an amazing, affectionate, and adaptable member of your family!
Adaptability
Adapt well to apartment lifestyle (Rate: 4 out of 5)
The American Hairless Terrier, just like most of the other small dog breeds, is easily adaptable to the apartment lifestyle.
The dogs which are medium in size can easily adapt to small spaces and are also calm; mainly because of their small size, they can easily play and pass their time in a narrow space.
Large dogs usually don’t get able to adjust in small places and turn aggressive because they can’t play or move freely in such small places.
This eventually leads to anxiety attacks in the case of the canine; thus, going for a dog breed like the American Hairless Terrier is the best choice for owners who live in an apartment.
Good for new dog owners (Rate: 3.5 out of 5)
The American Hairless Terrier is the only hairless dog breed that falls under the category of dog breeds that are suitable for novice owners.
Novice owners mostly require dog breeds that are careful listeners, calm and composed, and affectionate towards their owners.
The American Hairless Terriers are not only good listeners but also effective learners, which makes them a good choice for novice owners.
The dog might be a good listener, but the owner should also behave lovingly with the canine and should spend quality time with the canine to keep him interested in his daily routine.
It is strictly suggested to the dog owner to spend some quality time with the owner so that the owner can stay stress-free.
Can stay alone at home (Rate: 4 out of 5)
The American Hairless Terrier breed is good at controlling its anxiety and stress when kept alone at home for several hours.
The dog remains in good condition for a limited period, but when the limit of the canines tolerance exceeds, he turns aggressive and also becomes destructive, which might lead to a huge loss for the dog owner.
The dog usually starts to chew the cones of the furniture and bite the couches and pillow covers. To avoid this destructive behavior of the canine
The dog owner has to simply go for taking the dog with them while traveling, or they can also go for a crate while keeping the dog alone at home during working hours with several treats and food items to keep the dog free from hunger attacks and to give him mental stimulation.
Sensitivity (Rate: 3 out of 5)
The American Hairless Terriers are also sensitive, which can also lead to a stubborn streak behavior; being sensitive is common for almost all canines.
This is mainly because dogs are one of the most loyal animals on the earth, and instead of their loyalty, they only urge for the love and care of the owner.
In case the canine doesn’t get the needed attention and care of the owner, he will start to get mentally weak because the canine also needs someone to pamper himself to release all his stress and to give him mental stimulation.
This can be simply called the sensitivity of the canine, which is present in almost all canines.
Not a good tolerant of cold weather (Rate: 2.5 out of 5)
The American Hairless Terrier is one of those dog breeds which not at all tolerate the cold weather outside.
As we have mentioned above, the American Hairless Terrier doesn’t have hairs over his coat which lets the cold outside easily get trapped in the body as there is no protective layer over the coat of the canine.
Thus to safeguard the canine from the cold weather and to keep the pet warm during the winter season, the dog owner can simply go for putting woolen pet coats over his body like protective clothing and can also keep the pet in a place with heaters all the time.
A woolen coat will be a much better choice because this will work as a protective layer over the canine’s coat which does not let the cold outside be trapped in the canine’s body.
Not a good tolerant of the hot weather. (Rate: 3 out of 5)
Due to no hairs over its coat, the American Hairless Terrier is not able to tolerate hot weather too.
The canine might suffer from various skin issues like sunburn, itchiness, and many others during the sunny seasons, which can be very discomforting for the canine. Thus sun protection is necessary.
This can be simply prevented by not letting the canine walk outside when it’s too sunny or by keeping the pet at room temperature.
The owner can also go for treating the issues caused by the sunny weather by discussing it with the vet, as if it remains untreated, then there’s a chance of the issues getting even more serious.
All around friendliness
Affectionate towards the family members (Rate: 3.5 out of 5)
The American Hairless Terrier also falls under the category of dogs that are very affectionate and loving towards the members of their family.
The affectionate and loving nature of the canine towards the family of the owner is because of the habit of being with them from the very childhood.
Love and care are all that keep the canine friendly and protective towards the family. So it is strictly suggested to dog owners to always use positive reinforcement while training the canine to keep the canine friendly and stress-free.
Friendly with the kids (Rate: 4 out of 5)
The American Hairless Terriers are one of those dogs which get easily comfortable and friendly with the kids of the home.
This dog remains playful most of the time, due to which they always search for a companion who can play with them, and as we all know, no one can be the best companion for a canine more than a kid.
Not only is the canine friendly towards the kids, but they also possess a kind of protective nature for the kids, due to which it is quite safe to keep the canine with the kids for some time.
The researchers have proved that this dog has the potential to do anything for the sake of the safety of the person he loves. Thus it is the best family pet.
Not so friendly with strangers (Rate: 2.5 out of 5)
The American Hairless Terriers stand in that category of dogs that can’t get too close or affectionate towards strangers and other animals.
The most significant reason behind this is the habit of being used to one person from the very childhood; the canine does not feel safe with anyone other than the owner’s family and the owner himself.
This can cause difficulties for both the owner and the canine while traveling outside; thus, it is very important to make the canine more socialized.
To make the canine used to strangers and be friendly with them, the owner can simply go for taking the dog for walking sessions through which the canine can get used to the strangers.
Health and grooming requirements of the American Hairless Terriers
No shedding (Rate: 4 out of 5)
The hairless version of the Terrier is one of the small dogs which suffers from almost no shedding, even the coated varieties, which leads to an infectious disease-free environment in the house.
The main reason behind the no shedding of the American Hairless Terrier is the absence of fur over its dense coat.
This makes the dog of this breed one of the best choices to go with for the owner, who is an allergy sufferer, as the dog’s shiny coat is hypoallergenic.
Potential to drool (Rate: 3.5 out of 5)
The American hairless terrier club dogs, just like most of the other dog breeds, used to drool whenever they burst out of a bundle of emotions.
The dog also drools when they smell its favorite food or gets tired; this happens because due to the release of adrenaline, the dog gets energetic, which stimulates the salivary glands of the canine, which leads to drooling in dogs.
So based on this, we can say that the dog owner might suffer through the consequences of drooling, like unnecessary spots on the pillow covers and couches, which needs regular cleaning for a clean environment of the house.
This shows that American hairless terrier stands lower in the ranking of cleanliness.
General health (Rate: 4 out of 5)
The hairless dog breed native to the United States, just like other breeds, used to suffer from several health issues which might not spread to the offspring that will be produced.
The diseases the dogs suffer from are not inherited from their genetic traits and are common diseases that almost all dog breeds suffer through.
The health conditions this rare hairless terrier dog breed suffers includes hip dysplasia, cardigan conditions, patellar luxations, and Legg calve Perthes disease.
All these health problems, if remaining untreated for a longer period, can get deadly for the hairless variety of canine and American hairless terrier puppies.
Thus it is suggested to take the canine rapidly for a vet visit if it detects symptoms that depict the characteristics of such diseases.
Potential to weight gain (Rate: 3 out of 5)
The hairless dog breed indigenous with a short coat, just like the other dog breed, becomes an effective weight gainer when it gets an unfit diet.
Foods containing more nutritious materials than the requirement of the canine lead to an increase in the fats of the canine, which causes many discomforts to the canine.
To prevent the canine from getting fatty, the owner just has to go for feeding the canine high-quality dog food as per the nutritional requirements of the canine and some moderate exercise.
History of the breed American Hairless Terrier
The American Hairless Terrier was originally bred in 1983; the story behind the breeding of this dog breed is quite interesting, which attracts most people towards it.
The breeders of the dog breed, Edwin and Willie Scott got the idea of breeding this dog from Josephine, which was one of the first hairless breeds and a hairless rat terrier born unexpectedly without the birth coat.
The breeders, after getting Josephine the first hairless variety litter, started with the hairless gene to breed it continuously, as this unique species has become popular due to its unique appearance.
Hairless pups are on high trend those days. Further, the Kennel Club has established the Rat terrier as the parent breed of this American Hairless Terrier.
The American Hairless Terriers and the hairless puppies are then further officially recognized as a dog breed by the United Kennel Club in the year 2004 along with the American kennel club.
As it is of a new species and rare breed, there is no such great information available regarding its genetic traits and general health.
The temperament of the American Hairless Terrier (Rate: 4.5 out of 5)
This hairless version of the terrier possesses a very calm nature, they are very good listeners and have a high intelligence level which helps them to grab things rapidly, and their owners want to make them learn to make them well disciplined.
The dog is easy to please and can be easily satisfied with some love and care and chasing the small game, as all the canine wants from the owner is love and care and some encouragement while performing the tasks.
The dog and even the coated American hairless terriers are affectionate towards the family members and are playful and very protective towards the kids; these features make the canine a good choice for home dogs.
FAQ’s
What is the price of American Hairless Terriers?
The average range of the dog breed American Hairless Terriers starts from $2000 and can exceed up to $ 4000 depending on the foundation stock service.
What is the average lifespan of an American Hairless Terrier?
The average lifespan of an American Hairless Terrier is around 14 to 16 years; this can also differ in some cases, depending on the immune system of the canine and its health.
Do American Hairless Terriers suffer from skin conditions?
Sometimes American Hairless Terriers can suffer from several skin conditions, which include allergies and itchy skin.
What is the average weight of the American Hairless Terrier?
The American Hairless Terrier dogs will simply weigh within the range of 2.5 to 12 kg and can vary greatly depending on the diet it follows.
Can the American Hairless Terriers swim?
The hairless breed indigenous cannot swim; they fall under the category of canines that don’t get comfortable in the water.
What is the group of American Hairless Terriers?
The American Hairless Terriers fall under the terrier group. What are the colors available in American Hairless Terriers?
The American Hairless Terriers are available in a few colors, which include black, white, grey, blue, red, and dark brown.
What is the name of the coated version of the American Hairless Terrier?
The American Hairless Terrier’s coated version was popular as the Coated Carrier, which is the coated variety of hairless dogs.
What is the name of the parent of the dog breed American Hairless Terriers?
The parent of this breed was popular as the Rat Terriers
In which year the American Hairless Terrier was bred first?
The American Hairless Terrier was bred first in the year 1970 by Edwin Scott in Louisiana.
