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American Hairless Terrier: Breed Characteristics, Care & Exercise Needs

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About American Hairless Terrier

Country of Origin, History of American Hairless Terriers

Reputedly, the breed started when one hairless puppy appeared in one Rat Terrier litter in the state of Louisiana, United States, in 1972. Edwin and Willie Scott, the owners, liked the dog's look and temperament, and upon maturity bred her hoping to reproduce the hairless quality. They were eventually successful; a litter produced in 1981 provided the foundation stock of the breed.

American Hairless Terrier Tools

Breed Selector Tool - is the American Hairless Terrier the right breed for you?

Is the American Hairless Terrier the right breed for you and your family?

Find out by using our Free Dog Breed Selector Tool

Check Your American Hairless Terrier's Learning Style

Are you aware dogs also have a learning style that can greatly affect their ability to housetrain as well as be trained correctly. Evaluate your American Hairless Terrier's learning style and personality using our free Learning Style tool so that you are better able to provide him with the proper American Hairless Terrier training methods.

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American Hairless Terrier Calorie Calculator

Do you know how many calories your American Hairless Terrier needs every day and how many cups of food you should be giving it every day? Click here to use our American Hairless Terrier Calorie Calculator.

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Description of the Dog

The American Hairless is a well-muscled dog with a deep chest, strong shoulders, solid neck, and powerful legs. The ears are carried erect when the dog is alert. Tails must be full length. The skin is pink with gray, black, golden or red spots.

Hairless-to-hairless breeding always produces completely hairless puppies. Hairless-to-coated mating is producing variable results. Hairless pups are born with a bit of sparse fuzzy hair all over their body. The pup will shed this fuzz, starting with the head, proceeding backwards, becoming entirely and eternally hairless by the age of six weeks. They do not have tufts of hair on the head, feet and end of tail. They do however, have normal eyebrows and whiskers.

Height: 7-16 inches (18-41 cm.)

Weight: 5-16 pounds (2.5-7 kg.)

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American Hairless Terrier Personality Traits

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Temperament of the Breed

American Hairless Terriers are intelligent, alert, playful, quick, loving, inquisitive, affectionate, fearless, lively, eager to please, good watchdog and an excellent companion, even for children. The American Hairless Terrier, unlike other dog breeds, will break out in a sweat when hot or scared. They are fairly territorial, stubborn and for the most part friendly with strangers.

American Hairless Terrier Activity Level

The breed enjoys challenging games and outdoor romps. They need to be taken on a long daily walk. They love to dig. They are easy to train.

The AHT will do ok in an apartment so long as they get enough exercise. They are fairly active indoors and should have at least a small to medium sized yard.

Grooming

Because of their lack of hair, they do need protection from the sun. Sunscreen should be applied or a shirt should be worn during summer. The dog must be given a sweater during the cold months. They should be bathed one to three times a week. Their nails should be trimmed weekly. If their skin becomes dry, lotion (without lanolin) can be applied.

This breed obviously does not shed and they do not get fleas, but they do shed skin cells about every 20 days, therefore there is some dander but it is very minimal. Scratches and cuts need to be attended to by hydrogen peroxide or any other antiseptic agent. This breed is very good for allergy sufferers.

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Free American Hairless Terrier Training Secrets

Free Course on American Hairless Terrier Training & Obedience
Stop All Bad Behavior, Excessive Barking and Biting

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Health and Care

While the SWD seems to be a very healthy breed there are some issues that the SWD have, just like all other breeds. There are cases of Hip Dysplasia in the breed, so choose your breeder carefully.

All breeding dogs should have their hips tested, either by OFA or PennHIP. There have been a few cases of PRA reported in Europe so it is advised that all breeders should test their breeding stock for PRA and other such genetic eye diseases with a yearly CERF exam. A responsible breeder will be able to produce the results in writing.

Like other Water Dogs and related breeds, they grow hair in their ear canals and can be prone to ear infections. The ears must be kept dry and clean. . Because these dogs are (as a general rule) so active and energetic as puppies, they may seriously injure themselves from too much running and jumping when their skeletal structure is still developing.

National Breed Clubs

Life Expectancy: About 14-16 years.

Group: Terrier Group

AKC Popularity Ranking: 136

Also Known As: AHT

Train Your American Hairless Terrier To Listen To You

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Sign up for our Free American Hairless Terrier Mini Course to have a housebroken, obedient dog that happily comes to you every time you call.

You'll learn new commands to obedience-train your dog as well as how to housebreak your dog in 6 days or less.

You'll also learn how to eliminate bad habits like barking, nipping or biting, jumping, or pulling on the leash.Here's just s small fraction of what else you'll learn in the course:

  • How to lead and think like a pack dog - the new psychology.

  • 3 dangerous mistakes that most AHT owners make when they are trying to potty train their dogs.

  • The 2 main reasons why your dog barks excessively and how to control its excessive barking.

  • How to obedience train your American Hairless Terrier to permanently end behavioral problems like Jumping, Aggression, Pulling on Leash.

  • A surprisingly easy way to teach your dog cool new tricks.

  • How to improve your dog's lifespan and keep it from getting overly heavy with a healthy and nutritious diet.

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  • One hidden psychological trigger that all American Hairless Terriers have... that practically allows you to "analyze" and "control" your dog's every action.

  • Priority access to the free online seminars conducted by our training experts.

Whereas other dog training related web sites and books offer generic information for dogs in general, ours is the ONLY web site that offers AHT information specifically, from a renowned panel of experts - because as you probably know, AHTs have their own special training requirements that other dogs don't have.

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Our Dog Experts

The American Hairless Terrier training information you will read here was developed by a panel of renowned dog training experts whose combined wisdom represents nearly 100 years of specialist experience training dogs.

Here are a few of our experts:

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