According to the AKC, a well-balanced Scottish Terrier dog should weigh from 19 to 22 pounds (8.6 to 10 kilos) and a bitch from 18 to 21 pounds (8.2 to 9.5 kilos).
Bridget tips the scales at 27 pounds (12.3 kilos).
While I occasionally see a small male Scottie downtown, he looks kind of scrawny to me. And as I write these words, it’s just coming back to me that Bridget’s breeder said American Scotties were smaller than Candian dogs.
Maybe we’ve just bred a bunch of lumberjack dogs here in the frozen north.
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{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Weight is one of 3 numbers to consider with dogs. How tall is she at the shoulder and how long is she from the collar to the base of the tail? If those figures are also above average, her weight should be above average. How fit is she is more important that how much she weighs. Can she run, play hard, walk a good distance without giving up or getting out of breath? When you look down at her does she have a nip in at the waist? Ditto from the side..should nip up after the rib cage. Paul Bunyon was a big guy…but what a 6-pack from all that axe swinging. Makes a gal want to swoon.
Macintosh varies between 12 and 12.8 kilos. He is solid muscle and his vet says he is in great shape. If he was 10 kilos I’d think there was something seriously wrong with him!
Artie is the “fat” one — about 29 to 30 pounds, depending on his mood, etc. He’s a “long” Scottie, but also thick.
Simon is closer to the average — 20-22 pounds depending. He’s also a rescue.
Cambria weighs about 19lbs. She honestly could probably stand to lose a pound, because you can’t feel her ribs without really trying (she does however have a nice tucked waist). But she’s a very healthy dog so I don’t worry about it too much.
I have also wondered about the weight standard for scotties – I had heard that there was a difference in size between American and British scotties – I assumed that because all of my scotties have been in the 26-33 pound range (but not overweight) that American scotties were the bigger ones. I’ve also heard that you can tell the difference between an American and British scottie by the way they eat/drink – if they sit while drinking vs. stand – of course I have never been able to determine which goes with which. Maybe these are just scottie gossip – anybody know?
Julie – owner of jumbo scotties
My 15 month female Scottie is 22lbs and you can somewhat feel her ribs. I’m guessing she’s a healthy weight. She’s solid as a brick too so I think, like people, muscle weighs more than fat, etc. so you need to take that into consideration. She spends her days running around with our Lab.
My two rescue Scotties have very different builds, and weigh 9kg and 13kg. The bigger guy was 15.4kg when he first came to us, but with a sensible diet and plenty of excercise is now a much healthier weight with a waist. The little fella is just much more petite and has recently been mistaken for a lady Scottie!
Finnigan weighs about 22 pounds (10 kilos). He’s at a bout 8 months now, and slightly longer than average. He eats like a cow, but seems to retain a curve to his waist.
My male scottie has just had the snip and one thing the vet warned me about was weight gain. Has anyone any info/advice about this? Thank you
I live in Paris, France and have an eight-month old female Scottie named Rosie. I had her spayed when she was just under six months old and was told by the vet I had to be careful about not feeding her too much because, from now on, she would gain weight easily. In France, many brand name dog foods sell dry food for sterilized dogs – no kidding. I expect it is similar to “Lite” dog food, though we have that over here as well.
When we adopted Angus he was six months old and 20 lbs. He is now 2years old and weighs 30-34 — he loves to eat! However, he is solid, healthy, and loves to run and walk so I’m not as worried as I was at first. He sits when he eats which I find amusing. I have never had a dog do that. I didn’t know there was a difference between American Scotties and other countries. Americans are known to be overweight so maybe it carries over to their dogs?
Okay, I’m feeling better about Bridget’s chunkiness. She gets lots of exercise and is energetic, but is just very concerned about eating.
I feel that to give her any less food than she currently eats would be cruel given her hearty appetite.
I’ve never seen a dog who sits down to eat but have seen some who lie down.
Fergie, our Scottie, weighs in at about 25 pounds. I think if she were too much smaller she’d look funny. In my mind, Scotties tend to be thick dogs and I think she’s adorable!
OMG – I thought Duncan was a SToUS (a scottish terrier of unusual size). His average weight is 27 pounds. He’s a big little guy. I was a little alarmed at how fast he grew from a pup because the ST’s I’d always seen ring side seemed small. Now I see he’s not so unusual.
Our Scottie, Jock, is a whopping 33 pounds, and is severely overweight considering his smaller build. He is epileptic and takes phenobarbs daily, which increases his appetite *and* his weight. He was just put on a diet by his vet today, we’re hoping he’ll lose 10 pounds or so. He gets out of breath really easily and has trouble climbing up on the couch now.
Why are show scotties so wee? Mac is a monster compared to them. Even his tail and ears are twice the size. He is bigger than all the measurements given in the kennel club breed standards but is still the most handsome boy!
ps I think Canadian scotties need an extra layer of blubber to keep them warm.
Oh geeze… my daughter’s male Scottie, Colin was 38lbs and just a big guy… perfectly healthy. His litter mate, my Scottie girl, Gwen was about 24 and petite and dainty… their other littermate, Maggie is about 32 and all three are trim and fit.
Colin was more typical of his British grandfather. ans when I was last in UK, the Scotties there did seem to be a bit bigger, sturdier, as were the Cairns as well.
I have 7 month old Scottie weighing in at 30 lbs. I been so worried. He is active, runs, walks a lot and given very very few people food. Is this abnormal?He looks good, i think but is my first scottie. Worried Mom
Scotties, like many terriers and smaller breeds, mature early. It’s not uncommon to find terriers under a year in the show ring along with their adult counterparts. Duncan was structurally big by six months and weighed 24 pounds. Between seven months and fifteen months he only gained three pounds and now at three he’s steady at 27lb. Karen, read the first posting here…all other measurement being proportional – your Scottie may just be large.
This is interesting….I was surprised that Briget is 27 pounds.
Duncan will be 3 yr. old in Feb. and he ranges between 20 and 21 pounds. Now my Brie, the Cockapoo, I do believe the poor girl has a weight problem and is a bit higher than the 15 pounds she should be….just proof the poor females tend to carry more weight.
Terri
http://www.islandwriter.net
Dash weighs about 26lbs, he’s 9 months and seems a little overweight, specially after grooming but then I remember these are heavy boned dogs so I guess I don’t have to worry. The vet also says he’s healthy and perfectly fit.
Remember that neutered males and spayed females have a tendency to gain weight.
My Scottie boy Radley is coming up for 19 wks and weighs 21lbs, I too was worried but he is solid and very fit and active, no fat at all !!
My first Scottie was female and very petite, this dog is a monster in comparison
I found a purebred Scottie through craigslist in my city and unlike my other Scotties who weigh less than 22 lbs, this new guy is 29 lbs. He's a beautiful dog with a great personality but I've never seen a Scottie this big. I found this blog and it's interesting to hear of other people with giant Scotties!
You're lucky to have gotten a dog on Craigslist. They usually remove pet posts pronto.
And speaking of giant Scotties, I saw one on the street today. Large, shaggy, not wanting to budge and barking at a baby stroller.
100% Scottie.
Update on Angus… since I posted on this subject last year, we have put Angus on a sensible, but healthy, eating routine. In the morning, he gets one-half cup of his regular dog food mixed with green beans, lettuce, carrots, mixed vegies, or whatever other vegies I have on hand (except of course forbidden types), and then again in the evening. We bought him a "break-fast" bowl (the kind that is supposed to slow down the eating) and it helps a little bit. Anyway, he gets the amount of food he should but with lots of extra "treats" (aka vegies) that do not promote weight gain and are healthy. He is now showing a waistline but I do not know what he weighs. Will know that in January. Ozzie (my Westie) on the other hand, sometimes will only eat the vegies…
Oh – I've got a big Scottie story for you all! My "baby" Jack, was 54 lbs. at adulthood! He was from a breeder in CO, who told us he was a "European" Scottie. He was the sweetest dog ever and had a great Scottie "Arrooo" that could be heard anywhere. Sadly, we lost him to liver failure in Oct 2009 at the age of 12 1/2. We miss him terribly, as does our American Scottie, Arnie (he'll be 10 tomorrow). Anyone with information on larger/European Scotties, PLEASE email slwmcarrithers@yahoo.com. Thank you!!!!
We have (had) three male Scotties. Hearty (Braveheart) had diabetes and weighed 42 pounds and is not fat; he was just a big lovable guy. Unfortunately he drowned in our pool last week and it has shredded our hearts. His brothers (Willie & Riley) both weigh around 30 pounds and are in terrific shape.
That must be really hard to have drowned in your pool – I take it is not fenced in…………….too bad.
I have a girl Nessie who is 9 in December and weighs around 22/23 lbs. She had weighed as much as 28lb but a change in diet has slimmed her down some. She looks leaner too because she has a little longer body than some I have seen….no matter what she is the love of my life along with her cohort Ailsa a West Highland Terrier who turned 10 in October and she is on the lighter side @ 12lbs and has never varied much from that – weird – she is small too never did fill out pudgie in the body hahaha
The Doogster (Dougan) is 16 months and weighs in at 21 lbs (he’s totally within the standard measurements). But I can also empathize with people who own giant scotties. I tease my parents all the time because their Scottie, Sprocket, weighs much closer to 30 lbs. So we measured Sprox and found that he’s about a Scott and a half, so in that case he’s right where he should be. Unfortunately, when the two go out together, Doogster gets mistaken for a lady because he’s the littler. Poor guy.
My mother’s female 4 year old Scottie who was the runt of the litter weighs 12.7 pounds when I took her to the vet yesterday. That is one pound more than this time last year. The vet reassured me that she isn’t overweight. I was interested to see weight of other scotties. Strange that she weighs so much less than the average. She is healthy and loves to play and run around.
12.7 pounds? WOW. That’s really small! Check out my post about Scottie weights at http://www.scottiechronicles.com
I’m 6 and weigh 24.4 pounds. There are lots of BIG Scotties out there.
We have a male Scottish Terrier named “Laddie”
who is 8 and half years old. We have had home since
a puppy.
He is a wonderful, good natured, soccer playing, happy member of
our family.
Scotties are the perfect specimen of a dog!
Cheers
Bonnie
I adopted my sons scotty when he moved and could not take him along and i have fallen in love with this sweet, friendly,querky little guy and wolud now feel lost without him beside me his name is pete
My daughters scottie weighs 36 lbs. We have her on a diet with lo cal food and are walking her. She is not losing any. She is 5 yrs. old and named Sadie Rae. Roger
I’ve had 9 scotties and they range from 30lbs to 17lbs.
I have a male Scottie(Elvis) that will be turning one year old in a couple of weeks. I am
concerned about having him neutered because of weight gain. He weighs 19 pounds now. The reason for my concern is due to having a male Scottie in the past that I had
neutered and he gained so much weight and totally lost interest in walking. He changed so much as far as his energy level. I would not have had him neutered because he was eleven years old but was advised by his vet to have it done. I still grieve over this because his quality of life changed so much. Please advise. EM
Hi Ellen,
I think the problem stemmed from having an older dog neutered. And, who knows, something could have gone wrong with the surgery. Frankly, I’m surprised the vet recommended neutering an older dog, but maybe there were other reasons I’m not aware of.
Please do not beat yourself up over this.
Re Elvis, it is true, dogs tend to gain weight after neutering so I would just monitor is food intake. He’ll probably need a few days to recover and then get back to his normal energetic self.
AnnB
We have an adorable 5 year old female Scottie named Bonnie (she’s a “bonnie wee lass”). I took her to the Vet yesterday and she weighed in at 31.0 lbs. Needless to say the Vet put her on a diet and said she should weigh no more than 18.0 lbs! This is going to be very hard on all of us, as Bonnie loves to eat. She only gets dog food, Nutro Weight Management wet and dry. She is extremely healthy, she loves to go for walks and runs and plays – yes, she is what I would call stocky, but I wouldn’t call her fat. After reading all of your letters I don’t feel so bad about Bonnie, but we will try the special diet food, and I will be very happy if she gets down to about 25.0 lbs.
Please look into putting your dog on a raw diet. According to what your vet told you and what your dog weighs, your dog is seriously overweight. There’s a raw food yahoo group which I read like the Bible every day for almost a year before I got the nerve to put my Scottie on raw and it’s amazing and frightening to realize how brainwashed I was by the dog food companies.
One of the many benefits is my dog is hardly ever “hungry”. I feed her half her food in the morning and half at night. Her weight is perfect at 18 lbs so I feed her about 7 oz of raw food, including organ meat and bone.
There are companies out there that you can buy this diet from although I’ve found it expensive and most of them put fruits and vegetables into their food. In any event, it’s still better than the crap in a bag.
In any event, best of luck getting the old girl trimmed down. If you keep feeding her what you’re feeding her, just cut back about half and she should drop the pounds in no time.
Thanks a million for your advice. When you say raw are you talking any kind of meat and do you grind it up, like hamburger, or just feed it in chunks? I have given Bonnie pieces of chicken, cooked, and that seemed to upset her tummy. I was also told, somewhere down the line, that a dog should never be given pork, as they find it hard to digest – is that wrong as well? The Vet has put her on Hills Metabolic food and she gets half a cup in the morning with a third of a cup of the dried food and then the same thing at night. I’m going to try this for a couple of weeks and then take her in for a weight check. Like you, I am feeling brainwashed and I just want to do what is best for our girl!