The norwich terrier is an active, bouncing, small breed. It is the proud of the English breeders, one of the smallest terriers (11-12 lb, 5-5.4 kg; 9-10 inches (24-25.5 cm) at the withers), remarkably smaller than a Cairn terrier or a Westie. These hardy dogs are courageous, remarkably intelligent and wonderfully affectionate. They can be assertive but they are usually not aggressive, quarrelsome or shy. They are energetic and thrive on an active life. These dogs were used as ratters in the stable yard, bolters of fox for the hunt and family members. They were the mascot of students at Cambridge University, who willingly kept these charitable, peaceful, sweet, easy handled and playful little dogs, who didn’t take a lot of place.

 In the small body of a norwich includes all of the good qualities what a dog could have, without any downsides.

They are eager to please but have definite minds of their own. They are sensitive to scolding but they are 100% Terrier. Like many Terriers, this breed has an instinctive tendency towards digging, but plenty of exercise can help prevent these behaviors.

They should never be kept outside or in a kennel setting because they love the company of their owners too much.

Norwiches are not given to unnecessary barking, but they will warn of a stranger approaching. Once they realize that there is no threat, they will immediately become friends. Norwiches are friendly with children. In case they are introduced to other household pets as a puppy, they generally co-habit peacefully, though caution should be observed around rodent pets as they mistakenly may be a prey.

(Gábor Lányi)

The norwich terrier does not belong to the sensitive or sickly breeds of dogs. Apart from the need of the regular vaccinations and the sufficient supplementary medical attendance (i.e. flees and tape worm attendance) they usually don’t have to visit the veterinary. However, due to the low number of heads, the breeding of the norwich terrier is not quite easy. Unfortunately, the norwich terrier is oppressed by some hereditary genetic diseases, and some of them cannot be recognized in younger ages. Among others, these are the kneecap sprain (patella luxation), trachea collapse and the epilepsy.

The patella luxation is the less disturbing one. Several small type dogs are suffering from it (e.g. Yorkshire terrier, westie, poodle). In slighter cases no any abnormality can be recognized in the animal’s movement, in more serious cases the animal is limping. The sickness can be diagnosed in the course of a veterinary health screening. The existence of the disease may be recognized through a physical– by touch - examination; however, the evaluation of the sickness’ degree requires more detailed examinations. The breeding is currently permitted in slighter cases. If it is justified according to the degree of the abnormality, the disease is operable and it does not endanger the animal’s life.

The trachea collapse is more serious problem. In case of this disease the trachea is not broad enough, the sickness becomes more serious during the growth of the animal and it is not visible in puppy’s age. In particular, it causes problems in warm weather or when the animal is moving, since the dog cannot take enough breath through a thin – sometimes a pencil’s thick – trachea, the animal goes blue or even collapses. Though it is not prohibited, we do not follow the breeding if this disease is diagnosed, because, in one hand it endangers the animal’s life, and in the other hand it may cause several problems to the new family as well. The dogs of our breeding are undiseased and we choose our partners in line with this requirement.

The most serious problem from the mentioned three is the epilepsy. This is a very insidious sickness. Unfortunately it may occur in cases where our dog is not sick, neither the boar in the breeding, however, the bloodline of our dog is not properly combined with the boar’s one, since a lot of norwich bloodlines are concerned. This disease comes up with cramps or with causeless tremors. This disease is an absolute exclusion reason in our breeding. The problem is that the symptoms of the hereditary disease may come up until the 5 years’ age of the dog; hence it is difficult to make a health screening. Our Szöszi has already passed this critical age and the symptoms had not come up, so we can state that she is not sick. The choosing of the boar had been carried out on the basis of the same viewpoints; he is 6 years old so neither he is sick. We can say we did the best we could do, so hopefully our puppies will not be sick as well.

(Andrea Pallos DVM)