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Tibetan Terrier breeders

The Tibetan Terrier is a sturdy, medium-sized dog with a long double coat, placed by The Royal Kennel Club (RKC) in the Utility group.

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Advertise your Tibetan Terrier puppies, litters and stud dogs

Do you breed Tibetan Terriers? List your kennel on caninebreeder.co.uk so buyers can find you. A breeder profile lets you set out your health testing, licence details and breed club memberships. You can advertise Tibetan Terrier puppies for sale when a litter is planned or ready, and promote a Tibetan Terrier stud dog to bitch owners looking for a health-tested mate. Show buyers your Good Practice and Best Practice results and let the paperwork speak for itself.

No breeders are listed here yet, so the first profiles get the page to themselves.

  • Free basic profile: your breeder or company name, website, social media, location, breeds and industries.
  • Litters and stud dogs advertised in their own sections, never mixed with puppies for sale.
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  • Sponsored articles about your breed or industry, written and published by our team.
  • Featured placement at the top of this page, labelled as sponsored.

Create your free breeder profile Advertise a litter Advertise a stud dog

Is it free to advertise here?

Yes. A breeder profile and your litter and stud dog adverts are free. Premium profiles, featured placement and sponsored articles are optional paid extras; see pricing.

Do I need a licence to advertise puppies?

In England you need a dog breeding licence from your council if you breed three or more litters in 12 months or breed and sell dogs as a business, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes. Licensed breeders show their licence number and issuing council on every advert. Puppies must be at least eight weeks old before they go to new homes.

Is my listing already here?

We add licensed breeders from councils' public registers. Search for your kennel name; if it is listed you can claim it and edit everything.

About the Tibetan Terrier

The Tibetan Terrier is a sturdy, medium-sized dog with a long double coat, placed by The Royal Kennel Club (RKC) in the Utility group. Despite the name, it is not a terrier. The RKC says it has been used to herd sheep, and at early UK shows it was classed together with its close relative, the Lhasa Apso, as the Lhasa Terrier.

Its arrival in Britain is credited to Dr Agnes Greig, an English surgeon based at a hospital on the border between India and Tibet in the early 1920s. She brought her dogs back to England in the 1930s, and the RKC credits her Lamleh strain with establishing the breed in Britain and the USA. The Kennel Club recognised the breed in 1937. The Tibetan Terrier Association, founded in 1967, describes itself as the first club set up solely for the breed.

The breed standard asks for a balanced dog of roughly square outline, with nothing exaggerated. Dogs stand 36 to 41 cm (14 to 16 in) at the shoulder and bitches are slightly smaller. Other points include large, round, dark brown eyes; long head hair that falls forward without affecting the dog's ability to see; large, round feet with plenty of hair between the toes and pads; and a well-feathered tail curled over the back.

A fine, woolly undercoat sits beneath a profuse top coat that may be straight or wavy but should not be curly. Almost any colour is permitted, including white, golden, cream, grey, smoke, black, parti-colour and tricolour, but chocolate, liver and merle are unacceptable. The RKC lists the coat as non-shedding and suggests grooming every day. The Tibetan Terrier Association says the coat needs regular grooming whether it is kept long or clipped short, that even a clipped dog needs a good groom once a week with a pin brush and a metal comb, and that a matted dog is an uncomfortable one.

The RKC suggests up to an hour of exercise a day and rates the breed suitable for a small house with a small or medium garden, in town or country. Its expected lifespan is over 12 years.

The standard describes a lively, good-natured and loyal companion that is outgoing, alert, intelligent and game, never fierce or quarrelsome, though slow to warm to strangers. For most households, coat care is the biggest ongoing commitment.

Tibetan Terrier health tests

The RKC Health Standard groups pre-breeding tests into two tiers. Good Practice is the minimum the RKC strongly recommends, covering conditions of significant concern in the breed. Best Practice means completing those tests plus a further set for conditions that still matter but may be less common or more recently identified. For the Tibetan Terrier the list covers inherited eye disease (primary lens luxation and two forms of progressive retinal atrophy), neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, pituitary dwarfism and hip dysplasia. The breed clubs describe pituitary dwarfism as relatively new to the breed, and the Tibetan Terrier Association calls it a very debilitating condition in young puppies.

The Tibetan Terrier Association's code of ethics asks for breeding stock to be tested under the RKC schemes for the breed, and the Tibetan Terrier Breeder and Owners Club asks breeders to eye test their breeding dogs every year. Hip X-rays can be taken once a dog is a year old. Each hip is scored from 0 to 53, lower is better, and the BVA recommends breeding only from dogs with scores below or close to the breed median. Testing reduces risk but cannot guarantee a healthy puppy.

The breed is in Breed Watch Category 1, meaning the RKC has identified no visible concerns linked to conformation.

Good Practice (RKC Health Standard)

  • DNA test for neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL12)
  • DNA test for primary lens luxation (PLL)
  • DNA test for progressive retinal atrophy (PRA (rcd4))
  • DNA test for pituitary dwarfism (DP-LHX3)
  • Hip testing using the BVA/KC Hip Dysplasia Scheme

Best Practice (RKC Health Standard)

  • DNA test for progressive retinal atrophy (PRA3)
  • Eye testing using the BVA/RKC/ISDS Eye Scheme

Choosing a Tibetan Terrier breeder

A responsible Tibetan Terrier breeder will show you written results for every Good Practice test on both parents, ideally the Best Practice tests as well, and will explain what any carrier result means for the litter. The Tibetan Terrier Association's code of ethics says a carrier should only be mated to a genetically clear dog, and the resulting puppies should be tested or sold as potential carriers. It also advises that a bitch should ideally be at least 18 months old when bred from and under eight when she whelps. Expect to see the puppies with their mother. A good breeder will talk openly about coat care, show you how to brush a Tibetan coat and ask about your home and daily routine. In England, a council licence is needed by anyone who runs a business breeding and advertising dogs for sale, or who breeds three or more litters in 12 months and sells any of the puppies, and the licence number must appear in adverts. For RKC-registered dogs, you can check results on the RKC's Health Test Results Finder.

  • Can I see the DNA results, hip scores and current eye certificates for both parents?
  • Is either parent a carrier, and have the puppies themselves been tested?
  • What is the coefficient of inbreeding for this mating?
  • How often do you groom your dogs, and will you show me how to do it?
  • Will you take the dog back or help to rehome it if my circumstances change?

Tibetan Terrier questions

Is the Tibetan Terrier really a terrier?

No. Despite the name, it is not a terrier. The RKC places it in the Utility group and notes that it has been used for herding sheep. At early UK shows it was classed with the closely related Lhasa Apso as the Lhasa Terrier.

Does a Tibetan Terrier shed?

The RKC lists the coat as non-shedding, but that does not make it low maintenance. The RKC suggests grooming every day, and the Tibetan Terrier Association says the coat needs regular grooming whether it is kept long or clipped, with even a clipped dog needing a good groom once a week with a pin brush and metal comb to stop mats forming.

How big does a Tibetan Terrier get?

It is a medium-sized breed. The breed standard gives a shoulder height of 36 to 41 cm (14 to 16 in) for dogs, with bitches slightly smaller. The RKC gives a lifespan of over 12 years.

Which health tests should a Tibetan Terrier puppy's parents have?

Under the RKC Health Standard, Good Practice for the breed means DNA tests for NCL12, PLL, PRA (rcd4) and pituitary dwarfism (DP-LHX3), plus hip scoring under the BVA/KC Hip Dysplasia Scheme. Best Practice adds the PRA3 DNA test and eye testing under the BVA/RKC/ISDS Eye Scheme. Ask to see the certificates for both parents.

More for Tibetan Terrier owners and breeders

Official sources