Home / Questions / Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier
Most owners would say yes. Our record gives the Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier a bark rating of 4 out of 5, and the supporting picture fits: strangers are rated Friendly with strangers, energy is high at 4 out of 5, and the breed's temperament, Feisty, bright, affectionate and always busy, is one that notices things and says so. Expect barking at the door, at passersby and at anything that changes in the street. Expect much less of it from a Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier that has had its 45 to 90 minutes of exercise and something to think about, which is the management story the rest of this page tells.
They keep a puppyish zest far into adulthood, meet the world as a friend and approach every day like good news. Puppies are dark, busy and comical; adults are golden, silky comedians with a terrier's determination under the charm. The breed's serious health screening is the homework: choose breeders who DNA test and screen annually, and the Wheaten gives back one of the happiest companionships in the terrier family. The adult stands 17 to 19 in at the shoulder and weighs 30 to 40 lb. A typical life runs 12 to 14 years.
It helps to see the rating in its cluster. The Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier's record reads Better with older children for children, With early socialization for other dogs and Friendly with strangers for strangers, and a dog's barking is mostly aimed at exactly those three audiences: the family it lives with, the dogs it meets and the strangers it announces. The breed needs 45 to 90 minutes of exercise a day, stands 17 to 19 inches and belongs to the Terrier group, with roots in Ireland. Its social ratings read Friendly with strangers for strangers and With early socialization for other dogs, and both audiences feature in the barking story below.
Expect the voice at transitions. A Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier barks when the day changes gear: people leaving, people returning, the lead coming out, the car arriving, another dog appearing at the park fence. Add the door, the doorbell and the evening settle that never quite settles, and the pattern is complete: this is not a dog barking at nothing. It is a dog with a 4 out of 5 voice living in a world full of things it considers worth a headline, and the owner's work is editing the list, not burning the newspaper.
Expect exuberance, beard management, enthusiastic welcomes and a dog that stays puppyish in spirit for years. The Wheaten suits joyful, active households that want a medium sized terrier with a silky coat and a comedian's heart. Socialize widely so the friendliness matures with manners.
The rest of the record rounds the picture out. The record's color line for the Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier reads: Standard colors: wheaten or ginger. The coat is described as Soft and silky, loosely waved or curly, with grooming effort rated 5 of 5 and shedding at 1 of 5. Food for a typical 35 lb adult runs about $25 a month on this site's cost record, and insurance is recorded at $36 to $64 a month, a reminder that the voice comes attached to a whole dog with a decade of budget in it. None of that alters the headline rating, 4 out of 5; it simply keeps the decision about this breed's noise in proportion with the decision about the breed.
Look sideways for a moment at the breeds this record finds most similar: the Kerry Blue Terrier, the American Pit Bull Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Their bark ratings are not identical to the Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier's 4 out of 5, which is worth remembering in both directions: do not borrow a similar breed's quiet reputation, and do not lend this one's volume out. Cross shoppers get more from comparing the full records side by side than from any single number, which is why each name on the shortlist carries its own page on this site.
Be honest about the environment, because it is half the instrument. A Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier left facing a busy pavement through glass will bark at the pavement; the same dog with the blinds drawn at peak hours and its exercise done is a different neighbor. Sound masking helps at night, distance from the fence line helps in the garden, and a household rule of never opening the door mid-bark, waiting for the pause and rewarding it, slowly teaches the dog that quiet is the key that opens things. The Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier can learn when to be quiet. It should never have to learn to be afraid of its own voice.
Twelve to fourteen years makes senior status around eight: twice yearly checks with the protein screening doubled in importance, joint friendly exercise and continued inclusion. Old Wheatens stay sweet, funny and considerably bouncier than their years suggest.
Keep the record's figures in view while you decide. Height 17 to 19 inches, weight 30 to 40 lb, lifespan 12 to 14 years, exercise 45 to 90 minutes a day. Barking 4 of 5, energy 4 of 5, trainability 3 out of 5. A small dog's 4 out of 5 and a giant dog's 4 out of 5 are different acoustic events, which is why the size lines belong on a page about noise: pitch, volume and the neighbor's tolerance all scale with the dog producing them.
That is the core of the breed's vocal life, and its strangers rating reads Friendly with strangers. The Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier's own numbers frame it: shedding at 1 out of 5, grooming at 5 out of 5, and a height of 17 to 19 inches, which is the household this voice has to fit into. A Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier with a bark score of 4 out of 5 announces unfamiliar people as a matter of course; whether the announcement is a single bark or a full report depends on the score, the dog and how the visitor behaves. Friends who visit often graduate quickly to the greeted list. Strangers who behave strangely, lingering at the fence, staring in at the window, get the extended edition whatever the score says.
Often, yes, and the record's dog rating, With early socialization, frames why. For the Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier specifically, a Terrier dog whose exercise needs run 45 to 90 minutes a day, that plays out in daily routines rather than in occasional big fixes. Barking at dogs is usually one of three things: a greeting that overshoots, frustration at a lead or fence that prevents a greeting, or a warning to keep distance. The Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier's score, 4 out of 5, predicts the volume of whichever it is. A dog that is exercised, 45 to 90 minutes a day for this breed, and taught to settle and look back at its owner owns a volume control that an under exercised dog simply does not have. Owners warn that Wheaten enthusiasm is contagious and permanent.
Start with the cause, not the noise. In the Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier's case the setting matters as much as the rule: this is a breed with high energy and a bark level of 4 out of 5, so its voice is heard against a fairly specific home backdrop. Meet the exercise need first, 45 to 90 minutes daily, then teach a settle cue in calm moments so it exists in loud ones, and reward the pauses after barking rather than shouting through them. Manage the stages the dog performs on, windows, fences, the front door routine. At 4 out of 5, this breed's trainability of 3 out of 5 makes the program very workable, but it is a program of weeks. Anyone selling you a silent Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier by Friday is selling you fear, not training.
Last updated: November 11, 2026