Miniature Bull Terrier
Courageous, playful and mischievous.
- Height
- 10–14 in25–36 cm
- Weight
- 18–28 lb8–13 kg
- Lifespan
- 11–14 yrssmall breed
- Origin
- England
- AKC group
- Terrier
- Coat
- Smooth
At a glance
History
Shares the Bull Terrier's roots in the extinct English White Terrier, the Dalmatian and the Bulldog.
The Mastiff & Bull family. Heavy-boned guardians and the bull breeds descended from them. Powerful but often gentle at home, they need early training and socialization.
Personality & habits
Courageous, playful and mischievous.
- Voice
- Usually quiet; barks when there's a reason.
- With kids
- Friendly with kids and usually patient.
- Other dogs
- Usually fine with other dogs when socialized.
- Home
- Can adapt to an apartment with daily outings.
Size
Exercise & training
Exercise. Energetic: needs real exercise every day, such as long walks, hikes or running games. Puppies do better with several short sessions than one long walk, and older dogs need gentler outings.
Training. Trains at an average pace. Reward-based methods and a regular routine work best.
Grooming
Short, smooth coat: a weekly once-over with a rubber curry mitt or bristle brush and an occasional bath. Light shedding.
For every dog: trim nails when you can hear them click on the floor, brush teeth daily if you can (a few times a week still helps), and clean ears about once a month, drying them well after baths and swims.
Diet & feeding
- Daily calories
- About 610–850 kcal for a healthy adult
- Dry food
- Roughly 1.5–2.25 cups a day at ~400 kcal per cup
Puppies eat four small meals a day at 6 to 12 weeks, drop to three somewhere between 3 and 6 months, and move to two meals a day from about 6 months.
Keep treats, including training treats and table scraps, under 10% of daily calories.
Calories use the resting-energy formula from the Merck Veterinary Manual (70 × body weight in kg0.75) times a maintenance factor of 1.4 to 1.8, so very active or working dogs may need more. Cups assume about 400 kcal per cup; check your food's label. Treat any feeding chart as a starting point and adjust to body condition.
Health
Typical lifespan is 11–14 years. Conditions reported in the breed:
Ask breeders for health-test results from the parents (hips, eyes, and DNA tests where relevant), and schedule yearly vet checkups.
Videos
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Fun fact
The AKC granted it full recognition in 1991, effective 1992.
Closest relatives
Photo credits
Photos come from Wikimedia Commons and are used under the licenses shown. Only freely licensed photos appear on this site; where none is available, you'll see an illustration.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Miniature Bull Terrier (opens in a new tab)
- AKC breed weight chart (opens in a new tab)
- AKC: Puppy feeding fundamentals (opens in a new tab), bloat (opens in a new tab), treats (opens in a new tab) and grooming (opens in a new tab)
- Merck Veterinary Manual: Nutritional requirements of small animals (opens in a new tab)
Ratings for energy, shedding and the like are our own summaries, informed by these sources. Breed facts were checked in October 2026.