According to the standard, the Irish Terrier's height at the shoulder should be approximately 18 inches, or just below the average human's knee. The desired weight for a male is 27 pounds, and 25 for the female. This does vary to a certain extent though, as some of today's dogs tend to be slightly larger and heavier than the standard. The Irish Terrier is whole-colored, but may have a small patch of white on the chest. Puppies sometimes have black hair mixed in at birth which should disappear before they're full grown.
Colors range from different shades of red, to red wheaten, to wheaten.
In the United States, approximately one-fourth of the Irish Terrier's tail is docked at three days of age. The dew claws are also removed at that time. The vast majority of puppies must have their ears trained in order to attain proper ear carriage. The ears are trained by gluing them to the skull for months on end. Coats vary in texture.