There are at least two versions of the history of the Skye terrier. It was before accepted that the Skye Terrier's origins are connected with a centuries old shipwreck. The story goes that early in the 1600's a Spanish ship wrecked on the Isle of Skye in the Scottish Hebrides. Some of the survivors of the shipwreck were Maltese dogs that mated with the local terriers, creating a new and unique breed of Terrier. But a text of Caius, written decades before the shipwreck, describes a very modern portrait of the Skye terrier, proving that the modern Skye terrier existed long time before the arrival of the Malteses : "lap dogs which were brought out of the barbarous borders from the uttermost countryes northward, and they by reason of the length of their heare, make show neither face nor body, and yet these curres forsooth because they are so strange, are greatly set by, esteemed, taken up, and made of, in room of the spaniell gentle, or comforter". So it is sure that the Skye terrier has inherited very few, or even not, characteristics of the Maltese. As an achondroplastic breed, and looking alike the Welsh corgi, it is believed that the Skye Terrier may have been a result of a crossing between the celtic terriers local to the area and the Swedish Vallhund of the Viking invaders. It may be that the Swedish Vallhund had mated with the local terriers centuries before Maltese dogs were said to have arrived, making both histories true. The Skye Terrier was recognized by the United Kennel Club on January 1, 1993.

The Skye Terrier is a breed of dog that is a long, low terrier that is both hardy and dignified.