Owning a West Highland White Terrier

This article was originally published in Showsight Magazine, February 2013 issue.

Owning a West Highland White Terrier

From the first time I ever saw a West Highland White Terrier when I was in my twenties, it was love at first sight. I have never seriously considered another breed since then.

If you are considering adding one to your life, there are many reasons why you might want one. You might be thinking about purchasing your first show dog or exploring a new breed to show if you are a breeder/exhibitor. Or, you might want a pet for yourself or your family.

I have owned, bred, and shown Westies for more than 30 years, and although they are the perfect breed for me, they are not for everyone. In this article, I hope to give you enough information to know if Westies are the right breed for you.

My colleague Gerry Meisels has an article elsewhere in this issue about the conformation and judging of Westies. So, I will focus on what it’s like to live with them, their health, and what they are capable of outside the show ring.

Breed Purpose & Temperament

Westies are big dogs in small bodies, and like most terriers, they think they own the world. This is a natural outgrowth of their original purpose: ridding farmers in Scotland of rodents and hunting small animals such as badgers and foxes.

To do this, they had to be fearless, small enough and tough enough to follow often dangerous animals to ground, tenacious, and loud barkers. It was their job to find animals in underground dens and bark loudly enough for farmers to dig to them and dispatch the game.

The Breed Standard specifies they should have “large teeth for their size,” which were essential for this dangerous work. Their purpose as a breed explains their temperament: outgoing, self-confident, and occasionally pugnacious if provoked.

Endearing aspects of their personalities include curiosity, intelligence, and playfulness. Most Westies are devoted to their owners and are happy to lounge beside (or on) you during quiet moments. I have seen one of my dogs take a toy and use it to bat around another toy, only to chase it afterward. Others roll on their backs and hold a toy in their paws.

Westies of all ages love to wrestle and play keep-away with toys, often sounding ferocious but meaning no harm.

Be warned, however, that if you get a Westie and then ignore him, he will make up his own amusements, and you may not like his choices (digging, chewing the furniture, etc.). To be healthy and happy, Westies need exercise, alpha leadership, and something to occupy their minds.

To satisfy this need, you and your dog can walk together or participate in one of the many dog sports open to Westies, including agility, tracking, obedience, rally, and EarthDog. See the sidebar for more on this.

While Westies are very loving and fun to live with, they also have minds of their own. They are happy to please you as long as they feel there is also something in it for them, too (think: really good treats, a walk, or a game of toss).

Some individuals, especially bitches and the occasional dog, have more laid-back personalities, and these individuals are best suited to be pets. If you want more than one Westie, the best combination is probably a male and a female, as two of one sex can sometimes disagree and require separation (not the best formula in a pet home).

While there are certainly some males that get along fine with other males, and packs of Westies often play together happily, there is the chance that some may not, even after years of peaceful co-existence.

Since they will feel it is their job to alert you to any perceived danger, they are not always universally friendly towards strangers or children. This is important to know if you are considering adding a Westie to your household.

If a Westie has the proper temperament and is carefully introduced to children, they can be patient and loving companions—but only if the children are also properly supervised and introduced to the Westie.

Coat

The Westie coat is an important consideration for anyone wishing to own one. The prospective pet owner needs to understand that they do not naturally look like all the pretty pictures in dog magazines. Their coat requires considerable care to look good, even if you have no intention of ever showing them.

When properly groomed, Westies have a double coat with a harsh outer layer meant to protect them from the weather and the rough underbrush of their native Scotland, and a downy undercoat intended to keep them warm. Because it is white, their coat is also excellent at keeping them cool in the summer. The double coat sheds dirt and stays clean without much bathing.

If they are only clipped, however, the coat will become soft, offering little protection from the elements and tending to attract and hold dirt and stains. The best solution for keeping up the coat on a pet Westie is to find a groomer who is either a terrier breeder or who knows about terrier coats—or you can learn how to groom them yourself. Pet owners do not have to keep the dog in show coat, but it is healthier for them if the coat is hand stripped occasionally (pulled or plucked to promote a harsh coat) and scissored rather than clipped.

Not all Westie coats are the same, and this is important to know if you want to show your Westie. Coats range from pure white to white with tan “tipping,” especially along the dorsal strip on the back. Pure white is preferred, but our standard allows both, because dogs with tan (or “wheaten”) tipping often have the harshest coats. Often, as the dog gets older, the color fades.

Within the range of color, there are also coats that vary from wavy to straight and from soft to hard. The ideal, of course, is a straight, hard, white double coat which, as our standard says, is “seldom seen to perfection.” A harsh coat, if even minimally maintained, will remain healthy and beautiful throughout the life of the dog.

The problem with the softer coats is that although they often have abundant furnishings (leg and belly hair), those furnishings tend to mat.

If you aspire to show Westies, you should be aware that grooming a Westie for show is more an art than a skill. You will need to attend many (preferably specialty) shows to study the breed and learn about the coat, the tools and techniques needed to strip the coat, and the current “styles” of grooming.

Our standard, written over 100 years ago, calls for a coat that is about 2″ long, but today a dog with a 2″ coat would look unkempt in the ring. Coats are shorter, heads are often teased, and “product” is often used to add texture to the coat and body to the furnishings.

Many breeders and exhibitors do not think this is a good trend, but the truth is that a dog without these enhancements would probably not pass muster with most judges.

There are videos available on Westie grooming, but if you want to learn how to groom a Westie, the best thing you can do is to find a breeder whose grooming you admire and ask for pointers or lessons.

Health

Westies are generally healthy, but there are problems (as in all breeds) that a prospective owner should be informed about. Probably the biggest problem with the breed is allergies, either environmental or food-related, but there are other genetic problems as well.

The Westie Health Foundation (westiefoundation.org) is working hard to understand the genetic links to this and other problems in the breed. Their website is a good place to learn more about health-related issues and about progress being made towards diagnoses, control, and identifying genetic markers to help eliminate problems over time.

The best way to find a healthy Westie is to go to a reputable breeder who tests their stock and breeds for conformation and health. You can find a list of breeders at the West Highland White Terrier Club of America website (westieclubamerica.com).

It doesn’t hurt if breeders also have dogs in their line that excel in dog sports, because this demonstrates that their dogs are bred not only for conformation and health, but also for working ability, mental stability, and drive. Who could resist a Westie that is healthy, beautiful, and smart?

They say that there are not only terriers, but terrier people, and I believe this is an absolute truth. If you are thinking of acquiring a Westie, you need to be sure you have the correct terrier temperament to match their large personalities. If you do, you will never lack lively companionship from this independent, beautiful, and fun-loving breed.