Why a Westie and what do you need to know.


West Highland White Terrier.
Nice Westie huh? But is this little white hairy monster your ideal dog? Read on if you want to learn more before your decision is final.

Disadvantages:

 West Highland White Terriers, starting from the early ninety's, became very popular little dogs. You can guess yourself what will happen. Dog breeders, mostly the illegal ones of course, get dollar signs in their eyes only because of the "name" Westie. Result: mistakes in breed, more diseases etc. etc. Advise about reliable breeders I cannot give for your area, because of the simple reason that I live in the Netherlands and you live in some village in Canada. And you will understand that I cannot guarantee for some breeder that I do not know. I can only give you the advise to look around, read books and visit more web sites to learn more about West Highland White Terriers.

Another disadvantage is in *my opinion* that the body of the "new" West Highland White Terrier became in the past years a little smaller and more compact than Westie used to be. Please breeders can I get the old fashioned Westie back? :-). You also must know that Westies aren't lap-dogs! So if you are looking for a lap-dog please don't get you a Westie.

Not really a read disadvantage, but I do want to inform about is: We Westies will sure take some time from you because we need our fur done, to keep it in a good shape. This means that you have to brush the fur at least one time a week and you must also get rid of the tangle otherwise we cab get some real problems with our fur. Also we must visit our "hair dresser" :-) 2 till 3 times a year. In the Netherlands the price fir this is about $ 30 for each time.

Advantages:

Of course there are also advantages to find for taking a Westie in your home. We are relatively easy to keep in a family, we don't eat much, like almost everything and don't get bored if we have to stay at home for a few hours. We can become a nice and cheerful little friend of the kids but always keep in mind: NEVER get you a Westie just for the kids. Always remember that you are responsible for a living animal. If you cannot understand this, get you a toy from Toys 'R us ;-)


Conclusion:

So if you are really planning to get you a West Highland White Terrier, remember not to go to the 1st breeder on your way. Inform you well about Westies. If you can choose; do not take that little Westie sitting there in the back, but also don't take the brutal one in the front :-). Watch out for a hernia. Don't let you guide by a high price. Maybe you now think that there are more disadvantages than advantages about West Highland White Terriers, but I only will be sure that you make the right decision for you and your dog.

How could you!:

Please just read this story of Jim Willis...
running in grass I like most

General dog behavior:

It is important for you to know, how your dog will behave in certain circumstances. I will try to show you with little examples how a dog behaves.
Dog's communicate mainly by taking fixed postures. By doing that we can make clear everything to other dogs and hopefully also for you humans. We use our whole body for it. We dogs want to look bigger than the other dog. It looks very much like human-behavior. People like to show the new Mercedes (which has been paid by the lease-company actually) to their neighbors just to look very important. Get it? :-))

Characteristics of dominant behavior:
    Ears to the front.
    Tail up.
    Standing as high as possible on the paws.
    Growl as means as he can.
    Show the length of his eye-tooth :-).

The other dog (the one we want to dominate of course) will now, in most cases, indicate he is the sub missive dude.

Characteristics of sub missive behavior:
    Ears to the rear as far as biological is possible.
    Go down as far as he can, maybe even lie on the back.
    Tail down or even between the paws.
    Never look at the dominant guy.
Of course there will be a situation that both dogs must play the boss. If that is the case, we doggies have some more tricks. Example: laying the head in the neck of the other dog or laying a paw on the shoulder of the other dog. Or even if the other dog is very stubborn standing with both paws on the other dog.running in the forrestIf finally the sub missive one gives up the stronger one will even stand all over him. Than the winner simply walks away. (I see you thinking: almost the same as humans would do). Will the other dog not accept the situation it will come to a (mostly small) fight This is what you bosses may never allow, because you are always the upper-main-president of the board-chief.
In most cases it will not come so far and shall one of both dogs indicate that he's the minor one.
Behavior will be for example: swinging tail almost off, lie on his back in front of the dominant one, licking the mouth of the dominant one. Sometimes the dominant one gets tired of this behavior and will act snappy even if the order between the two is set.

Dogs and children:

Crawling children are exploring the world by crawling around a lot. A dog (which looks like a lovely Teddy Bear in his eyes) on the path of the crawling child, must be investigated of course :-). But be very careful on this one.

Example*: A dog is lying, after a long long walk, on his own save place and of course that little bold one notices that! Very curious, as the child is, he crawls towards the dog and the child makes himself (by crawling) small in the dogs eyes. The dog has a muscular pain from the long walk and he doesn't feel like playing around with that small bold and ugly human. He grows one time to make his point. The child thinks: Hey! That's nice, there is coming some noise out of that hairy thing and the little one crawls further towards the dog. The dog, not stupid at all, shows his teeth. The child *loves* it and now the little one tries out the elasticity of the dogs ears or even he will try out how deep his fingers can enter that wet nose. The dog bites...:-(
Very unhappily in this example is that the face of the child face in this situation is placed at bite-hight! The dog of course is actually not a vicious one and the child on the other hand is not a tease. Obvious is that the parents failed because they didn't anticipate in the situation. Never let a dog alone with a child.

Example*: The child is playing on the floor and in dogs eyes sub missive to him. The dog is playing tough-dog today and thinks: "hmmm, why am I never the dominant dog, let's change it today" and he walks on high paws towards the child and stands all over the child. Ignorant bosses love this situation because they think: "Look! Doggy is guarding our child!" Stupid, stupid. The dog is trying to dominate the child and he may never do so! The dog has to know what his order is and the dog is always the minor towards any human including children.
Go learn before you take a dog in your home and maybe the following links can help. But please let me know by mail if my web site helped you in your decision? I would appreciate it very much if you would write something in my guest book. Thanks... Decided to have another terrier click here for a few links.


Last changed on: 14.01.2004 11:08 PM by Hugo himself.

Did you surf in, from another website, please don't hesitate to click
on the HOME-button below, to learn more about West Highland White Terriers.