something to occupy their minds. To satisfy this need, you and our 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. Th ey 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, 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, and 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 intro- duced to children, they can be patient and loving companions, but only if the children are also properly supervised and introduced to the Westie. Coat Th e Westie coat is an important consideration for anyone wishing to own one. Th e prospective pet owner needs to understand that they do not naturally look like all the pretty pictures in dog magazines. Th eir coat requires considerable care to look good even if you have no inten- tion 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 from the rough underbrush of their native Scotland, and a downy undercoat intended to keep them warm (actually, because it is white, their coat is also excellent at keeping them cool in the summer). Th e double coat sheds dirt and stays clean without much bathing. If they are only clipped, however, the coat will become soft, o ff ering little protection from the elements and tending to attract and hold dirt and stains. Th e 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 ter- rier 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, and 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. Th e ideal, of course, is a straight hard white double coat which is, as our stan- dard says “seldom seen to perfection.” A harsh coat, if even minimally maintained, will remain healthy and beautiful throughout the life of
Above: “Hair” © 2009, Allison Platt. Photo by Susan Hind. Below: “Truman and Maybe” © 2007, Allison Plattt.
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