West Highland White Terrier

West Highland White Terrier

GENERAL APPEARANCE : Strongly built, deep in chest and back ribs; level back and powerful quarters on muscular legs and exhibiting in a marked degree a great combination of strength and activity.

CHARACTERISTICS : Small, active, game, hardy, possessed of no small amount of self-esteem with a varminty appearance.

TEMPERAMENT : Alert, gay, courageous, self reliant but friendly.

HEAD & SKULL : Skull slightly domed; when handled across forehead presents a smooth contour .. Tapering very slightly from skull at level of ears to eyes. Distance from occiput to eyes slightly greater than length of foreface. Head thickly coated wit hair, and carried at right angle or less, to axis of neck. Head not to be carried in extended position. Fore face not dished or falling away quickly below eyes, where it is well made up. Jaws strong and level . Nose black and fairly large, forming smooth contour with rest of the muzzle. Nose not projecting forward.

EYES : Set wide apart, medium in size, not full, as dark as possible. Slightly sunk in head, sharp and intelligent, which, looking from under heavy eyebrows, impart a piercing look. Light coloured eyes highly undesirable

MOUTH : As broad between the canine teeth as is consistent with the varminty expression required. Teeth large for size of dog, with regular scissor bite, i.e. Upper teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth and set square to the jaws.

NECK: Sufficiently long to allow proper set on of head required, muscular and gradually thickening towards base allowing neck to merge into nicely sloping shoulders.

FOREQUARTERS : Shoulders sloping backwards. Shoulder blades broad and lying close to the chest wall. Shoulder joint placed forward, elbows well in, allowing foreleg to move freely, parallel to axis of body. Forelegs short and muscular, straight and thickly covered with short, hard hair.

BODY: Compact. Back level, loins broad and strong. Chest deep and ribs well arched in upper half presenting a flattish side appearance. Back ribs of considerable depth and distance from last rib to quarters as short as compatible with free movement of body

HINDQUARTERS : Strong, muscular and wide across top. Legs short, muscular and sinewy. Thighs very muscular and not to wide apart. Hocks bent and well set in under body so as to be fairly close to each other when standing or moving. Straight or weak hocks most under body so as to be fairly close to each other when standing or moving. Straight or weak hocks most undesirable.

FEET : Forefeet large than hind, round, proportionate in size, strong, thickly padded. Under surface of pads and al nails preferably black

TAIL : 5 to 6 inches long, covered with harsh hairs, no feathering, as straight as possible, carried jauntily, not gay or carried over the back. A long tail undesirable and on no account should tails be docked.

GAIT/MOVEMENT : Free, straight and easy all round. In front legs freely extended forward from the shoulder. Hind movement free, strong and close. Stifle and hocks well flexed and hocks drawn under the body giving drive. Stiff, stilted movement behind and cow hocks highly undesirable.

COAT : Double coated. Outer coat consists of harsh hair, about 5 cms ((2ins.) long free from any curl. Undercoat, which resembles fur, short, soft and close. Open coats most undesirable.

COLOUR : White

SIZE : height at withers approximately 28 cms (11 ins).

FAULTS : Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

NOTE : Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.

I'm a bit surprised to see so few posts, I think Westies are among the top 10 or 20 most popular breeds. My mum is the real expert on these little treasures, having owned them on and off for 50 years! I have picked up a bit from her, so any questions about the West Highland White can be directed to me if you like.

OK, a few pictures of family westies past and present:

This was Susie, aged about 15 years old, and no longer being hand-stripped. She came to us as a rescue when her owner had to go into a nursing home. She was pretty overweight, and had only ever been fed on cat food



Her pigmentation was never good, note the pink nose and ear-leather in the photo below, but proper westie character: busy and interfering! She lived to the ripe old age of 18, before her heart gave out :-(



Next one is Mrs Doyle, another rescue. She was about a year old in this photo, and OMG does she need stripping out!



A lot of westie owners just get their dogs clippered, and it's not always easy finding a professional groomer who will hand strip, but if you can learn to do it yourself, it is worth it. First of all it ensures that you get that lovely, hard, waterproof coat, which keeps itself clean. Secondly, many westies suffer with their skin: hot-spots and auto-immune reactions, and hand-stripping can minimise these conditions. For that reason, too, it is worth considering feeding high-quality, low-protein and additive-free food to your westies. It might seem more expensive, but it'll be cheaper (and safer) than a life-long course of anti-histamines and steroids!

This last photo is one of my mum's current westies, Ellie, taken at 12 weeks. She's much more carefully bred than the others, note the high-domed skull and lovely black pigmentation of the skin. Also note that slightly wild look in the eyes, and remember that, pretty or not, these are proper terriers, they are not lap dogs!



If you want a dog to curl up on the sofa with, then a westie will do that happily, but to do them justice you really need to offer them more. Westies are capable ratters, can be willful and difficult to train as befits their terrier title, and their selective hearing is remarkable! I can't recommend these entertaining, colourful characters highly enough, but anybody thinking about getting one should do so with their eyes open.

More recent photos of Ellie, and little Meg will follow in a few weeks...

Awwww they are beautiful, I love Westies

Thanks you two. They are great little dogs, such personalities! When I spoke to my mum last night, she was sitting at the table, doing some work with Ellie curled up on her feet and Meg (nearly nine weeks old) curled up on her lap!

They are lovely!!!
We're hoping to get a westie in the next 6 month or so and it's great to have as much info as possible!!

Ellie and Meg:







Not so pretty meg:


An Englishman, Irishman (dog) and a Scotsman (dog) go down to the beach...


Meg and Bongo:

Actually, if you get one with a good coat, and keep it hand-stripped, the dirt falls off in minutes. You wouldn't know it to look at them, but both my mum's are real filth-hounds, they love nothing more than a rotten cow-clap to roll in :? They don't even get that orange staining round their faces - just goes to show what a bit of careful breeding can do!

My friend has a westie called Bobby. He's about 8 now i think, and he's entire. He hates other dogs and can never be walked off the lead, he just doesnt come back. He can also be a bit too snappy at times.

What does this hand-stipping involve? Id like to know more on that ( even though i dont have a westie! ) my friend takes him to the dog groomers to have him clipped.

The hating other dogs thing is definitely not typical of westies, they tend to be very sociable, and especially pleased to meet others of the same breed Perhaps Bobby missed out on some early socialisation with other dogs...? As for the recall problem, I think recall training is a life-long commitment with many terriers, they definitely don't come preprogrammed - if only!

Westies (and quite a few other terriers) have double coats - a coarse, waterproof top coat, and a very fine undercoat. By plucking out the undercoat, a few hairs at a time, you thin out the bulk and get a tidy-looking dog, but keeping the wonderful waterproof texture that's so important to working terriers, and a blessing to owners! It doesn't hurt, and actually, many of them really enjoy the attention.

When you clip a westie, you keep the top coat and the undercoat, cropping both short. It thins out the bulk, but that fine undercoat holds water and dirt like a sponge, is very prone to staining, and gives a kind of pearlescent gloss to the coat which just isn't right in a westie. Clipping is a lot quicker, but the grooming you put in in between times really cancels out the advantage.

Hi, i wonder if anyone could help me. Im a 1st time westie owner of an 8 wk old pup. He's fantastic with a really strong and fun character. Just wondered if you could tell me when westies ears usually become erect? Thanks.

Congratulations on your acquisition! You're not wrong about that character, he'll keep you on your toes for years to come!

Erm... it varies really. I remember one pup whose ears wouldn't stand up for months, then when she was asleep one day they popped up. We (as kids) were so excited we woke her up, and her ears immediately drooped back down I would expect to see some action there by about 4 months on the whole, but they can go a bit crazy right up till the end of teething. Just enjoy them at all the stages of madness - puppyhood goes too quickly (well, not the toilet-training bit!!!)

Thanks for your reply. Charlie's ears are up now so panic over! I think we were a little anxious about everything when we first got him with him being the first puppy we have ever owned. We are still learning but he he coming on great.

These are the 2 items that caught my attention and most of what made me fall in love with the breed No small amount of self-esteem with a varminty appearance! lol

As a groomer, trainer and Westie owner, I find hand-stripping a Westie who has a skin complaint irritates the skin even more so as you are pulling the hair out of the skin (obviously).

Although a hand-stripped Westie coat is absolutely wonderful, I don't believe in hand-stripping stripping a Westie if it is not being bred from or shown.

Hand-stripping does hurt to some extent, especially at first, especially around the neck and front chest areas. If a Westie continues to be hand-stripped throughout their lives, they still are quite sensitive to hand-stripping but not as much as they would have been at the beginning,

Border Terriers are quite easy to hand-strip. I prefer hand-stripping with a hand-stripping blade. The blade really needs to be used in experience hands! If you are planning to hand-strip for the first time, stick to using your fingers, and of course grooming chalk!

On the selective hearing issue, I agree - Westie are experts at it!

They are superb wee dogs, if stubborn at times! Big personalities in small bodies!

I have trained mine to advanced obedience and competition standard agility. She was toilet trained by 5 1/2
months old (through crate training) and has no behavioural or skin problems whatsoever, a definite joy to own.

Being the very proud owner of a westie I couldnt help but post here

This is Lily who was 4 years old in February.

Lily is gorgeous, EAD.

Lily looks like such a sweetie. Meggs furnishings are starting to grow in. She just gets cuter and cuter... I'm so happy with her. My little buddy