By around the 1700’s, the Isle of Skye and other highland areas in Scotland were already breeding lots of small terriers. Scottish breeds were divided into two sorts: the Skye terriers and the Dandie Dinmont terriers.
The Dandie Dinmonts were classed as a solitary breed, whereas the Skyes were deemed to include the Scotties, the Cairns and the West Highland White Terriers also called Westies.
West Highland White Terriers were hybrids of crossed Cairns, Scotties and Dandies terriers. These hybrids were reckoned to be good hunters and loyal. In fact, many members of the Scottish royal family owned terriers that were very much the same as the Westies of today.
One folktale concerns a Westie that stopped a mother from constantly shouting at her daughter. Every time the mother shouted at her teenage daughter, the Westie would attack the mother. The dog’s aggression got to such a level over the years that the mother gave up yelling at her daughter.
It turned out that the girl was stroking and rewarding the dog for his protection after each bawling out from her mother. Many might say that the daughter was able to help her mother to transform her violent ways although she was also helping herself by rewarding the dog for its actions.
West Highland White Terriers can live in or outdoors, so are very adaptable. They have a wiry coat of roughly two inches in thickness covering a dense fur coat which is capable of keeping them warm. Westies are in essence small dogs of between 10 and 12 inches in height and 13 and 22 pounds in weight.
West Highland White Terriers like to dig and bark, but they also like company. They like well-behaved children and they like to run after cats. They defend their property and territory enthusiastically.
As a breed, they can suffer some ailments such as: chronic skin problems, Perthe’s disease (hip problems), jawbone calcification, cranio-mandibular osteopathy (lion jaw), patella luxation, a disorder in the kneecap, liver ailments, deafness and congenital heart disease
However, there are measures that you can take to look after your Westie. For example, they ought to be brushed frequently using a brush with stiff bristles. You should bathe them only when necessary, but their whole coat should be shorn at least two times a year and trimmed each four months. The fur surrounding the eyes and ears should be trimmed as well.
Records swow that in 1620, King James 1 requested some small white dogs from Argyleshire, Scotland. Colonel Malcolm, who was thought to be the creator of Poltalloch terriers, that are very similar to the Westies of today, unintentionally shot his dark terrier. From then on he swore to have just white terriers.
In the 19th Century, terriers that were very much like the Westies were known as Roseneath terriers in honour of the Duke of Argyle’s interest and patronage of this breed. Roseneath was the name of his estate at Dumbartonshire.
In the first ever dog show, organized in the late 1800’s, the Westies were known as White Scottish Terriers. In 1904, they were reclassified as West Highland White Terriers.
During the mid-1900’s, breeders of the Cairns in Argyle picked white puppies from the stock and interbred them to obtain white Cairns. However, in 1917, the American Kennel Club ruled that Cairns could be listed if they have the Westies’ lineage.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with the canine distemper vaccination. If you want to know more, please go to our website at Distemper Vaccines