West Highland White Terrier - Everything About Westies From A to Z

Introduction

We adopted our Westie, Bakse, a few years ago, and honestly - nothing quite prepares you for the personality packed into 20 pounds of white fur. The West Highland White Terrier is a small Scottish terrier breed with a huge sense of self, a stubborn streak, and an uncanny talent for making you laugh on your worst days.

If you're researching the breed because you're thinking about getting one (or you already have one and want to understand them better), this is our honest, lived-in guide - not a copy-paste breed standard, but what we've actually learned raising Bakse.

Vital Characteristics

Dog Breed Group

Terrier Dogs

Weight

13 to 22 pounds / 6-10 kg

Height

10 inc to 11 inch tall at the shoulder / 25-28 cm

Life Span

12 to 16 years

A Brief History of Westie

The West Highland White Terrier has been popularly known by many other names, including the Roseneath Terrier and the Poltalloch Terrier, but was officially recognized as the West Highland White Terrier in 1906, by the Kennel Club of England.

The West Highland White Terrier shares a close history with other common terrier dogs, including the Cairn Terriers, Dandie Dinmont, Skye, and Scottish; and they are all considered as branches of a common breed.

There's not much reliable evidence to explain the exact history of the West Highland White Terrier, but it is evidently believed that the breed could be traced back to the 17th century with a small breed of earth dogs that were given to the king of France by James I of Argyllshire.

According to folklore, the westies inherit their natural white color from the direct occurrence of a tragic nineteenth-century accident, when Colonel Malcolm of Poltalloch was hunting foxes. Due to subtle confusion, the colonel shot one of his wheaten-colored Cairns, absolutely by accident. Devastated, he decided to prevent the slightest chances of similar accidents in the near future, so he bred only white dogs from then on, which wouldn’t be confused with foxes.

Westie Highlights

The West Highland White Terrier or the westies fits in perfectly with multi-dog homes unless there are more males and the westie itself is of the male gender. He can gradually get accustomed to cats, but he can’t get adopted with small pets, such as birds and rabbits, because this drives their preying instinct strongly.

Westies are a low shedder. ( A big plus!)

Without a surprise, westies often exhibit terrier traits. They will love digging, barking, and running after vermins. With time and properly done training, they, too, can be trained to bark only once and not dig around at all; also, it may vary from dog to dog. Some might adopt easily, some won’t at all. The vermin-chasing habit, however, is a hard-coded characteristic trait and no training can go without it. (Our Westie took a 3 months training and got rid of these bad habits!)

It is generally easy to train a westie if done in a caring, consistent and positive way. However, it is important to bear in mind that the westies have a high will power and great self-esteem, which might hinder the training practice and add to the difficulties, making it boring and too harsh.

If you are a passionate gardener, having a westie as a pet might not be the best choice, given westies’ habit of digging up soil and plants, and would possibly end up adding to your troubles while gardening. (However you can train not to do that with some effort)

Their fur coat is pretty easy to groom and with regular brushing, all’s good. And if they aren’t clipped regularly, their coat would require stripping about twice a year. However you have to find a good groomer, as other offer just to cut off the hair instead of trimming.

Although westies don't require strenuous exercises like other breeds, they still need to be given brisk walks and play sessions twice a day. They generally have a low level of energy playing in the house, though individuals may vary in this regard.

Westies are highly adaptable and can easily dwell in a variety of places, including flats and apartments unless their barking troubles the neighbors next door.

Westies are a highly sociable breed of dogs that easily get along well with everyone around them. They like playing with children of all ages, but better suited to homes with older children.

Westies can be left on their own without the slightest tension for long periods of time, while you are busy at work. Simply provide them a source of entertainment, turn on the radio, provide them toys, and similar other strategies to help them stay occupied.

You would always want to pet a healthy dog. So, never get a westie pup from a puppy mill or pet store or an irresponsible breeder. Look out for reputed westie breeders who regularly test their breeding dogs and keep a check on the genetically acquired diseases and others.

Big dog in a little dog's body

If you have already started gaining interest in westies and want to know more about them, this is just the right section for you.

The West Highland White Terriers, or as they are popularly known as the Westies, also have another affectionate name: "big dog in a little dog's body". But this name doesn't do any justice here because the westies are neither pushy nor temperamental.

Also, the westies don’t need to challenge or demand. They are never stubborn as long as they understand it is in their best interest. So, you just would need to convince them what is good for them and what is bad, and they would totally agree with you and jump on board to follow your instructions.

Originally bred for hunting and ratting activities, the westies have acquired these skills from generations, and get them excited in doing so, although you would not always admire their hunting instincts. Westies’ work-instincts have slowly channeled into obedient and agile activities, and getting rid of rodents isn’t their closest activity today. Westies also work as therapy dogs, and a few westies have been taken into search-and-rescue teams officially.

Westies today are well-known competitors in most of the earthen dog tests, like tracking and flyball. As a pet owner, you can best decide how to best focus all their abundant energy on one or more of these jobs.

More about the actual size

The West Highland White Terrier has a little but sturdy body with a deep muscular chest and slightly on the rectangular edge of a shape. The males stand at about 11 inches (28cm) tall typically weighing in the range of 13 to 22 pounds (6-10kg); while the female counterparts are roughly 10 inches tall (25cm) and weighing about 13 to 16 pounds (6-8kg).

Friends with everyone!

Westies are social animals and get along with everyone, strangers included, and they are not one-person dogs, they return the love to everyone who cares for them. Our Westie loves everyone, sometimes we are even jealous! 😁

Great with children & other dogs

They are affectionate to children of all ages, but better habituated to dwell with the older kids. They also get along well with most other dog breeds in public areas unless there are two males of different breeds close together.

Great with other animals

Similarly, they also thrive positively in homes with multiple dogs. They can adapt to cats, too, just like friendly kitties sitting together. But once in a while, you can observe them chasing the cat around the house. One thing they are not good at adopting is small animals that run around freely in the house, such as gerbils or rabbits since the white westies have a strong hunting instinct for them.

They feel great in both - house & apartment

Westies are also happy to get accustomed to any living situations, be it the countryside or the city. They also make excellent apartment residents, given they have properly exercised training not to bark in any situation. They love living with the family inside the house rather than having separate homes outside.

They can be left alone if well prepared

Westies can stay happily alone at home while you are at work and you just need to arrange a proper source of entertainment for them along with safety precautions. They would entertain themselves all through the day. To top it all, they are happy travelers and love going out on vacations or errands.

Westie's personality

Talking of the breed’s personality traits, The West Highland White Terriers or the westie is a confident and fun-loving intelligent dog that would find pleasure in the simplicities of life, such as squeaky little toys, a head-rub, and good food. Their happy state of mind and loving nature makes them a favorite of many, in spite of them being mischievous. Holding strong with self-esteem, but not overflowing, their confidence and self-assurance are good to find in a pet.

Westies are loyal and affectionate towards their owners but still independent enough without the need for self-assurance, so you wouldn’t have to pamper them every time, even though they love getting pampered.

Westies are friendly and get along well with everyone, and they love being part of a happy family. For a first timer or inexperienced dog owner, they make a great student trainee and perfect companion at home. A Westie can melt even the coldest of hearts. They would rarely start a fight but after all, they, too, belong to the terrier breed and won’t evade one fight. Westies are lively guys and love going out on adventures in life with a sparkle in their eyes.

Westies are generally calm when indoors but they could get restless when outside. He can play a speedrunner zooming around the dog park, and he can hike with his family all through the day. Westies love playing with toys or just roaming around the backyard sniffing and surveying his area of reign, also they love to be the center of attraction!

Westies aren’t always on the move, and they can sit idle for a long time watching the household while you're at work; although some individual westies might suffer separation anxiety, it is not a general trait among the breed. Just keeping them safe and entertained with toys to play with will do the magic. Like you could turn on a radio, or leave them with the food they love with added peanut butter and provide them a cozy couch.

Same-sex aggression is still strong among the dogs, though in the case of westies, the female counterparts tend to be more alpha than the male ones.

Westies are a generally sturdy breed, but there's one thing every owner needs to know going in: skin problems are extremely common. Allergies, dermatitis, yeast infections - Bakse has dealt with all three at different points, and it's the single biggest recurring cost and hassle of owning this breed. If your Westie is scratching, licking their paws or has recurring ear infections, our Westie skin problems guide covers exactly what we did about it.

Beyond skin, look for a breeder who tests for hip dysplasia, patellar luxation, and von Willebrand's disease, and ask to see the health clearances for both parents before you commit to a puppy.

One thing we wish we'd understood earlier: vet costs for a Westie add up fast, mostly because of the skin issues above. A single allergy workup can run $300-800, and that's before any ongoing treatment. We break down what we actually spend on Bakse - including whether pet insurance is worth it - in our Westie cost guide.

Westie Nutrition

Westies are small (Bakse is about 9 kg / 20 lb), so they don't need huge portions - roughly 100-150g of high-quality food a day, split into two meals. What matters more than the amount is the quality: this breed is notorious for food-triggered skin issues, so we look for named meat first, no artificial additives, and we avoid the classic trigger ingredients (chicken, beef, wheat) if our dog is having a flare-up.

We currently feed Bakse ZEAL air-dried food - high-meat, made in New Zealand, and it's been the single biggest improvement for his coat and energy since we switched. We wrote up our full feeding routine, portions by age, and how we handle food sensitivities in our Westie food guide.

Westie's grooming

Westies have a double coat - a soft, dense undercoat under a wiry white topcoat that's naturally weather-resistant. It's genuinely low-shedding, which is nice, but it's not low-maintenance: without regular care that white coat turns grey and matted fast, and matted fur traps moisture against the skin, which makes their skin problems worse.

We brush Bakse 2-3 times a week and trim his feet, ears and eye area ourselves between full grooms. We do a full clip roughly every 6-8 weeks - we switched to doing it at home with a proper set of dog clippers, which paid for itself after two or three sessions compared to a groomer. If you want to try it yourself, our full breakdown of routine, tools and technique is in our Westie grooming guide.

One more habit worth building early: check ears weekly for redness, odor or buildup. Westie ears are a common infection spot, and catching it early is a five-minute fix instead of a vet visit.

Westies are smart, but "smart" and "eager to please" are not the same thing. This is a terrier bred to make its own decisions while hunting vermin, and that independent streak shows up at training time. Bakse learns fast when he's motivated and conveniently deaf when he isn't.

What's actually worked for us: short sessions (5-10 minutes), high-value food rewards, and ending on a win before he loses interest. Harsh corrections backfire with this breed - they just get stubborn. Recall is the hardest skill for most Westies because of their prey drive, so we trained it off-leash in a fenced area long before trusting it anywhere near wildlife. The video above is Bakse's actual off-leash training progress, not a stock clip.

Start early, be consistent, and get comfortable with the idea that a Westie will always negotiate a little. That's kind of the point of the breed.

Westie with children & other pets

The West Highland White Terriers or the westies are lovable pet dogs that fit in perfectly with children at home, but are better with older children. However, adult supervision is a must if you allow your kid to play with the westies, particularly the younger ones. Some breed clubs have overemphasized how good westies are with kids around. But it is often recommended by other breed clubs that all children playing with westies should be at least seven years or older in age. The westie won’t generally hurt your kid, but adult supervision only ensures it.

A West Highland White Terrier is a suited dog in families having multiple other pet dogs. However, make sure to keep the males apart because it is their basic instinct to raise a fight. They also adjust perfectly with cats, but it would be better if they are raised with cats from a very young age rather than introducing them at a later phase of life.

Given their strong prey drive, they wouldn’t stop chasing cats. Also, as a must note, westies should not be trusted to dwell with small animals because they raise their prey drive. Originally bred to go after vermins, they can’t distinguish them from pet mice caged in your child's bedroom and a wildling mouse on the run indoors. If you wish to keep a pet dog with small pets, including rabbits or birds, westies wouldn’t be the ideal breed to pet.

Westie rescue groups

Westies are often taken up by their owners without studying about their characteristics well in advance, only to not be able to handle one efficiently. Today, there are many westies left abandoned due to various reasons waiting for adoption in a loving family.

Multiple rescue groups across the country and in your area operate with volunteers on a no-profit basis to rescue westies in need of attention. If you really wish to pet a westie, you could choose to adopt one in need of buying one. You just need to find and contact the nearest national breed club listed in your neighborhood to take a strong step towards a Westie rescue.

Some of these Rescue groups are:

Westie Rescue of California
Westie Rescue USA
National Westie Rescue

That’s covering almost everything you may need to know before adopting a westie. Now it’s time to know your steps as a westie guardian to look after them and understand their feelings and state of mind. Do consider the idea of adopting a westie over buying one.