They're not for everyone!
Westies
have to be the most misleading looking of any dog breed.
With their fluffy white coats and big, brown, button eyes, they look like
the ultimate foo-foo dogs. Nothing
could be further from the truth. The
fact is they are hard-core hunting dogs, scientifically designed for hundreds of
generations to hunt down and kill prey, sometimes as large as themselves.
As many of the best-loved dogs are classified as “hunting dogs”, it’s worth pointing out the difference between Westies and say, the retrievers for example. Retrievers are considered hunting dogs, but they don’t really hunt at all. They are accomplices after the fact and are bred to work with human hunters. From a behavioral standpoint, they are bred for tractability, trainability, and the willingness to please their human co-conspirator, and it’s just these qualities that make them such good pets. Conversely, Westies, and most other terriers for that matter, are bred for aggressiveness and fearlessness, and these are the characteristics that can make them difficult for some folks to deal with.
I certainly don’t mean to imply that Westies are vicious or un-trainable. Far from it. They are extremely spirited and alert, always looking for the next opportunity to run or wrestle or chase, always wanting to be intimately involved in the business at hand. Those of us who love them find their intensity charming, but not everyone has the energy or patience to be so charmed. Roger Caras, the voice of the Westminster Kennel Club, captured the essence of life with a Westie when he said:
“When you are in a room with a Westie, you will be reminded on a regular basis of your good fortune”.
