West Highland Terrier

[ajk0207]

We have a "Westie". When we lost our last dog (a mutt combination of cocker and jack russell terrier) who was the joy of our lives, we said "no more dogs". That lasted a month and a half when we saw this little white bundle of joy and could not resist her. She is 3 1/3 years old now and is everybody's friend. She is madly in love with a neighbor's dog, a deaf pit bull who we walk with every night. Of course, she is the boss over him as she is of our house. She let's my husband and I live with her - she not only took over our hearts but our house, too. She is just a joy to have around - so friendly. Her name is Samantha (Sammi for short). The only negative is she does have a week stomach and we have to be very careful of what we feed her - but have that pretty down pat now.

[jude09]

This kind of stories really touches my heart.

I'm very happy that you found your westie ajk0207.

[dshayes1]

try feeding your westie small portions 2-3 tablespoons every 2-3 hours apart. we have the same problem with gastro problems.

[petfoodadvisor]

I love grooming Westies. They are so cute but most don't like their nails trimmed. Is your like that? It must be a terrier thing.

[5westiesmom]

I too have a 4 year old Westie girl (Cheyenne) who has a touchy stomach. I find that if I feed her several times a day and make sure to give her a little something before bed she does very well. My daughter has a girl Emma) who gets sick during the night, just foamy stuff. I told her to feed her the same way, so she started feeding like that which made a huge difference.
Cheyenne is the 5th Westie I have had and two others had the same problem with the stomach. They are wonderful little dogs but there are a few minor problems to deal with.

[yvonne999]

I would love to see your westie as im a westie lover myself.I"m hooked i can say.I have 2 of them ....1 is 9 and the other is 4.mollie the 9 yr old girl is going through brain cancer although cancer does not really run in this breed.shes always ate all natural foods-no preservatives or corn-wheat-no soy-etc how she got this disease i do not know but can only speculate.she was giving short time to live but is acting great although my vet bill with mri and test were over 3,600

[shuculak]

I have a westie also, a little boy 7 months old, Angus and he also does not like his nails trimmen, haven't had him groom as of yet, I'm waiting for his coat to come in. How long does the coat take to come in and how old should he be before he gets his first groom.

[cave canem]

My Westie had his first grooming (hand stripping) at four months. Has been clipped each month since then. He seems to like the results (or is it just all the attention from the groomer?). You might get a grinder style nail trimer, and at his young age, leave it running near him until he gets used to the noise. Once you've accomplished that, try actually touching his back with the handle of the grinder quite a few times over a few weeks time(followed with copious rewards and praise each time.) Also, during all these weeks of preparation, handle his paws and claws often to get him used to that. One day he'll be ready and unafraid to let you try to lightly grind a nail and then reward him. Come back later and do another nail with a good reward and praise and so on until the nails are trimmed. A looong process, but worth it. Remember, Westies respond MUCH better to positive reinforcement (praise and treats) than to physical or belligerent commanding (yelling; rough treatment).
Good luck!

[BinnyK]

So lovely to read about our darling Westies! i got mine from a breeder all the way from Switzerland. Since then Daniel, whose family has been breeders in Ireland, is the biggest supplier of Westies to Switzerland. He claims, the 30 years of breeding have lead to a superb temptrament and a minimum of health problems. At 10, Sasha is fit and healthy. But after my min-pin's sudden renal failure, I have had Sasha's bloodwork done and found elevated liver levels. I am trying to give her wholesome home cooked meals with natural foods to flush out the liver. I recently learnt than most Westies have a tendency to accumulate COPPER in their livers over many, many years. this gives them major problems in old age.
I know very little about this, except for what i am trying to learn on the net. Does anyone have any personal experience/knowlege about
COPPER ACCUMULATING DISEASE. Also, if you know of specific foods that help with a DOG's liver, please let me know.
Is milk thistle good...and can it be given to a dog?
Looking forward to some advise on this.

[shuculak]

Hi, I will try this again, wrote once and lost it so I hope this makes it to post. I do not know anything about copper accumulating disease,( hope you find out) but I have a little Westie "Angus" and he likes to scratch. I took him to the vet and he has no allergies or fleas. He does like to eat the cat food once in awhile so I took it away.
He doesn't scratch alot but will make a little sore when he does, is there anything out there that I can put on his coat or feed him to help him with the scratching, HELP