The West Highland White Terrier, commonly known as the Westie, is a breed of dog from Scotland with a distinctive white harsh coat with a somewhat soft white undercoat. It is a medium-sized terrier, although with longer legs than other Scottish breeds of terrier. It has a white double coat of fur which fills out the dog’s face, giving it a rounded appearance.
The breed is intelligent, quick to learn, and can be good with children, but does not always tolerate rough handling. The Westie is an active breed, and is social with a high prey drive, as they were once used to hunt rodents.
Appearance
Commonly, Westies have bright, deep-set, almond-shaped eyes that are dark in color. Their ears are pointed and erect.[2] Members of the breed typically weigh between 15 and 20 pounds (6.8 and 9.1 kg), and the average height is between 10–11 inches (25–28 cm) at the withers.[2] The body should be shorter than the height of the dog at the shoulder.[2]
They also have a deep chest, muscular limbs, a black nose, and a short, closely fitted jaw with “scissors” bite (lower canines locked in front of upper canines, upper incisors locked over lower incisors).[3] The Westie’s paws are slightly turned out to give it better grip than flat-footed breeds when it climbs on rocky surfaces.[4] In young puppies, the nose and footpads have pink markings, which slowly turn black as they age.[3] Westies also have short and sturdy tails. Some sources suggest that due to their history as rodent catchers, their tails were bred to be thick so that a Westie trapped in a hole could be easily pulled out by the tail.[citation needed]
They have a soft, dense, thick undercoat and a rough outer coat,[2] which can grow to about 2 inches (5.1 cm) long.[3] The fur fills out the face to give a rounded appearance.[2] As puppies develop into adults, their coarse outer coat is normally removed by either “hand-stripping”, especially for dog-showing, or otherwise clipping.[2] Most Westies are pure white, although there are some light wheaten color variations.[5]
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=West_Highland_White_Terrier&oldid=1137350693