Naughty Westie Moments

Monday, August 18th, 2008

On the whole Mitzi is quite a well behaved Westie. However, she does have certain moments when she likes to misbehave.

When we are out in the local park having a run round Mitzi is well behaved. When other dogs come onto the park she will go and check them out and have a run with them too. If I shout “Mitzi come” she will be at my side within seconds. However if she see the postwoman walking past that’s it – Mitzi will then go into her own little world!

No matter how many times I shout “Mitzi come” she will pretend not to hear me. First she will look at me slowly, then the postwoman, then head straight to the fence at break neck speed so she can bark like crazy. The thing is Mitzi doesn’t want to bite the postie, she just wants to get her paws on those letters in her bag and shred them to fine pieces! When Mitzi has these moments on her it can be extremely frustrating when she just ignores you.

Mitzi has always been one for attention. If you settle down to read a book in the lounge and she’s feeling a little restless she will start to cry at the lounge door. Thinking she may need to relieve herself we get up and head towards the back door to let her out, however she doesn’t want to go anywhere. Mitzi goes straight into the kitchen and sits down at the cupboard where her chew sticks are kept and will keep crying and crying. If you ignore her and return to the living room she doesn’t like it one bit. Mitzi will then return to the same room and try to get behind the TV or maybe pull a cushion off the sofa, just so that you are giving her the attention. The best thing when she is acting like this is to either ignore her completely or put her in the back yard, she will soon stop!

West Highland Terriers and Children

Monday, August 18th, 2008

If you are thinking of buying a Westie my advice would be to only get one if you have older children aged 5 and over. The reason why I say this is because West Highland Terriers can be snappy little dogs if not trained properly and this means a small child could be bitten.

Westies will not tolerate their ears or tail being pulled by a young child whereas other breeds of dogs may not mind it.

Don’t be fooled into thinking because the Westie is small and cute it will be good with children. The majority of Westies are fine if trained properly, however if you have young children and the dog is in the same room you must always be there to supervise.

From my personal experience Mitzi has snapped a couple of times at my niece and nephews when they have gone to fetch one of her toys, but thankfully she’s never bitten any of them. Even to this day we always tell the children never to pull her ears or tail or annoy Mitzi because she could bite them despite being such a small dog, children sometimes think that because the dog is small it won’t bite
them.