People often ask about good companions for West Highland Terriers. Can a Westie Terrier get along with Guinea Pigs as an example.
Well, I don’t know anything about how precisely a Westie would get along with an Iquana or perhaps a Guinea Pig, but I’ve got a wealth of understanding of Westies and cats..
When Willow came to us last summer one thing that she had to adjust to was a household already inhabited by three tomcats ranging in age from four years to in excess of ten. The cats definitely rule the roost here and the new little Westie just was required to find her place. She’s done that now. There are actually occasional spats to determine who will be top dog/cat on any given day, but that’s normal and the cats jockey forwards and backwards amongst themselves whether the dog is there or not.
We weren’t just dropping a dog in the midst of a lot of cats who had never seen a dog before. Our Norwegian Elkhound, Saladdin was a key part of our family structure for a long time and actually helped raise two of our cats from kittenhood. He’s gone now and the cats haven’t had to cope with a dog for a while, but the old habits were still there. They weren’t overjoyed to have a new dog to contend with, especially an energetic pup, but it wasn’t the end of the world for them either.
One of the things that Marilyn and I insisted on in the beginning was that a new dog must submit to the cats. This runs specifically true when working with terrier dogs including the West Highland Terrier. Regardless of how lovable and cute they may be, deep down inside their heart and soul they’re hunters. They need to get in and duke it out with the game animals, and more or less anything that runs from them qualifies as game. It doesn’t mean they aren’t great dogs, but there’s no way around it: the terrier breeds from Pit Bulls all the way right down to Yorkies are scrappers. So our job as owners of terriers is to define the things they can chase and fight with and what they can’t.
That’s why we were so strict about making Willow submit to the cats from the very beginning. It wasn’t hard to accomplish. If she got too frisky we had to lay her down until she settled and calmed, but mostly a sharp word and a tug on the leash was enough to do the job. It certainly helped that our cats were not particularly in awe of dogs and don’t mind demonstrating the use of their claws if she gets too feisty.
Things have settled into place now and we’ve been able to relax a lot of the boundaries we laid down to start with. We have chases in the house now, up the stairs, around and down. Its equally as likely for Willow to be chased by a cat as it is for her to chase one. Actually it is apparently really a game of tag than anything else, and nobody gets hurt. Whenever they aren’t chasing one another throughout the house its not unusual to find Willow curled up with one of the cats, or simply hanging out on the windowseat with one. And, you can never tell which two animals will bond. Our oldest cat, Whiskey, was the 1st to actually chase Willow (I think she pissed him off, to tell you the truth) which set the stage for the others to follow.
Your circumstances might be quite different from ours, because our cats were already used to having a dog around. If your cats have not had anything to do with dogs, you will probably want to follow a rather different course. In a case like that I would recommend keeping the new Westie on umbilical for a couple of days while the critters get used to one another. Umbilical training, where you have your dog on a long leash and keep the leash tied around your waist, is a very good training method under any circumstance. It provides control of the situation without having to hold the leash, or even pay much attention to the dog. Keep with the umbilical work for at least a week and keep your dog in its crate when it’s not on the leash. The cat will quickly settle down once it realizes that this dog isn’t a threat to it.
The same things apply if you want to introduce a cat to the house. I’d recommend a kitten if at all possible, as they are more malleable which can make the relationship more managable. Be sure that the dog and cat are able to sniff each others butts so that you have the nose engaged, then keep your dog on umbilical for a time.
Cats can definitely coexist with Westie Terriers. They will often not become buds the way our animals did, but peaceful respect for each other is certainly possible. Make use of the umbilical, make the dog submit at first and all ought to be well.