People often ask about good companions for West Highland Terriers. Can a Westie Terrier be friends with Guinea Pigs for instance.
Well, I have no idea anything about how exactly a Westie would get along with an Iquana or possibly a Guinea Pig, but I have 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 over 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 occasional spats to determine who is top dog/cat on any given day, but that’s normal and the cats jockey forward and backward amongst themselves whether the dog is there or not.
We weren’t just dropping a dog into 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 years and actually helped raise two of our cats from kittenhood. He’s gone now and the cats haven’t had to deal with a dog for some time, nevertheless the old thoughts were still there. They weren’t overjoyed to acquire a brand 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 we insisted on in the beginning was that the new dog had to submit to the cats. This is especially valid when managing terrier dogs like the West Highland Terrier. Regardless of how lovable and cute they can be, deep down inside their heart and soul these are hunters. They want to get in and duke it out with game animals, and just about anything that runs away from them qualifies as game. That does not 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 the things they can’t.
This is why I was so strict about making Willow submit to the cats from the beginning. It wasn’t hard to do. If she got too frisky we had to lay her down until she settled and calmed, but mostly a sharp word along with a tug on the leash was enough to do the trick. It certainly helped that our cats are 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 most of the boundaries we laid down in the beginning. 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. The truth is it appears to be really a game of tag than anything else, and nobody gets hurt. Whenever they aren’t chasing each other throughout the house its not unusual to find Willow curled up with one of the cats, or just hanging out on the windowseat with one. And, one can never tell which two animals are going to bond. Our oldest cat, Whiskey, was the very first to really chase Willow (I think she pissed him off, to tell you the truth) and 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 suggest keeping the new Westie on umbilical for a couple of days while the critters get accustomed to each other. Umbilical training, where you have the dog on a long leash and keep the leash tied around your waist, is a very good training method under any circumstance. It offers you control of the situation without having to hold the leash, or even pay much attention to the dog. Stay with the umbilical work for around one week and keep your dog in its crate when it isn’t on the leash. The cat will quickly settle down once it realizes that this dog isn’t a threat to it.
The identical things apply if you wish to introduce a cat to the house. I’d recommend a kitten if possible, since they are more malleable and that will make the situation more managable. Make 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 some time.
Cats can definitely coexist with Westie Terriers. They will often not become buds in the same manner our animals did, but peaceful respect for each other should be possible. Use the umbilical, make the dog submit at first and all will be well.
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