People often ask about good companions for West Highland Terriers. Can a Westie Terrier be friends with Guinea Pigs for example.
Well, I have no idea anything about how a Westie would get along with an Iquana or perhaps a Guinea Pig, but I have a wealth of understanding of Westies and cats..
When Willow came to us last summer one of the things that she was required 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 had to find her place. She’s done that now. There can be occasional spats to decide who’s top dog/cat on any given day, but that’s normal and the cats jockey backwards and forwards amongst themselves whether the dog is there or not.
We weren’t just dropping a dog in to the midst of a handful 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, but the old tapes were still there. They weren’t overjoyed to have any kind of dog to contend with, especially an energetic pup, but it really wasn’t the end of the world for them either.
One thing that Marilyn and I insisted on in the beginning was that a new dog must submit to the cats. This runs specifically true when dealing with terrier dogs including the West Highland Terrier. Regardless how lovable and cute they may be, deep down inside their heart and soul they are hunters. They want to get in and duke it out with game animals, and more or less anything that runs from them qualifies as game. It does not mean they aren’t great dogs, but there’s no way around it: the terrier breeds from Pit Bulls all the way to Yorkies are scrappers. So our job as owners of terriers should be to define the things they can chase and fight with and the things they can’t.
That is why I was so strict about making Willow submit to the cats from the very 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 and a tug on the leash was enough to do the job. 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 a lot of the boundaries we laid down at the start. We have chases in the house now, up the stairs, around and down. Its quite as likely for Willow to be chased by a cat as it is for her to chase one. Actually it appears to be more of 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 maybe hanging out on the windowseat with one. And, you can actually never tell which two animals are likely to 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 situation may be quite different from ours, because our cats were already used to having a dog around. If the cats have never had anything to do with dogs, you will probably want to follow a slightly 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 the dog on a long leash and keep the leash tied around your waist, is an extremely good training method under any circumstance. It gives you control of the situation without having to hold the leash, or even pay much attention to the dog. Stick to the umbilical work for at least seven days 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 is not a threat to it.
Exactly the same things apply if you want to introduce a cat into your house. I’d recommend a kitten if at all possible, simply because they are more malleable which is likely to make the situation more managable. Make sure that the dog and cat get to sniff each others butts so that you have the nose engaged, then keep your dog on umbilical for a while.
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 is certainly possible. Use the umbilical, make the dog submit from the beginning and everything should be well.