People often ask about good companions for West Highland Terriers. Can a Westie Terrier be friends with Guinea Pigs for example.
Well, I do not know anything about how exactly a Westie would get along with an Iquana or maybe a Guinea Pig, but I’ve got a wealth of information about 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 over 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 will be 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 in the midst of some 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 cope with a dog for some time, nevertheless the old tapes were still there. They weren’t overjoyed to have a brand new dog to contend with, especially an energetic pup, nonetheless 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 was required to submit to the cats. This is especially true when working with terrier dogs such as the West Highland Terrier. It doesn’t matter how lovable and cute they may be, deep down within their heart and soul they are hunters. They need to get in and duke it out with game animals, and virtually 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 should be 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 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 plus a tug on the leash was enough to complete the task. It certainly helped that our cats are not particularly afraid 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 many of the boundaries we laid down to start with. 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. In truth it seems to be really a game of tag than anything, and nobody gets hurt. Whenever they aren’t chasing each other throughout the house its not unusual to discover Willow curled up with one of the cats, or perhaps hanging out on the windowseat with one. And, you 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) which set the stage for the others to follow.
Your circumstances might be quite different from ours, because our cats were already familiar with having a dog around. If the cats haven’t 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 an extremely good training method under any circumstance. It will give 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 around 7 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 isn’t a threat to it.
The identical things apply if you wish to introduce a cat into your house. I’d recommend a kitten when possible, as they’re more malleable and that can make the situation 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 while.
Cats can 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 to start with and all will be well.