Westies and Cats
People often ask about good companions for West Highland Terriers. Can a Westie Terrier get along with Guinea Pigs for instance.
Well, I do not know anything about how a Westie would get along with an Iquana or perhaps a Guinea Pig, but I’ve got a wealth of knowledge about Westies and cats..
When Willow came to us last summer one of the things that she needed 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 needed to find her place. She’s done that now. There are certainly occasional spats to decide who’s going to 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 a bunch 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 quite a while, however 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 from the beginning was that this new dog was required to submit to the cats. This is especially valid when handling terrier dogs like the West Highland Terrier. No matter how lovable and cute they may be, deep down within their heart and soul these are hunters. They want 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 is no way around it: the terrier breeds from Pit Bulls all the way down to Yorkies are scrappers. So our job as owners of terriers should be to define what they can chase and fight with and what they can’t.
That’s why I was so strict about making Willow submit to the cats from the start. It wasn’t hard to accomplish. If she got too frisky we needed to lay her down until she settled and calmed, but mostly a sharp word plus a tug on the leash was enough to do the trick. It certainly helped our cats weren’t 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 originally. We have chases in the house now, up the stairs, around and down. Its just as likely for Willow to be chased by a cat as it is for her to chase one. In actual fact it appears to be more of 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 discover Willow curled up with one of the cats, or perhaps hanging out on the windowseat with one. And, you can actually 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 position might be quite different from ours, because our cats were already familiar with 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 accustomed 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 provides control of the situation without having to hold the leash, or even pay much attention to the dog. Stay with the umbilical work for at least 1 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 the dog isn’t a threat to it.
The same things apply if you want to introduce a cat into your house. I’d recommend a kitten if at all possible, since they’re more malleable which 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 the dog on umbilical for some 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 should be possible. Use the umbilical, make the dog submit in the beginning and all should be well.
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