My experience based on:

I had a 13 year old westie who died in January, and am now this week hoping to purchase another Westie pup. Ive researched the breed extensively too.

I must repeat everything that you'll find on the internet, "big dog in a small body"... lots and lots of character. My westie when she was younger would run up to challenge and play with much bigger dogs, tease them then run away, that kinda thing. My experience was she was a very healthy dog. We didnt have her spayed as we did intend to breed her. At 13 yrs 9 months she got a common complaint with unspayed bitches (cant remember the name) but its where the womb begins to leak a foul smelling discharge (yuck!) and they have to have a hysterectomy, she came through this op but didnt recover that week and ended up being put to sleep. The vet did a post-mortem and found she had heart disease. Id noticed she was a bit breathless but blamed old age. Anyway, all that said, she was a very healthy dog, and I wouldnt let online illness information scare you if youre about to get a pup. Westies are one of the healthiest pedigrees, with the most common breed-specific complaint being skin problems - a common thing with white dogs generally. Now, Rosie had these which manifested in summer time wet excema, not every year but id say every 2 or 3... nothing 1 tube of steroid cream a summer couldnt cure. I would recommend not drying the skin out with too much bathing, as this can aggravate the problem. Also a small amount of aloe vera juice in their diet can ease it naturally.

So what else? Well, my Westie was brought up with me with my mum, a single parent and when i moved out, i took her with me! My mum worked very long shifts, and i was out probably 7 hrs a day working. Westies are quite good at being left alone - although not recommending this is ideal obviously. That said, if you do ever have a problem with barking / whining when youre out, this only ever occured with Rosie when we'd been lazy on walking her... give her a walk and leave on a radio and she was fine all working day.

Tired dogs dont bark. Westies are brainy so if you leave them with dog toys like the Kong chew, where the treats are in the ball, this will stimulate them and distract them from barking. Just as a by-the-bind, we never had any problems with chewing etc. Think westies are more chasers than chewers - a tennis ball will go a long way in pleasing your little terrier.

In terms of walks - my experience was stimulation is more important - toys interaction etc. That said, a westie that doesnt get out to smell a new park now and then can become sad and depressed. If you can do 15-30 minutes a day generally, it wont mind if you miss out a couple each week if you know what i mean.

I would say Westies are good for people who:

Want a dog with character - Westies just seem to "understand"
Want to go on walks in the park / by the river
Want a dog who's pleased to see you, and not afraid to show it
A playful dog
A dog thats intelligent / relatively easy to train if youre persistant (gotta counteract all those lovely smells they love to chase)
Want a dog that can be trained to stay alone for short periods of time

Do NOT buy a westie as a lapdog / Chihuahua type dog... they are very very loving, they'll be so pleased to see you when they get in they'll wag and if theyre young, probably jump up at you in the mornings too... but they are not dogs to be carried around. They very sturdy and like digging, streams, barking at ducks and a game of rough and tumble with the kids football...

Another "do not", having recently been looking at puppies, is do not look for a westie if you or your children have allergies. Whilst theyre one of the lesser malting breeds and as such often advertised as "good for allergies"... ive seen a lot of pups being sold on because of children developing rashes and asthma... this is NOT because westies are particularly allergy-producing but b/c people are mislead about the breed. If you want a dog that does not malt, I believe a Bichon Frise or Maltese (both cute, white and intelligent!) and more preferable to Westies, although with different characters b/c theyre toy breeds not terriers. But if you already have allergies, or are sucseptible i suggest Westies arent for you... (purely based on the number of pups being sold on for allergy reasons... i guess it may be just chance but hey... speak as i find)

Grooming - take this into consideration if money is an issue. That said, im relatively broke with student debts etc, and b/c i love the breed am happy to sacrifice this. You can expect to pay £15 - £30 a hair cut, depending on the experience of the groomer and what cut you want - hand stripping costs more. My advice is go for short cuts in summer, and let the hair grow in winter. Based on Rosie, her skin problems in summer were more pronounced if she wasnt cut short - i believe the vet mentioned grass allergy and then she had ear infection b/c of grass something or other one year.... anyway simple answer is short hair reduced what were minor skin ailments even further. You will need to brush your westie... this minimises the malting they do do. If you have a laminate floor and dont brush, you may stumble across white-fur-bunnies now and then. The positive is, westies LOVE being brushed... my dog would go nuts for a brush, rolling over and mouthing the brush in anticipation... so its a very rewarding fun thing to do. A brush with wires one side and the close shining bristles the other work well to pick up all loose hair and just make them look fluffy and pretty! lol

If you dont wanna groom... dont get a dog, lol... no, if you dont want to groom, you can minimise it by getting the dog cut short. (if they ask if u want a "westie cut"... you'll usually end up with long hair on the face, short on the back, and a fringe around the bottom) Ask the groomer to trim nails and brush teeth to keep your dog in tip top condition.

Advisable to socialise westies early with small children and other animals... one thing we didnt do through lack of contact ourselves, was socialise the dog with small children - say under 5. I was a bit worried about her with kids.. not that she would attack but just that she wouldnt be tolerant... not helped by the fact a 3 yr old in town jumped on her back and tried to "ride" her... even then she growled but didnt bite. All this said, socialising and desensitising a westie is important or else they will rule the roost (barking at ironing boards / chasing the lawn mower) etc. But it can be overcome... says the girl who had a hamster on the floor with her westie, and the hamster survived! Get them used to noises / unusual situations / small pets and children...

Well what else? Hmmm I LOVE WESTIES! :) Character, bulshy cockiness, affectionate, cuddly, fun, playful, love a good grooming, friendly, all round wonderful dogs.

Long winded but i hope this helps...

Oh and stay AWAY from puppy farms, westies are a common breed bred by farms... if theyre selling 3 breeds from the same house in swansea and want to deliver / meet you in a car park... don't blame anyone when the dog has mange and more dogs are bred to fulfil the need.... its so tempting, i know but ive seen people with bad experiences of this... my mum included but unless youve got millions in the bank for vets bills and a heart that cant be broken, stay away...

xxx