How Many Variation Of West Highland White Terriers Are There?
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
I have seen some have a longer body, some has a more compact? Some tails longer and some shorter? Some ears bigger but some smaller?
Mostly are wired coat but quite rarely we see straight coat. So how many variation is there?
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Generally there is only one look for Westies but some are longer and some are more compact.
I own a Westie. I bought him from a breeder whose Westie is a champion from Taiwan. In a litter of 4, I saw 3 of it. I can roughly describe to you how it look like and each of them are different.
1. The first female pup has straight hair and very white, she is cute and rare. I believe this is the type you mentioned above when you wrote “quite rarely we see straight coat.” You can find her picture at Dogster.com if you search for Morris from Malaysia.
2. The male pup. I bought him and name him Casper. He is extremely intelligent but he had a streak of grayish hair from the back of his head to his tail. It turned yellowish later on because of the weather in Malaysia where I live. He has wirey coat but his forehead is a little bald. Overall, he looks better now as he is about 1 year old next month. You can also find his profile at Dogster.com
3. THe last pup is a female with very little hair, she look a bit sick and is smaller than the other two. Her legs were longer making her look taller than the rest.
In one litter, I see three different Westies but generally there is only one. If you grow your Westie and make sure the coat is long enough, you will get the natural Westie look – we call it the Lion’s Cut here locally.
Good luck!
Here are the breed standards from the American Kennel Club:http://www.akc.org/breeds/west_highland_…
There aren’t really variations.. There is correct and not correct..
Westies that are hand stripped for showing have the wirey coat. Hand stripping is time consuming and costly if you have a groomer do it. When they are trimmed and not stripped their coat is softer, fluffy and more curly. Both of my Westies have curlyque tails and not the carrot shaped tails, one has the light “apricot” stripe down his back, both are “big” Westies from different breeders. The male should have been small, both parents were small, the female is long, her parents were also small. Check out the breed standards.