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 exactly a Westie would get along with an Iquana or a Guinea Pig, but I have a wealth of information 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 around 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 are actually occasional spats to decide who’s top dog/cat on any given day, but that’s normal and the cats jockey forwards and backwards amongst themselves whether the dog is there or not.

We weren’t just dropping a dog in the midst of a lot 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 handle a dog for quite a while, but the  old thoughts were still there. They weren’t overjoyed to acquire 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 we insisted on from the beginning was that a new dog was required to submit to the cats. This is especially valid when working with terrier dogs such as the West Highland Terrier. No matter how lovable and cute they may be, deep down inside their heart and soul they’re hunters. They need to get in and duke it out with the 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 is 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.

This is 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 along with a tug on the leash was enough to do the job. It certainly helped our cats were 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 most of the boundaries we laid down in the beginning.  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 is apparently really 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 find Willow curled up with one of the cats, or maybe hanging out on the windowseat with one. And, you can never tell which two animals are likely 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) and set the stage for the others to follow.

Your situation might be quite different from ours, because our cats were already familiar with 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 this I would recommend keeping the new Westie on umbilical for a couple of days while the critters get used to each other. Umbilical training, where you have the dog on a long leash and keep the leash tied around your waist, is a very 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. Keep with the umbilical work for around 7 days and keep the dog in its crate when it’s not on the leash. The cat will quickly settle down once it realizes that the dog is not a threat to it.

Precisely 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 and that is likely to make the relationship more managable. Be 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 coexist with Westie Terriers. They might not become buds the way our animals did, but peaceful respect for each other should be possible. Use the umbilical, make the dog submit at the start and all will be well.

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