West Highland White Terriers - Westies - WestieInsider.com

Posted by Westieinsider on January 29th, 2019

Westie Insider explores the expansive constellation of all things Westie owners care about from a place of openness, love, resiliency, and at times frustration with the conviction that our interest in the breed is beyond the surface. Sure, Instagram snaps of our Westies are cute, but let’s dig deeper into issues that go beyond social media pics and how many ‘likes’ they receive.

The truth is, it’s hard to define Westie Insider. It’s an evolving and growing site that in time may mean so many different things for different people. Perhaps you are a first time Westie owner; maybe you are like me and grew up with one since childhood, and one has been by your side ever since. Perhaps you have never owned a Westie but would like to. Maybe you cared for one in the past, it had behavior issues, and are unsure if you’d want another.

My personal inspiration behind launching the site comes from caring for a diabetic Westie spanning several years. However, I realize many readers landing on Westie Insider are here for different reasons. I fully intend to articulate, in the best way possible, how I cared for a diabetic Westie and how it affected me. I also plan to delve into the world of holistic care – what’s worked and what hasn’t. There will be articles on our favorite holistic vets that do phone consults and who specialize in homeopathy and traditional Chinese herbs (tcm). I also hope, in time, other Westie owners weigh in with their stories and opinions.

This is a multi-faceted site where we want to peel back the layers of a breed that means so much to many of us. From health and wellness to temperament, we hope our prose is conveyed with honesty. Life with a Westie is so much more than a fluffy white face we see promoted via advertisements and social media. Over nearly three decades of loving and caring for Westies, I’ve noticed people don’t always speak honestly about the breed. I’d opine they gloss over issues, such as behavior, and skip right to how cute they are.

Sometimes life with a Westie isn’t the proverbial yellow brick road. Health and temperament problems arise and we are ready to roll up our sleeves and dive in – many of us already have. Westies aren’t for everyone. They aren’t always the even-keeled temperament we are sometimes lead to believe. Some Westies snap, bite, and growl. For example, my current Westie came to me at four months old with behavior issues rooted from fear. We want to talk to our readers from a place of honesty. If you are new to the breed and your new Westie has behavior issues, are you ready to seek the help of a trainer or behaviorist? You should be. If not, please don’t purchase or adopt a Westie. It may be blunt, but we want to prevent any Westie from going to a shelter because the owners “couldn’t handle it.”

I fully intend to honor one of the founding pillars in launching this site: To articulate and share how I cared for a diabetic Westie. The first seed planted for this site was diabetes and the Westie, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized there are also other relevant topics to discuss concerning the breed. We plan to conduct interviews with holistic vets we have worked with over the years, and also address weighty issues such as loss and grief. Grooming. We cannot forget the subject of grooming!