are..

[missjef]

west highland terriers unfriendly dogs? one of my friends the other night was saying that after working in dog kennels for over a year as a part time job she has come to notice that these dogs aren't too friendly and dont have very good behaviour. anyone else think this is true or is it well known that they are not very friendly?

many thanks

[drgnrdr]

Any dog not socialized properly is unfriendly. Terriers seem to graviitate in that direction, they need lots of socializing, they have a high prey drive to do their jobs. Small toy dogs that don't have a job to do, except look cute and keep our laps warm, tend to turn out this way due to the fact that the owners make them this way. They carry them around like babies and they don't get to be a dog, on the ground, dealing with their environment from their own level.
Plus misinformed vets and breeders scare the day lights out of us and tell us they will be stricken by diseases and such if taken around anything until they get their full set of shots. Here in the USA that is 4-5 months old. The primary socializing age is 4 weeks to 16 weeks, after 16 weeks, it is much harder to socialize them, not impossible but harder, spay/neuter helps, and a good breeding of even tempered dog and bitch to produce even tempered pups helps also. It's nature vs nurture with dogs. I have known friendly westies and aggressive westies, the aggress ones came from bad breeding or not socialized early or both. Good ones were in a puppy class and taken all kinds of places to get use to things, people and other animals, cats included. Sometimes nature wins and you get the odd one out that they tried to do everything for it, but still is aggressive. Training is key when you get a dog.

[lindapinda]

My aunt used to have a westie called Mac,who was def not the best tempered! However...Hamish,our neighbour's westie,is an absolute darling! I suppose it's like all dogs and people,some are just better houmoured than others!

[southerngirl]

drgnrdr is right. It is often the terriers which can be unfriendly, although usually it is towards other dogs, rather than people. My terrier is an absolute horror with other dogs but absolutely adores people. It is all down to lack of socialization. A lot of people don't treat dogs like dogs, I'm afraid, they think that they will be like people, trying to reson out their behaviour as if they were other humans, rather than the dogs they are. I love my dogs dearly, but you cannot treat them like people, that way lies disaster.

[kipchik]

Surely any dog can be unfriendly if not socialised,ANY breed,we had a westie years ago and she was a little darling,as was our yorkie and right up to our gsd's and rotts and now our wei,they were all socialised and fantastic dogs,its how you bring them up,i firmly believe!!

[bugsyshan]

ive worked in kennels for 17 years and they are the noisiest amongst a few other breeds not nasty with people unless not socialised properly sometimes aggressive with other dogs but again only if not socialised properly at the end of the day it is a terrier and they are not known to be a laid back dog