Hi
I have a male west highland terrier who is now 6 months old and also a 4 month old bitch but l am beginning to wonder if the male is a true westie as they look so different.  He is very big for his age and has long floppy ears and a very long tail.  She is very tiny and identical to every picture l have seen of the westie.  The male has also got some behaviour problems like weeing everywhere in the house and eating his own (and her) toilet.  I really wanted to breed these two but l am now having second thoughts.  Can someone help me.

Did you get your westie from a breeder cause i've never seen a westie with long floppy ears - i work in a kennels so have seen lots of westies. the weeing all over the house is not a behaviour problem hes probably just marking because there is a young female in the house.

Hi
Thanks for the reply, we got him from a guy who had the mother but breed her with a dog he brought in he assured us that they were both true westies (even though the mother was quite a large dog), l suppose we were a bit green as we knew nothing about westies, but after going and picking up our female we realised there was something quite a big difference between them.  Regarding the peeing around the home we did think it was that but what about his eating his toilet?  Is there any chance of suring him of this or not? 

Were you given a certificate of your dogs pedigree when you got him cause it should have the fathers breeding line on it too and you may be able to trace the breeder of the father through that. As regards to eating the toilet - some dogs do and you may not be able to stop this. My only suggestion is clean it up as soon as both your dogs do it , if possible.

No we didn't get any papers for him the guy used the excuse that he didn't have the papers because he used the dog from a friend, the guy seemed genuine at the time but now l don't know.  My vet has never said he dosen't look like a westie (but would he?).  This has made me very unhappy now as l have become attached to the dog but feel that l have wasted money on buying him as it looks like l was conned.  I hope that dosen't sound cruel because l don't mean it to but l had such plans for them now l don't know what to do. 

If you don't have any papers for him, then there's no point in breeding from him anyway, pure Westie or not. Your best bet is to keep him purely as a pet, and love him for his own sake. If you want to breed from your registered bitch, ask her breeder for advice as to which dog would suit her the best, so that you get the best possible puppies from her. Good luck.
:)

Are you really sure you are the right person to start breeding dogs. to buy a dog with the hope of breeding from him but not ask for papers doesnt really give over a sense of knowing a lot about dog breeding. i dont mean to sound horrible but there are lots of unwanted puppies / dogs in the world because people start breeding without really looking into it! good luck whatever you decide to do - please keep the male as a pet like jeangenie said and if you do become a breeder make a better job of it than the man you got the male westie from!!!

When I got my westie he looked like a little fox and had big ears but not floppy.  When I went to puppy classes there was a female westie who looked nothing like mine and I thought I'd been had although I went to a good breeder.  He is a year now still has big ears but he grew into a great dog and looks like a westie I have seen many and they don't all look the same someone commented on him having a wiry coat because theres was soft and curly now I know they have wiry and soft hair and he's really good natured and good fun and he's all mine.

Just thought bailey ought to know that pikelet told a different story about how she got her male westie and is offering to sell him as a reply to someone else on a different post. Not a true dog lover in my eyes.