Westie - A day in the life of a West Highland Terrier dog

This is an informational record of our life with West Highland Terrier dogs. We also hope to share what we learn or tips while training our Westie.

Name:
Location: United States

Monday, July 31, 2006

Weird dream

Ever have a dream that seems so real, when you wake up you have to check to see whether it was real. Last night I had one of those dreams. Zachary was out in the backyard and started barking like the house was on fire. I ran outside to see what was going on and saw a large rooster and a cow just out the wire fence. Zachary was chasing them and trying to get through the fence. The rooster was so big, I ran inside to get my camera. When I came out again they were running down the street, while Zach barked safely inside the fence.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Dead in his tracks

Every try to move a dog that does not want to move? Well tonight while we were walking Zachary stopped dead in his tracks. His four paws were planted and going nowhere. Plus he started backing up and turned himself around. Yes something scared the boy, what I do not know. As I was being pulled back to the house by Zach, I did manage to get him to go potty.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Discovering Grasshoppers

Today we were walking our normal route, when Zachary made a discovery. About 2 feet in front of his nose jumped a large grasshopper. It was one of the multi-colored ones I used to catch many moons ago. This little guy saw Zach's nose and started hopping for his life. I pulled Zachary back to let this beautiful grasshopper live another day. I do not know what he would have done if he caught it, but he has been known to kill frogs and lizards. So he is not to be trusted with insects, his hunter instinct is too strong.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Friday, July 28, 2006

New Toybox

Zachary's toybox was falling apart. He now has a new box, compliments of Skittles candy. It is a cardboard box that was cut so the long side end is open just enough so that he can walk inside and get any toy he wants. The box stands as tall and is as long as Zachary. We have found that cardboard boxes my the best toyboxes, since they are cheap. When we need a new box for Zachary, we take a trip to Costco where the have free boxes for the taking.

"Happiness is being love by a Westie puppy"

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Dries Faster Shampoo

Tried out a new product called Gold Medal Pets Formula 30 Tea Tree Shampoo. The label says "Dries Faster, Less Stress for Dogs". Well with a claim like this, we had to check it out. Sorry to say, we noticed no difference in drying time. We were glad to see that you can now buy a Tea tree shampoo for dogs, and for this reason we liked the product. We have found that even people Tea tree shampoo helped with Zach's itching.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

More crate-free time

It is hard to believe but Zachary will be one Aug 11th. We have been giving him more and more crate-free time when we leave to see how he does. We do not leave him for that long in the house, but have left him for several hours in the motorhome without a problem. It the motorhome we always leave a piece of paper on the table. We would rather him shred the paper then to do something more serious. Since we have done this, he has not torn up anything besides that one paper in the motorhome. Our past two trips, the paper has not been touched. I think our baby boy is slowly growing up. Zach also has been sleeping out of his crate in a big boy bed for about a month. We will continue to give Zach longer times out of his crate when we leave both the RV and house.

“Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy”

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Busy walk tonight

Tonight as we were doing our normal walk Zach played with several dog buddies along the way. Before we came in we helped our neighbor take out their yard trash and plant a new tree. Zach had a good time playing in their yard with all the new smells. He came home with a wet belly from crawling through the water used for the new tree.

"Happiness is being love by a Westie puppy"

Monday, July 24, 2006

Stormy afternoon

We had another stormy afternoon with thunder and lightning. Zachary slept most of the day, catching up on his sleep from a busy weekend.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Sunday, July 23, 2006

We are home

We are back from our RV getaway and tired puppies. We managed to get the motorhome un-packed right before the rain started. As I am typing, Zachary is laying under my feet snoring loudly and moving his little paws. He has been doing this on and off since about 4pm, he is so tired.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Seed-spitting



The snake that came to visit us yesterday was about 3 foot long. Today is another busy day at our RV rally. This morning we had a watermelon seed-spitting contest. The longest distance was 26ft. Tonight we are having a potluck and karaoke. Zach too had a job this weekend, he has been helping an RV dog buddy not be so aggressive. We walk with Luke closer and closer until they get to me nose to nose. Luke is getting much better. Zachary just wants to play with Luke.

“Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy”

Friday, July 21, 2006

RVing again

Packed the motorhome and headed to our monthly rally. We are in a pretty remote area, 2 miles down a dirt road. Zach is in heaven. We even had a snake come to visit this morning. If the snake pictures come out I will post one. He was on the move going under RV's and heading towards the lake. I tried to keep Zachary away so he would not scare the snake and decide to stay underneath our motorhome. Zach has had fun catching up with his RV dog buddies. This morning we played a rowdy game of baseball in the pool. Lots of laughs during the game. This afternoon we will be raisin catching and penny tossing. It is nice to get out of Dodge and relax.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westied puppy"

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Water line break

We had excitement start around 10:30 last night with water coming out of ground around an electric transformer. Called the county water department, said someone would be out to check line. Well this morning the water was coming out with even more flow, called county again. When the water department showed up, Zach supervised the repair. Plus got petted, which made his day. He also got to help fill in hole that was made from water leak.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Boot Scooting

For the past couple days Zach has been biting at his tail and dragging his hind end on the ground. Now I call this the Boot Scooting Scootie. Anyone that has a dog knows the meaning of this. So Zachary and I went to get his anal glands expressed. The Vet tech said they were full and might be tender for1 or 2 days. While we were there, I weighed Zachary. He weighed in at 19lbs 2 ozs. I was glad to see that he did not reach 20 lbs yet.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Full day at Grandma & Grandpa's

Zach is a tired puppy with a full day at Grandma & Grandpa's. He helped Grandpa take apart the old big screen TV. I am not sure who took out the screws since both their faces were right next to eachother. His uncle Victor came over and gave him lots of attention, he loves he uncle Victor. As Grandpa was taking the old TV screen outside Zach slipped out the front door. All I could think of was him running off or getting hit by a passing car. Actually all Zach did was run to a guy that was loading things Grandma & Grandpa put out for charity. Grandpa was out the door right after him yelling "NO, NO". The poor guy loading the truck thought he was talking to him and dropped what he was holding. Then the guy found a dog at his feet even though he was scared of dogs. Now you see why the baby boy is a sleepy boy.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Monday, July 17, 2006

Mega Rainstorm

It rained and poured tonight for many hours. We had several close strikes with lightning. The electric went off for 3 hours and the cable has been off for over 6 hours. Zachary as you can imagine was not a happy puppy. He was barking and hiding during the storm. Now with all the rain the crickets are everywhere and loud. When Zach went out on the back porch he started barking at the loud crickets. The ducks on the other hand are very happy.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Beyond dirty

This morning Zachary needed to run, and run he did, round and round and back and forth. It would not have been bad as we do the game all the time, except there was dew on the ground. Yep, you guessed it, the dirt turned to mud. The more he ran the more dirty he became. So when we both came inside, to the bathtub we headed. At least one white doggie emerged, leaving a muddy one behind.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Play buddies

Zach has two buddies on the block that he has been playing with for the past several days. One is a weiner dog and the other a mutt. Both cause such a commotion that there owners let them out when Zach walks by their house. Zachary stays on leash while his buddies remain off leash. When we come back home Zach is a tired puppy"

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Friday, July 14, 2006

Some cats are friendly

Some cats are friendly, some are not. Zach seems to know which cats will not hurt him and which to stay completely away from. There is a cat that lives next door that follow his dog brothers and sisters around the block when they go for a walk. Zach does not mind this friendly cat named Lucie.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Dog buddies

No matter where Zachary goes he always meets dog buddies. Some new and some are best buddies he sees every night on his nightly walk. If he cannot find a dog buddy, he will accept a pet from a human buddy.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

1st Peanut Butter Jar




We have fond memories of our former Westie licking peanut butter out of the jar before being tossed in the garbage. I have be waiting till he got older before carrying on this tradition. This morning I finished a jar and spent extra time to get all the excess out of jar. Tonight he got his first peanut butter jar. I do not know what it is about the smell but it drive dogs nuts.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Baths and Rain

Why is it that when you give your dog a bath it rains? I have found that if I want it to rain, I wash my car. Now the same goes for Zach getting a bath. Cool, no doing 2 things will make it rain and water my plants.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Monday, July 10, 2006

White Frog

I looked outside the porch door and noticed Zachary nosing something in the grass. Now I had seen him do this in the past with frogs to get them to jump. When I saw a white frog, I smiled and laughed. I had never seen a white frog before today. I went inside to get my camera and left Zach to guard the frog. By the time I came back, the frog was gone. I looked all around the outside of the porch but no luck. I will keep my out and take a picture if I am able of the white frog.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Helping pull weeds

Zach was beside himself this afternoon as we were weeding the lawn. After we pulled a weed, he thought that his job was to run around the yard carrying the just pulled weed. His next excitement was to start pulling his own weeds. The only problem with that was, it was grass and not weeds. Finally he was told to go hunt lizards, chill out or he was going inside. Zachary was sent inside for a couple minutes to calm himself down. When he came back out, he hunted lizards and relaxed in the sun.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Ebay helper



Zach loves to help and be in the middle. While I was packing stuff for an ebay auction Zach kept playing with an empty box that used to hold items.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Friday, July 07, 2006

King of the mountain

While out walking this morning Zach and I saw one of our neighbors outside. While walking up Zachary noticed the brick wall, it did not take long for him to figure out how to get up and walk on the top of the wall. He was steady and did not even seem to notice just how high he was. The top off the wall where he was walking was waist high. Our neighbor got a kick out of Zach walking his wall.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Zach is well rested

Now that Zach is well rested, he is back to his normal self. Play, sleep, eat is the order of the day, on most days. Everyone slept in again this morning. Today they mowed the back stormwater pond so Zach had to supervise this operation to make sure it was done correctly. He liked watching the birds fly when the tractor russled the grass. The Ibis would wait till the very last minute to fly.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Firework remains

This morning it was interesting walking around the block as Zach and I tip-toed around all the neighborhood firework remains. Zach wanted pick up the sticks and plastic tops. The rest of the day all he wanted to do was sleep. I was unable to get him outside at 11pm with all the noise. At 2am Zach woke my up by kissing me, he finally had to pee, loud noises or not. We went out and back to bed, all was finally quiet in the neighborhood.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy 4th of July

Zachary has had an easier time tonight with the loud neighborhood fireworks. A couple times earlier tonight he started barking. I tried taking him out to go potty right before dark, nothing doing. We made it outside but nothing else, he pulled to come home. He heard loud booms in the distance.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Monday, July 03, 2006

Fireworks

Zachary is having a very tough time with all the neighborhood fireworks. Sometimes he runs, barks or hides as he tries to get away from the loud bangs. Tomorrow will not be fun and we are thinking of leaving the house to a quieter place for the 4th of July.
Today Zach slept most of the day, catching up on rest from our busy RV weekend trip.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Home but tired

After yesterday with shufleboard competion, a 50's party and being a social butterfly all of us are tired. Actually pooped is a better word. We managed to get home just as the rain started. Poor Zach did not even get to potty after driving over 2 hours. With lightning, thunder and rain, I just carried him inside until the storm ended. We had a good time and look forward to our next adventure.

"Happiness is being oved by a Westie puppy"

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Boat ride pics




Some of the critters we saw while on boat ride were dolphins, seagulls and ospry.

"Happiness is being loved by a Westie puppy"

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