Appearance
Commonly, Westies have bright, deep-set, almond-shaped eyes that are dark in colour. Its ears are small, pointed, and erect. Members of the breed typically weigh between 15 and 20 pounds (6.8 and 9.1 kg), and the average height is between 10–11 inches (25–28 cm) at the withers. The body should be shorter than the height of the dog at the shoulder; its legs are typically longer than those of other Scottish terrier breeds.
It also has a deep chest, muscular limbs, a black nose, a short and a closely fitted jaw with "scissors" bite (lower canines locked in front of upper canines, upper incisors locked over lower incisors). The Westie's paws are slightly turned out in order to give it better grip than flat footed breeds when it climbs on rocky surfaces. In young puppies, the nose and footpads have pink markings, which slowly turn black as it ages.
It has a soft, dense, thick undercoat and a rough outer coat, which can grow to about 2 inches (5.1 cm) long. The fur fills out the face to give a rounded appearance. As it develops into adults, its coarse outer coat is normally removed by either 'hand-stripping', especially for dog-showing, or otherwise clipping.
Read more about this topic: West Highland White Terrier
Famous quotes containing the word appearance:
“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
“This mesa plain had an appearance of great antiquity, and of incompleteness; as if, with all the materials for world-making assembled, the Creator had desisted, gone away and left everything on the point of being brought together, on the eve of being arranged into mountain, plain, plateau. The country was still waiting to be made into a landscape.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“When appearance and reality coincide, philosophy and literary criticism find themselves with nothing to say.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)