THE VERSATILE WESTIE
WESTIES IN PERFORMANCE...
"YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY!"
by Deb Duncan

---

To fully appreciate today’s Westies in Performance, we need to pay homage to the amazing journey our breed has taken over the years. The first performance title earned by a Westie was an Obedience title. In 1942, CH. Robinridge Bimelick earned the Companion Dog title (CD). The first Tracking Dog (TD) title was earned by Vimy Ridge Catriona in 1970. Our Westies are meant to “go to ground” and the first Certificate of Gameness (CG) was earned by CH. Skaket’s Chunkies in 1978. This was the only hunting title available for terriers until the AKC instituted its Earthdog program in 1994, and Wee Geordie Macpeg earned our breed’s first Junior Earthdog title (JE) in 1995. AKC agility began in 1994 and Dawn’s Fancy Clancy earned the first Westie Novice Agility (NA) title in 1995.

Other historic Westie FIRSTS through the years have been:

**1984 Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX) earned by CH. Rime’s Alicia Aquena
**1989 Obedience Trial Champion (OTCH) earned by Dee Dee’s Heather
**1997 Master Earthdog (ME) earned by CH. Hayastan Highland King
**1999 Champion Tracker (CT) earned by CH. Kirkton Quicksilver who also was the FIRST Champion Tracker (CT) title holder of any "terrier" breed.

The newest AKC performance event is Rally Obedience that began on Jan.1, 2005. In the first weekend of titling Rally competition, these six Westies became the first to earn their Rally Novice (RN) titles: CH. Dawn’s Front N’ Center, CH. Dawn’s Carey N’ On, CH. Kalorin’s Gamekeeper, Buffy, Prudence Macleish, and Sparkle Season Nee.

The number of Westies competing in the various performance events has increased by leaps and bounds in the last ten years. These figures are a “cumulative total” of ALL AKC performance titles earned by Westies as of the end of each represented year. They encompass “all levels” for each performance event category.

Cumulative title totals through the end of year:	1993	1998	2003	2005
ALL OBEDIENCE TITLES (first title 1942):	1047	1237	1388	1439
ALL TRACKING TITLES (First title 1970):	33	58	100	120
ALL EARTHDOG TITLES (first title 1995):		93	216	294
ALL AGILITY TITLES (first title 1995):		61	549	837
ALL RALLY TITLES (first title 2005):				141

Our Westies are most impressive when compared to our “terrier” brethren. As an example, out of the performance titles earned by all of the twenty-seven Terrier Breeds in 2003, our Westies accounted for the following percentages for each Performance category.

OBEDIENCE: 9%
TRACKING: 40%
EARTHDOG: 13%
AGILITY: 9%
RALLY: 15% (in 2005)

The WHWTCA was among the first Breed Clubs to establish a Versatility Award program (1979), challenging and motivating Westie owners to compete in performance events. The first Versatile Dog Award (VDA) was earned by CH. Skaket’s Chunkies. In 1999, the Club recognized the need to expand our Versatility program to further challenge and motivate Westie owners to continue on their path to excellence by offering a Versatile Dog Excellent (VDX) Award and a Master of Versatility (MV) Award.

More Westie Fanciers are exploring and embracing the thrill of their Westies "being all they can be". Westies are finally having the opportunity to "strut their stuff" and to show their incredible "versatility and talents". The WHWTCA is one of, if not “the” most successful of the Breed Clubs to bridge the gap between conformation and performance.

Champion (Show) Westies are participating in "multiple" Performance Events in overwhelming numbers and with tremendous success in both the conformation and performance arenas. We can no longer refer to "show/conformation" Westies in one breath and "performance" Westies in another. Consider that all six of the first Master of Versatility Award recipients were Champions and eighteen of the first twenty-five Versatile Dog Excellent Award recipients were Champions!

The conformation and performance venues have merged to represent our Westies as a breed that can "do it all". This is most evident when one looks at the impressive conformation accomplishments of the first six WHWTCA Master of Versatility Award recipients.

** All six were AKC Champions.
** One took Best in Sweeps (1993 National Roving Specialty) and took BEST of BREED three times at the National Specialty (MCKC) [1993 from Bred By Class, 1996 from the Special's class, and again in 2000 from the Veteran's Class]. This bitch was nationally ranked in conformation every year from 1993-2000. Additionally, she won the “Most Versatile Westie in a National Specialty” competition in 2001 and 2002.
** One took Winners Bitch at Devon (1997) and Best of Winners at the 1997 National Specialty (MCKC) that accounted for both of her "majors" being earned during the Montgomery County weekend.
** One took WHWTCA Best of Opposite in Sweeps (MC, 1988) and WHWTCA Best of Opposite in Veteran's Sweeps (MC, 1996).
** One earned all of his Championship points at Specialties from the Bred By Class. He also won the Stud Dog Class at the National Specialty (MCKC) twice and also at one Roving National Specialty. Additionally, this dog won the “Most Versatile Westie in a National Specialty” twice.
** One won his class at the WHWTCA Sweeps (MC, 2001) and took a Group Three placement in Brace (MCKC, 2002).

The WHWTCA has gone one step further in acknowledging the importance of combining conformation and performance by establishing the Performance Register of Merit Award (PROM) and the Performance Register of Merit Excellent Award (PROMX) in 2004. Similar to the Stud Dog and Brood Bitch Awards, the PROM and PROMX awards recognize Sires and Dams whose progeny have excelled in performance events and demonstrated versatility. In 2004, CH. Dawn’s Front N’ Center received the first PROM Award. The WHWTCA is responsible for making Performance Events a major part of the largest Terrier Show in the country (Montgomery County). Our Club sponsored the first “all terrier” Montgomery County Earthdog Trial in 1995 which immediately became an annual event. We held the first “all terrier” Montgomery County Agility Trial in 2000. That year it was a one-day event. Because of the tremendous turn out, the following year it was expanded to a three-day event. In 2005, the Montgomery County Agility Cluster became a four-day event. Another interesting fact is that our Westies always have the largest “breed” entry at the Montgomery County Agility Cluster.

The first Westie performance title was earned sixty-two years ago and for many years, the Westies who competed in performance took “the road less traveled by”. Our breed will always be grateful to the pioneers who took that road, because they are the ones who “made all the difference”. Over the last twenty years, our Westies have made that road well traveled. In the last decade, our Westies have paved a super highway of “conformation, performance, and versatility” excellence. The WTWTCA recognizes, celebrates, and takes great pride in our Westies “being all they can be” with their incomparable and indomitable WESTITUDE.

(We wish to thank Sil Sanders and Beth Bowling for helping to compile some of the information presented in this article.)

Other Performance Events:

• Agility
• Earthdog Tests
• Obedience
• Rally
• Tracking

Return to Conformation
Return to Performance
Return to Annual Awards
Return to Special Awards