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West Highland White Terrier

origin: Scotland · 11 figures in the corpus · Q17510

Every figure below carries this breed's name or id in its source study -- grouped by what it measures, not ranked. A breed appearing under a study here does not mean every other breed was tested and came back negative; it means this is what has a named source so far. See each figure's own page for its caveats.

Longevity

13.4 years (median survival) verified

West Highland White Terrier: median survival age, UK veterinary clinic population

  • UK primary-care veterinary clinic population (VetCompass), not a census of all dogs of the breed.
  • Hazard ratio vs. the crossbred reference group: 0.73 (95% CI 0.72-0.75, p<0.001).

Size & head shape

1 size class (1=Small, 2=Medium, 3=Large) verified

West Highland White Terrier: body size class -- Small

  • Body size and cephalic index classification per Supplementary Table S5; for breeds absent from the study's primary source lists, assigned by majority agreement among Dogs Trust canine-behaviour experts rather than measured directly on dogs.
2 cephalic type (1=Brachycephalic, 2=Mesocephalic, 3=Dolichocephalic) verified

West Highland White Terrier: head-shape (cephalic index) classification -- Mesocephalic

  • Body size and cephalic index classification per Supplementary Table S5; for breeds absent from the study's primary source lists, assigned by majority agreement among Dogs Trust canine-behaviour experts rather than measured directly on dogs.

Group

1 group membership (see subject) verified

West Highland White Terrier: UK Kennel Club group: Terrier; FCI group: Terriers

  • KC/FCI group columns record nomenclature presence only, per the table's own caption -- the study did not use group as an analysis variable.

OFA (hip & elbow)

12.8 percent evaluated dysplastic preliminary

West Highland White Terrier: hip evaluations rated dysplastic (mild/moderate/severe combined), OFA cumulative statistics

  • OFA is a voluntary-submission registry: owners/breeders choose whether to have a dog evaluated and whether to submit the result, so this is not a random sample of the breed and most likely understates true population prevalence.
3.7 percent evaluated abnormal preliminary

West Highland White Terrier: elbow evaluations rated abnormal (grade 1-3 combined), OFA cumulative statistics

  • OFA is a voluntary-submission registry: owners/breeders choose whether to have a dog evaluated and whether to submit the result, so this is not a random sample of the breed and most likely understates true population prevalence.

Temperament

31.2 percent scored 'high' fear preliminary

West Highland White Terrier: share of surveyed dogs scored high on the Fear trait (Salonen 2020, Finnish pet dogs)

  • Self-selected online convenience sample of Finnish pet owners, not a random sample of the breed or of all dogs.
  • Restricted to breeds with at least 50 surveyed dogs to avoid small-sample noise.
35.9 percent scored 'high' noise sensitivity preliminary

West Highland White Terrier: share of surveyed dogs scored high on the Noise sensitivity trait (Salonen 2020, Finnish pet dogs)

  • Self-selected online convenience sample of Finnish pet owners, not a random sample of the breed or of all dogs.
  • Restricted to breeds with at least 50 surveyed dogs to avoid small-sample noise.

Other

1 purpose class: hunting: terrier verified

West Highland White Terrier: purpose class 'hunting: terrier', from FCI group: Terriers

  • Registry group membership at time of the source table, not an independent behavioural assessment.
1083 puppies registered verified

West Highland White Terrier (Terrier group): UK Kennel Club new registrations, 2025; -55.1% vs 2016

  • UK-only; a breed with 0 or blank registrations in a year may be newly recognised, temporarily unregistered, or genuinely absent that year -- the source table does not distinguish these.
3.3 average litter size (puppies) verified

West highland white terrier (chondrodysplastic): average litter size, Danish Kennel Club registrations Aug 2022-Jul 2023