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Roby and Casper, my friendly Westie – the story

Casper is a 3 year old purebred White West Highland Terrier, who is my very best friend and constant companion. He goes pretty well everywhere with me. He has been kind of adopted by me and my wife Meta from our son-in-law and daughter. Bill decided to buy Casper as a ten month old pup for his financee, my daughter, Alisha back in 2007. Casper was fitted with a collar and a paper scroll which had a secret message to Alisha and inside was the engagement ring – Casper performed the delivery task impeccably and was certainly loved very much by his new owners. (She did say YES, by the way) But, since Bill lived in an apartment yet – no pets allowed – he asked ‘mom and dad’ (Roby and Meta) to take care of him until he bought a home for his future bride. Well, Casper helped me and my wife go through 5 pair of shoes/boots in real quick succession, and a few corners of our trim in our new home in Kingsville got chewed too. Nothing that could not be replaced or fixed quite easily. And eventually, Casper, as bright and smart as he is, handled the ‘potty’ training quite well and communicated his needs before they became an accident. Well, after Bill got his home for his bride, Casper went to stay with Bill and Alisha in his new home on Eastlawn Boulevard in Windsor. He did very well in his new home, and they loved him very much. But with both Bill and Alisha having careers, and being away from home long days, Casper missed his surrogate parents, and he came ‘visiting’ quite often. Then Casper started staying more and more, until such time, that he was a permanent friend and companion of Roby and Meta in Kingsville again. We have since become his adopted parents and he has certainly given us great joy and friendship over this past year or so.
For Meta and I, having a Westie as a pet is not new. We have owned purebred Westies as family pets for the past 26 years. Dixie Lee lived with us (a female) from ’84 to ’98 and then we had to say goodbye to her. By then, we had purchased Sheenaugh in ’96 and she lived with us until her death in 2008.
I also want to thank the Veterinarians who have so wonderfully cared for our Westies, and with a special thanks to our Kingsville Vet, Dr. Braithwaite, who was instrumental in diagnosing Casper with Addison’s Disease. In 2009, we almost lost him, until we were able to, with our Vet’s help, find the correct medication to combat a problematic Addison gland in Casper. Today, with daily meds for the rest of his life, he is a healthy and an amazing pet. See a few photos taken a few weeks ago by Skip Kuchta Photography of Casper and Roby in our home in Kingsville.