Scotties and Westies

We got our first Westie when we were still living in Albuquerque. The Holliday family was visiting and agreed to accompany us on a field trip to Bosque Farms about 30 miles south of the city to visit a farm where they had Westie puppies. One of the male puppies was very friendly and enjoyed visiting each of the grandchildren, so of course he was selected and accompanied us home. Robbie (short for Robert Burns or Robert Louis Stevenson) proved to be quite a good dog and needed a companion so we looked about for a Scottie. We finally found a one year old female living in Wyoming and had her flown to Albuquerque to join our family (Bonnie). Now you might wonder why we didn't get a second Westie instead of looking for a Scottie. Westies are actually West Highland Scottish Terriers but are now considered a separate breed from Scotties. However, the reason is less subtle. I like to drink Scotch on occasion, and probably my favorite is Black and White Scotch, which, of course, has a Westie and Scottie on the label. Now you know the rest of the story. When we decided to sell our Albuquerque house and go on the road full time for the first four-year adventure, we decided that it was not fair to the dogs to be cooped up in crates while we traveled and not to have backyard privileges. So we reluctantly found them new homes and began our adventures without any dogs.
After about three years into the adventure and having worked at Duffy House in the San Juan Islands for six months, we had returned to Texas and saw an advertisement in the San Antonio Paper for a one year old male Westie. Thinking it was time to try dogs again, we visited him and of course he came home with us, and Duffy (short for Mac Duff) was introduced into the family. At a later point we decided to trade in our car and our motor home and get new vehicles. While this was happening, we took a side trip to Corpus Christi with Duffy in tow. We found a hotel on the beach that allowed dogs and stepped into the elevator to take us up to the forth floor where our room was located. Duffy turned around and faced the door, as all do when entering an elevator. Now where did he learn elevator behavior? Every time when entering, he would turn around, face the door, and wait for the proper floor and the door to open. We decided that he was quite smart. He also got to visit his name sake Duffy House when we went to visit Arthur for a long weekend. Duffy did seem to enjoy our travels, but when we settled down in Omaha, he liked chasing the squirrels in the back yard even better.

Once settled in Omaha we felt it was time to get Duffy a buddy and settled on another Scotty, of course. MacGregor joined our family as a pup and stole HW2's heart.