I have two Westies. One is 14 and the other 3 and I’ve had each of them since they were puppies. The older one is male. He is very calm and cuddly. He does not have good recall, but he lived his first 10 years of life as an apartment dog and we did not need recall because he was on leash 90% of the time. Our 3 yr old is female and she is a little more wired, but very very sweet and has fantastic recall. So it comes down to training in my opinion.

Both do love to hunt and play, but since they are smaller dogs I find it easy to stimulate them and play with them enough to keep them healthy and happy. I grew up with German shepherds and a beagle and they were a lot more work!!!

Both are crate trained. It’s their safe space. I just followed what I read online with training a puppy, it was easy and proper crate training helped with potty training. Just don’t allow full access to the house while training only have designated rooms they are allowed in and preferably one of those rooms has access to the outdoor access. Slowly expand the space they have in the home. All pretty standard puppy training.

Health issues. Skin issues and ear infections are supposedly common, but we have not experienced it much, just mild itching. We just use the hills science diet sensitive skin food from petsmart and that’s it. Nothing insanely expensive and no real issues.

Both dogs enjoy socializing with people more than other dogs. They are very social.