Milo MacDuff

Milo MacDuff was our first, and he stole our hearts from the very beginning.  We named him after my childhood dog Duffy, who was originally given the name MacDuff by my now deceased Scottish mother.  Being a city gal, Mom was not adept at sexing animals, and MacDuff became “Duffy” when we later realized she was a girl.  I hope to find an old picture and scan it for the web one day.  It is in her honor that we chose MacDuff as part of Milo’s AKC name.

At 12 weeks, Milo brought his first field mouse into the house.  We had a vermin-hunting prodigy on our hands!  We were in utter amazement that his instincts could be so strong at such a young age.  He has since brought down rats and even a bird.  He’d be an amazing earth dog competitor, and I feel some guilt that I haven’t trained with him in it.  There’s really nothing like witnessing a dog doing what they were bred to do.

Some Westies retrieve, others do not.  Milo is also a retrieving maniac, and we love that about him.  It is utterly amazing to watch him go full tilt after a ball on the sandy ocean beach.  When Milo wants to play, he’ll drop a ball or toy at your feet.  If too much time passes before he feels he should be acknowledged, he will sometimes throw the toy himself with a shake of his head.

“Talking” is another one of Milo’s endearing traits.  When he wants attention, he lets out a low utterance that sounds as if he’s trying to form words -  or sing “row, row, row your boat…”   We’re really not sure which.  Yawns frequently come out sounding like sentences or exclamations, and we can even engage him in pseudo-conversations at times.  We generally get the last word.