Westie puppy?

owlet

It sounds like a Westie has very similar traits to a Shih Tzu. Can be very stubborn but are very loving and perfect companions. Love a walk but equally will curl up and be lazy bones. Mine loves to do scent work and enrichment games , they are clever dogs.
They don't tent to be yappy though , which is great.
Mine will bark to be let outside, bark and stare if there's a toy she can't reach and bark when the doorbell rings. It's not incessant barking though, just a couple to let you know.
They can have breathing problems due to being flat faced but choosing a good reputable breeder is key to avoiding that, my girl is fine. She's a complete joy.
Just throwing an idea in for a non yappy breed.

JIL

I have a westie poodle cross, very intelligent, she does bark when she gets excited, but never when she is out on the lead. She barks when she wants something as if she is telling me what that something is. Often there's a toy that's gone under the furniture that she cannot reach, a bark, then lays down and the front paws stretch under to let you know where you have to look. She barks when someone knocks on the door but just a few barks, if we go past tea time then there's a bark to remind us she wants feeding. Sometimes if she has been slouched on the sofa looking out of the window and a dog goes past, she will jump to the floor, we get a bark and a backward walk as if to ask for a walk herself. Never had any skin problems.

She has been really easy to train, I can tell her to stop barking and she does.

I wouldn't be without her and she has the most personality I have seen in a dog that I have lived with.

Madscientist

Definitely training thing. Next door has a westie and you wouldn't even know they have a dog in the house. I have shih szu's and quite as a mouse as well. I saw other dogs around same breed that barks a lot too.

cuggie

I've had 2 westies (male & female) and now have a year old Shih Tzu. Compared to the westie's my Shih is soooo chilled and laid back.
My westies would want to 'protect' me and chase everything that dared to make a noise/fly past the window etc.
My male westie lived to 13, and from about 8 he calmed down and was a lovely chilled boy - but until then ohh boy, he was like a coiled spring!

I can't imagine having another breed now, my Shih is so funny, she 'talks' if I ask her a question (like "did you do wee wee" when coming in from garden) - she does a few 'tricks' which she enjoys (treats and attention make her happy !), and she mixes happily with other dogs at daycare, but is such a snuggle pup at home, just wants to be with me, no matter where I go. I've had her from 8 weeks old, and apart from puppy teething where she bit anything that moved, she's been perfect.

I took her out various places from the moment I got her, so now we can sit in a pub garden watching the ducks on the river and she just sits on my lap happy, couldn't have done that with my westies.