The dog in question is a West Highland White terrier, and Poly got everything correct.
This photo comes from W.E. Mason’s Dogs of All Nations. The description of the Westie goes as follows:
Color: Pure white.
Height: 12 in.
Weight: 17 lbs.
In general appearance this dog is a small, game, hardy-looking terrier, with a varminty appearance, strongly built, with straight back on muscular legs. The coat should be about two and one-half inches long, of a hard texture, with plenty of undercoat, and no tendency to wave or curl. The tail should be straight, carried not too gaily, covered with hard hair, but not bushy. The ears are small and as pointed as possible, and carried absolutely erect. Eyes of moderate size, dark hazel in color, widely placed, with a sharp, bright, intelligent expression. The muzzle should be long and powerful.
The dog does look a lot like a white or possibly a cream-colored Cairn terrier. They are closely related breeds, and before they became standardized breeds, they really looked a lot a like. Westies were originally white sports in Cairn litters, just like goldens were red or yellow sports in black wavy-coated retriever litters.
One of the disadvantages dogs have in their relationship with us is that we are a highly visual species. We are also very much attracted to novelty. If a dog had a weird coloration in a litter, those weird-colored puppies were sometimes used to found new strains (although they were more likely to have been culled from the breeding program entirely.)
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