Cairn Terriers - the General and the Strange
When
should Cairn Terrier Dogs Teeth be Taken Out? When I saw this one, my first thought was 'What kind of moron would write a question like this?'......and then I got to thinking about it because it did kind of ring a bell. And then I figured it out. Toy and Teacup canines are notorious for having bad teeth which can end up causing nothing but headaches and lots of expensive trips to the vet. Standard operating procedure for some of these breeds is to pull their teeth when they get into adulthood and begin exhibiting rotten teeth problems. Believe it or not, dogs with no teeth do just fine digesting dried dog food and this is what happens with some toy breeds. So to answer the question: Cairn terriers are small but they are not a Toy, Teacup or other Mini Breed. They are a short, stubby hunk of salami bred to go after vermin and for that THEY NEED THEIR TEETH! Cairn Terriers and Thunderstorms This one has been batted around many times with the hunting breeds in particular and it hearkens back to an article I read many moons ago about training gun-dogs not to be afraid of the sounds of gunfire. In the ideal world, pups are introduced to these sounds at an early age out in the field and they are not all that much different from the crack of lightning. This method of introduction to startling sounds works well. What if you're not a hunter and your dog is frightened of storms? One of the best things I have seen are recordings of thunderstorms which you can buy and play in the privacy of your own home. I have used them myself in the past. Pop in a thunderstorm cd and play it initially at a very low volume with the dog present. As he gets used to the sounds, crank it up over the course of a couple weeks. If you have a decent stereo with a really good sub woofer, you can even vibrate the windows. If you're older, consider ACDC's 'Shake the Foundations' or perhaps 'Thunderstruck.' That is the route I would go. I might add that if you are new to the Midwest and are in the middle of a severe thunderstorm, looking around and wondering what all the fuss is about and you see your dog bolting for shelter - it would be a good idea to follow. Do Cairn Terriers Grunt? Tell Me!! Yep! Loosely translated, grunting means "I want Attention!" Question: How did Cairn Terriers come to the USA? Answer: Probably the same way Norway Rats did. Cairn Terriers Running Marathons Sigh............ Size of Crate for a Cairn Terrier Try an entrance of @ 12" wide, 13" tall and about 24" in length for an average sized Cairn. The dog should be able to go in the crate and have enough room to turn around. Anything smaller is too small. Anything larger can hinder potty training. If the Cairn is peeing or pooping in the crate, the crate is more than likely too large. Should I Shave my Dead Cairn Terrier? Sigh............ Question: How much do Cairn Terriers Cost? Short Answer: As much as you want to spend on one. Personal Answer: $300 - $500 Long Answer (and I could easily turn this into a diatribe but I'll keep it short): It depends on why you want one. You want to rescue a Cairn Terrier. I wouldn't think this option would cost much, other than spay/neuter + a donation, and maybe shipping. Price - $0.00 - $150.00, shipping excluded would be my guess. You want a Pet (Pet Quality). $0.00 - $250.00 is a range I would be looking for and I would not pay more for registration papers. Why no registration? Because if you are looking for pet quality then you are looking for a dog unsuitable for breeding by AKC standards. That makes sense, so why am I bringing up registration papers? Because there is this thing called Limited Registration which means you can register your Cairn Terrier with the AKC, but any pups produced by this dog cannot be registered. Doesn't make much sense to me. I think this is a way for breeders producing substandard pups to try to squeeze a few more dollars out of you and a way for the AKC to generate additional revenue at no extra cost to them. In my view this is analogous to the gold plated turd question: What's the difference between a turd and a gold plated turd? - The gold plate. Some might point out that a Cairn Terrier with limited registration can compete in sporting trials and events, and win titles which are recognized by the AKC. Imagine what you might do by spending a few extra bucks on a pedigreed dog. You want Show Quality because You want to Show Cairn Terriers. Show quality is an AKC registered pup with all the bells and whistles. It has the possibility of being a true asset to the gene pool and breeders can be quite selective as to who they will sell a show quality pup to. They often limit their sales to people who wish to show Cairn Terriers themselves, which thereby hopefully enhances the value and affirms the quality of the breeder's stock. I would guess, and this is purely a guess because I am really not that interested; somewhere in the range of $800 - $1200 for a Cairn Terrier whose background pedigree contains an excellent lineage with a number of championships. I have actually seen Cairns for sale at starting prices of $1000.00 and these were in no way show quality so you have to use some caution. If you are going to shell out the big bucks for a show quality animal, I would ask for copies of the pedigrees from both sides as a starting point and go from there. You want Show Quality but at a Discount Price, and maybe do some Showing Yourself. This is fertile ground if you have patience and do some research. I'll put a $400 - $800 price tag on this one. I'd be willing to bet there are far more breeders who bought high quality dogs with the intent of breeding, showing and establishing their own line, than ones that did the same and actually followed through. Lets say some of those breeders paid astronomical dollars for their animals which were never shown. They tend to think because they paid the big bucks for their dogs, any pups produced should be worth that amount as well. When you buy a pup, you are buying potential. If you don't make use of that potential by showing the animal, what potential do you have? Not much, other than the pedigrees of your dog's sire and dam. Quality was proved out by the breeder you got your dog from, but it was not proved out by you. That leaves a question mark as to the quality of any pups you yourself as a new breeder may produce. People may have serious reservations about paying large sums from a new kennel whose sires and dams have not been proved out in the ring. This often leaves such a breeder with excess pups. Some of these breeders may also live in a geographical location not conducive to selling animals. This in conjunction with people who have major issues with having a dog shipped, can leave a breeder with a number of pups that would due to circumstance be difficult to place.. Third in this area are breeders who have quality, do show but limit themselves in some way. An example would be a breeder who insists on hand delivering the pup to the prospective owner and performing an inspection of their premises before they agree to a sale. If this breeder is located in DinkyTown, Nevada.....it can be hard to place pups as there would be an extremely finite number of future Cairn owners within the area. In each of these proceeding examples, the breeders have quality (probably) but have difficulty selling it. If one of these breeders had a litter of six bouncing baby Cairns, could only sell two and the remaining four are approaching 12 weeks of age, what would the breeder do? A. Sell the pups as pet quality with a spay/neuter contract at a greatly reduced price. This would be pure desperation. B. Sell the pups with full registration at a reduced price. There can be plenty of room for dickering with this option. C. Or.....If this is real quality we are dealing with, a shared registration with the breeder at a reduced price. People come down on both sides of the fence on this one. I at one time had a shared registration and it worked out very well. I have also heard horror stories. It all depends on the reason for the contract, the contract itself and the people involved. God please find me my Cairn terrier! Comment: I hope he does. Question : Should I shave the ears off my Cairn Terrier? Answer: No Question: My Cairn Terrier Growls at Me when I get in Bed. What do I do? Answer: Well, you could choose a different bedmate, preferably one with opposable thumbs. That would at least restrict you to the primates and get you back on the road to normalcy. Or Find a Cairn with a sweeter disposition. Question - How do you keep a Cairn Terrier from Smelling like a Dog? Answer - You're kidding, right? Question - Do Cairn terriers look like poodles? Answer - No. Question - Does my Cairn need a sweater if the temperature outside is 22 degrees? Moose doesn't seem to mind...... Neither does Dezi. What you are seeing here is a fashion statement. Answer: No. It was -13 degrees here last week and Turd Dog, I mean Rufus, bright and early in the morning successfully dug a divot through three or four inches of snow and then began tunneling under the fence. He was captured seconds before he made his escape. He spent the rest of the day on a 12' lead attached to a 50' cable which was well within reach of his insulated dog house. Temperatures never rose above -2 degrees and the dog didn't once seek shelter. Crashed out on the porch though on a dog blanket for several hours though. We shave our Cairn in the summer and then let the hair grow through October and on well into spring. Never had any frozen Cairn issues. Can't say I didn't wish I did on the odd occasion...... Question: Can a Cairn terrier be a good choice for deaf people? Answer: Now that's an interesting question and one that I cannot answer with any kind of authority. I would guess that the question needs to be better defined as to whether the Cairn is intended as a pet or an assistant. Offhand, I would say that they are quite good at getting your attention when they want it - as in the nose jabs. On the other hand, it would be difficult to tell when the Cairn is being totally obnoxious outside, jacking up other dogs and in turn jacking up the neighbors. A quick Google search seems to indicate any dog, mixed breed or not, can be trained to assist the deaf. Of course, Cairn Terriers are not just 'any dog'. If anyone has experience with Cairns and people who are hearing impaired, feel free to send along an opinion.. Question: How tall of a fence does a Cairn Terrier need? Answer: As is often the case with Cairn Terriers, you are asking the Wrong Question The question should be: How deep should I bury the fence to prevent my Cairn from making the Great Escape? Answer: Sink that baby underground at least 12". If I was actually concerned with a Cairn Terrier jumping over a fence (which somewhat defies imagination), I would take the Cairn's body length and multiply by 1.5, or about 3 feet. Question: Is it normal for a Cairn Terrier to be Food Aggressive? Answer: No, and it is a problem with not just Cairns, but for other dogs which have been inadequately trained and socialized as well. What we are talking about here is Resource Protection. I am not going to spend much time on this - just Google it. It can be fixed. I will give one example of Resource Protection which I'll bet just about everyone has experienced: You are walking through a Walmart parking lot and happen to walk by a really big sedan, something like a Cadillac with its windows down. As you are walking by, you see out of the corner of your eye a shape lunge at you, lunge frequently accompanied by high pitched hysterical yapping. This startles you out of your skin and you turn around to see a senior citizen way past the ability to drive safely, holding on to one of those little *&%&* football dogs, with a half-embarrassed silly grin plastered on his or her face. You can't blame the football, it is only trained to do what it is trained to do. The football is treating the senior citizen as a resource for food, shelter, really bad old movies. The blame once again, lies at the feet of the owner, as do most canine personality-related issues. The Cairn Terrier is no Exception. Footnote: I did get even with one of those ignorant owners in Lakeland, Florida once. I was walking out of the Walmart with a large soft drink and lunch. As I was walking past one of those boats some might call automobiles, a #*%*&! miniature poodle lunged at me. I didn't know what it was at the time but I stepped back and pivoted violently away from the car. This resulted in the contents of soft drink cup flying into the boat and onto the football and its owner. It was a big soft drink and it really sent the football into overdrive when I threw the cup in as well. The owner looked like he was going to have a cardiac event. Did I feel bad at all that the senior and the football got drenched? No. Just because you are a senior citizen does not mean that being a responsible dog owner is optional. If you want to own a football and you don't bother training it, and you think it is cute when your football lunges at innocent citizens going about their business, do not be surprised when someone else walking by has a much more violent reaction than the one I had. #*$&^ football dogs and clueless owners regardless of their age are a major pet peeve of mine if you haven't figured that out yet. The downside to this traumatic event was that I had to go back into Walmart for a new soft drink. Another Footnote: Wow......actually got a couple immediate emails on this one and in this case the emailer's are right.....but solidly off center. Odds are no one has ever seen or ever will see a Cairn Terrier lunging at you through an open window from a Senior Citizen's lap. It is not in the genetic makeup. Take notice that in my example I used a miniature poodle, not a Cairn Terrier. Can you imagine a Cairn Terrier wiling away the afternoon on anyone's lap in order to try to tear a chunk out of a passerby? I think not. Y'all need to Lighten up a Little. Cairn Terrier don't Neuter for Shorter Legs Uhhh....................Ok................ Question: Do Cairns like to be rubbed at the start of their tails? Answer: Yes. I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out why. Question: What is more affectionate - a Cairn Terrier male or female? Answer: Males Almost Every Time. Question: Biting and Growling in Cairn Terrier puppies? Answer: To the uninitiated, this is often referred to as 'Playing'. Question: My Cairn Terrier ran away. What are the chances of me finding him? Answer: Cairn Terriers are social animals. Your chances of finding the runaway dramatically increase if you are a social animal yourself. Good insurance is to regularly walk your Cairn Terrier on lead multiple times around the neighborhood, introducing yourself and your Cairn to the community at large. That way, odds will dramatically increase that someone someday will knock on your door with Cairn in outstretched arms, offering to return your little bundle of joy to you free of charge. I need to emphasize here that this is not a joke, intended to provide a bit of humor. This is serious advice and please take it in that context. Also, don't forget to regularly check to ensure your eventual runaway is adequately tagged with all the information required to properly assist in the joyful reunion of you with your Cairn Terrier. Question: Do Cairn Terriers eat Ferrets? Answer: They Might, but Odds are the Cairn will Pay a Heavy price.. Known Cairn Terrier Issues - Let's Change this a bit to 'General Questions' and 'Issues' Below is a sampling of 4 weeks worth of queries (Updated with 2012 sample):
2013 Statistics - One Month Sample - September
2012 Comment: Well this is interesting.....issues vs questions stayed virtually identical however, the issues have changed markedly. If this is any kind of general sample of the cairn population at large, problems with biting and aggressiveness have greatly increased. Skin and ear infections have also risen. I would hazard a guess that there is a lot more piss-poor breeding going on out there, or the cairn terrier rescue Nazis are adopting out the dregs of the cairn terrier gene pool to those unsuspecting souls who have a propensity for wearing rose-colored glasses when it comes to all things rescued. ......why do rose-colored glasses remind me of beer goggles? 2011 Statistics
2011 Comment: Taking the 'Glass is half full' approach, it seems people are doing more research on Cairn Terriers before buying Cairn Terriers and this is a good thing. I know Home(ly) doesn't want to hear this, but it also seems the page is garnering a larger chunk of the cairn opinion piece pie. It would be nice to see more sites pop up, promoting responsible Cairn Terrier breeding and the ethical and humane handling of those animals of questionable benefit to any gene pool, thus minimizing the need for the cairn rescue Nazis at all. 2009 Statistics:
2009 Comment: I would say that this is about right. A lesson I learned was to pay a bit more attention to the right column than to the left one and this applies to any breed. If anyone has stats of this sort for other breeds, that would make for an interesting comparison. It's kind of like 'things they don't tell you about in school" - learn those kinds of lessons vicariously. With the advent of the internet, it's easy and doesn't cost a thing. Question: How big is a Toy Cairn Terrier? Answer: The same size as a Normal Cairn Terrier. There is no such thing as a Toy Cairn Terrier. Question: Are Cairn Terriers Good Swimmers? Answer: It depends on the Cairn.... Some of them have issues...... Some don't. Helpful hint: A ball or other floating toy can make a big difference. Search: Cairn Terrier Strippers in Orange County, CA Comment: Assuming you find one, I'd be most curious as to how all those pasties are attached. Question: How many Cairns are too many? Answer: It depends on your tolerance level......... and......if you are interested in seeing Cairn terriers in action, doing what they were bred to do: (pics used with permission from the site owner) Please pay a visit to Lots of Earth Dogge information, pics and events. Been meaning to provide info on this site for a while. |
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