Cairn Terriers - Housebreaking and other Issues - Updated 2012

HouseBreaking

Below is a list of search terms and questions  - some answered, some not.


 
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House Breaking.

Are Cairn terriers hard to housebreak? (7)
Cairn obsessed squirrels won't pee outside pees inside
Cairn plays outside all day pees inside
Cairn terrier 5 months potty training problems
Cairn terrier in winter pee more often
Cairn terrier peeing in house (42)
Cairn terrier peeing on furniture (19)
Cairn terrier pees in crate (7)
Cairn terrier pees on curtains (9)
Cairn terrier puppy crate neighbor
Cairn terrier puppy poops in crate (8)
Cairn terrier urinate
Cairn Terriers and Beano - Really Bad Gas
Crate training Cairn terriers (8)
Crate training Cairn terriers doesn't work
Do Cairn terriers housebreak easily? (4)
Why does my Cairn terrier urinate in the house?  (8)
House breaking a Cairn terrier
House broken Cairn terrier now urinating in house  (14)
How do I keep a Cairn terrier off furniture?
How do u train a crate trained Cairn terrier to be house trained?
How long can Cairn terrier hold it? (4)
How long should it take to potty train a Cairn terrier female  (2)
How to potty-train a 2 year old Cairn terrier
My 18 year old Cairn terrier male is suddenly peeing in the house when he never did before.
My Cairn terrier has started peeing on everything. What do i do?
My Cairn terrier keeps peeing on guests feet right in front of me! What do I do?
My Cairn Terrier peed in my bed. (9) - (Believe it or not).
My Cairn terrier won t pee.
My Cairn terrier won't stop urinating.  (9)
My three year old Cairn Terrier pees in the house.
Paper potty training dog Cairn
Potty problems Cairn terrier (16)
When can you stop using crate for a Cairn?
When should my Cairn be house trained
Why can't I potty train my Cairn (11)

Odor

Are Cairn terries known for gas?
Cairn terrier gas (19)
Cairn terrier eats grass Cairn terrier grass gas (2)
Cairn terrier odour and seasons
Cairn terrier smell (32)
Cairn terrier smells really bad at night
Cairn terrier smell smelly smells rank odor terrible
Cairn terrier smelly gas (19)
Cairn Terrier Stink (23)
Canned dog food Cairn terrier gas (12)
Do Cairn terriers smell
My Cairn's fur smells terrible how to fix (8)
Smells like Cairn (2)
Smelly Cairn terrier (32)
What to do if a Cairn terrier smells bad (4)
Why does my Cairn terrier smell so bad? (6)





Question: Are Cairn Terriers Hard to Housebreak?

Answer:  
Given all my previous opinions this is probably going to surprise you but the answer is no.  Both male and female Cairn Terriers housebreak quickly.  

The problem is that it doesn't stick (probably long term memory issues),  and  Cairn Terriers do get lazy.  
Successfully keeping a previously housebroken Cairn terrier housebroken means refresher courses are required.

Crate training every three months or so for a couple weeks whether you think the Cairn needs it or not, will doubtlessly contribute to a happy and pee-free household.  

If you don't believe me, that's fine.  

Perhaps your personal preference is a urine stained house.

That however, is not my personal cup of tea.




Comment on Housebroken Cairns Peeing in House Again

In my view if the dog doesn't have a medical problem, the cause of this problem is once again usually owner self-inflicted and the answer can be found in asking yourself one simple question:  "What Changed in my Home Recently?"

Common Answers:

1.  I brought a new pet into the home.
2.  I  brought  a new child into the home.
3.  I altered my Cairn's daily routine in a significant way - like stuck him in a boarding kennel for a week
4.  I did some remodeling
5.  I bought new furniture.
6.  I altered my dog's comfort zone in some manner - moved his crate, restricted or opened up new space for him.  

How to Rectify the Problem

If you had enough forethought to crate train your Cairn at the outset, this is a no-brainer.  

Let's say your Cairn is the only dog in the house.  He was crate trained but you got tired of having the crate in the house.  The dog is house broken and likes the couch anyway.

Let's also say you have another dog who is an outside dog but due to illness is now spending nights inside on his blanket.  What can happen?  What was exclusively the Cairn's territory  is now a territory shared with another dog.  What does the Cairn do? He starts marking his territory - the other dog's blanket, the other dog, the couch the Cairn sleeps on and other choice places in the house.

You unknowingly injected a major problem into the environment and the best way to deal with it is by getting back to the basics - the crate.  The Cairn goes back into the crate every night his routine is disrupted.  Odds are he will also be quite relieved.  He knows he is not supposed to pee in the house and probably feels a measure of guilt about doing so but can't help himself.  

For me, the number one reason for the cairn peeing in the house again is because he just got back from the pet boarders and seems to have an urge to mark everything, inside and out.  The dog is on a lead when coming in after an extended stay elsewhere for the first day or so and his movements are severely restricted so if there is any marking going on,  it will be dealt with quickly and then everything goes back to normal.

Remember:   DOGS ARE CREATURES OF HABIT AND DO NOT RESPOND WELL TO CHANGE

A dog suddenly starts doing something different,  figure out what changed and go from there.


Question: How do I keep a Cairn terrier off furniture?

Answer:  Salting the furniture with mouse traps under newspaper works well and it is entertaining.  Kind of a pain though if you have a slow learner on your hands.

Another option is a personal piece of furniture,  namely a dog bed or kennel.  Cairns are perfectly capapble of learning to stay in one spot for reasonable periods of time. Make that spot a desirable place to be - more desirable than furniture.  Place the bed next to the couch  or wherever people congregate. Remember, Cairns are social animals and it won't do much good if the dog bed is tucked in an out of the way place in another room.  

If the cairn is on furniture because you are not in the room or not in the house,  I wouln't blame the cairn and I would start looking around for wet spots and other surprises as well.



Search: My 18 year old Cairn terrier male is suddenly peeing in the house when he never did before.

First off,  Congrats on an 18 year old Cairn Terrier!

I was actually talking to the vet a while back about a similar issue and something to remember,  18 year old Cairn terriers and 80 year old men have a lot in common in that it is not uncommon for incontinence to be an issue.  

I have had several breeds that reached advanced ages for the their canine groups and you need to face the fact that control is not what it once was.  

Crating a dog does no good when control is a problem.  It is best to place your Cairn in an environment where clean-up is a minimal issue.

It's a fact of life...nearer to the end of life to be more specific.  

If you get a chance, send along a pic of the 18 year old Cairn. It will lay to rest the doubts that the seemingly improbable, is possible.




Question: My Cairn terrier keeps peeing on guests feet right in front of me! What do I do?

Answer:  Entertain a better class of guests.   

If it's your feet the dog is peeing on, you might look here.


Question - When can You Stop Using Crate for a Cairn Terrier?

Answer:  When you want to start having house breaking problems.

We got rid of the crate for a while because we were tired of having it in the house.
Some six months later, problems started.

Problems ended when we tossed the Cairn in the garage and back into the crate.

Crate

Problem solved. 

What is interesting is he loves the crate. Let him in the garage in the evening, he heads straight into the crate, turns around and waits for a treat.

Of course Cairns being Cairns, it can be difficult getting him out of the crate in the morning, but that is preferable to a urine stained house.



The Smelly Cairn Terrier Gas problem - Revised and Expanded

I can now answer this in five words but that doesn't make for interesting reading so I will tell a little story.

We generally board our dogs, two Catahoulas and a Cairn 2-3 times a year for a week or so at a time.  Each time we came back to retrieve the dogs, the two catahoulas looked skinnier and healthier, and the Cairn actually looked like he had the beginnings of a waist.  The last time we got the dogs, they looked really good so I had to ask what what the boarder was feeding them and how.

I should preface this with what I was feeding them and how:

All the dogs got fed in the evening.  For the large dogs it was about 3-4 cups of dried, mixed with one can wet each.  For the Cairn, it was about 1 cup dry with a tablespoon or two of wet.  Worked out well enough and the Cairn smell was considerably reduced with just a taste of wet.

What the boarder was feeding them and how:

The boarder fed the dogs in the morning, not in the evening.  The big dogs got 2-3 cups of a custom, concentrated mix of dry only.  The Cairn got a little more than a cup of dry.  No wet.

He then opened up the big male's mouth and showed me all the tartar of which wet food he said was a contributing factor.  He went on to say that wet food is only required by those who have been conditioned by advertising  and bad advice.  

I mentioned that if I put dry only out, the dogs would go a day or more without eating.  The boarder went on to say that that was correct however.......in nature dogs would only eat every other day anyway and............in his 60 some odd years, he never saw a starving dog with a bowl of food in front of his face.

So I asked for some detail on the food, which he happened to have brochures for.  As of this writing, the dogs have been on a diet of dry only for 6 months, once in the morning with no wet food other than the occasional treat.

How has this worked out?

1.  The dogs look great. The two catahoulas are lean, mean, geriatric fighting machines.  The Cairn looks like he had a tummy tuck.
2.  We no longer have to purge the back yard of licked empty dog food cans.
3.  The dog food is delivered to the house and the cost is actually less than the dried we used + the cans.  They also eat less.
4.  There is less  doggie doo to clean up. Much less.

Last but not least and the reason for this Opinion Piece:

5.  The Rank, Odiforous, Foul, Smelly Cairn problem has all but been eliminated! The Cairn that eats in the morning has all day to digest, pass gas etc. outside and not inside at around say, 8:00 pm in the evening on.

Free Plug - A link to the dog food - a franchise - Paul's Petfood Express.

Free Plug - If you live in Northern Nevada need a boarder,  try Cold Nose Kennels.



About Cairn Terrier Stink

I've stated my views on rank, odiforous, smelly, stinky Cairn Terriers.   Time for another view,  this time from Ms Barb:

Dan,

Let me toss out what I know about my "Stinky" Cairn.  it is a genetic defect, that could be prevented through proper ethical breeding.

The testing falls under the category, Auto-immune Disorder.

My 11 yr old Cairn, no longer stinks.

#1.  Orijen dog food  (made in Canada, and is going to cost more money... but worth it)

#2. Some dog people swear that feeding Raw works. Some day I might try it, but not today.

#3.  Try "Silver Lining Herbs'"  go to their website... www.silverliningherbs.com  and either call or send an email to them, and describe your dog's problem.  They will recommend which supplements to buy.  Silver Lining Herbs is cutting edge, VERY new to dogs.  Remarkable, albeit miraculous success stories.

#4. Another supplement company that has been around a long time, is called "Natures' Farmacy".  (Yes, spelled with an "F").  They recommended their "DoggyZymes" enzymes to put in my dog's food.  This also works.  they have a blog, explaining that dogs have a different digestive system than people.  they need probiotics further down their G.I. to work.  interestingly enough, Orijen dog food repeats the exact same information on THEIR blog.

Therefore, the PEOPLE probiotics are not designed for dogs. not good enough.

Other premium dog foods are:

Annamaet  (now they added a Grain free variety to their line) google it and find a source, or call them and ask where you can find it. Made in America, created by a sled dog man who is still active in working dogs.

Kumpi  www.kumpi.com  (Evy Serpa is super dedicated to dog health, you can only get it from her website to guarantee authentic and fresh product, it is Fed Ex'd to your door.  this food made a big difference for my dog.)

There was a longer list, but it has been brought to my attention, that PURINA bought out some of these nice, holistic dog foods, and the formula "might" have been tampered with to increase profit. Unknown.

I am happy to say, that these three dog foods have never been involved in ANY pet food recall.

This is the summary, of what I know regarding Stinky Cairns.

~~ Barb

Cairn Grooming Tip

P.S..... ALSO important to know.... pet owners too often go to a generic dog groomer, (Petco) and allow their Cairn to be shaved (electric clippers) and this lazy easy, cheaper method of "grooming" a Cairn will not help the stink., it increases the smell on the Stink-o-meter.
by hand-stripping the stinky Cairn, you will help to remove the soft, fuzzy under coat hair that holds in the grease and exaggerates the smell.  if you strip the coat, you will create the original nice, wiry coat that is indigenous to their native land. AND your Cairn will stink less.

Hand stripping is more expensive, but a dedicated Cairn owner (like myself) will learn how to, and keep working at it with excellent results.  I charge $100 to strip a Cairn, and insist that I see them often enough so it does not become a wild bushy looking thing.

Keep them somewhat tidy (every other month is what I recommend.)

Comment:  You mean the dollars you spend  on grooming are directly proportional to the amount of smell a Cairn  produces?  

That's depressing.  I  love Petsmart!  And Rufus loves them too!   :

I understand what you are saying but I prefer the quality dried food experimentation route.  I think most of the cairn odor problems can be minimized with a quality kibble.  Just takes a while to find one that works.  

I would consider proper grooming icing on the cake.  However,  I cannot personally justify spending three figures for a strip job on a Cairn terrier when I can get a decent field cut on a standard poodle (a big standard poodle) for $60.00, and that lasts six weeks.

Stink control is my agenda.  Stink elimination - a bit beyond my pay grade.



Cairn Terriers and Beano - Really Bad Gas

Leave it to a veteran cairn terrier owner to come up with an original cairn terrier gas solution.  I hadn't heard of this one before:

...Oh my goodness. Over the past two weeks or so, Scout has had the most horrible, vile, disgusting gas I've ever smelled.

Sorry to be so frank about it, but you guys should just thank your lucky stars that you don't have to smell it. It's so bad that it smells like sulphur, and she can literally clear a room with her stink. Yesterday I walked in her general vicinity and I was about knocked off my feet. I haven't changed her diet or anything. She's been eating the same food she's been eating since we got her, and it never used to give her trouble. She and Sparky both get fed Blue Buffalo (the small breed formula). Does anyone know what could be causing her gas? Is there anything I can do to make it stop? It is just SO BAD. It almost makes me nauseous. And I don't want her to stink up the place when we have people over to visit. Please help. It's
smells HORRIBLE.

...maybe the food doesn't agree with her anymore? or is there anything that your dh gave her stuff without you knowing ?

Sometimes I give my dog yogurt if their bellies are hurting. When I used to have a Boston terrier {b/c they are Brachycephalic they take in more air and are REALLY gassy} we would give her half a chewable of mylanta or gas X.

...sounds like a description of Misty how can that horrendous odor come from such a sweet little girl? I believe is part her digestion system and the other part her food-we are weaning her off her usual she has already had less gas attacks. Its so wicked sometimes brings tears to my eyes-my neighbor use to laugh atme untill she got a gassy dog too-only she has doberman gas in her home!

...The odd occasion Holly has had this problem I have given her a charcoal biscuit [local pet shop suggested this] and it seemed to help.

...You can try Beano or Phazyme or any human product for gas w/o an aluminum prep in it; and usual warning--try to find a product with as little extra/unneeded ingredients in it as possible, esp food colors. Not Pepto, Maalox or Mylanta--don't chance an aspirin ingred. on the wknd. Sorry to state obvious, but really try to find out why it's suddenly happening,

there has to be an answer, possibly poopsicles, stray flavored dorito? Check if you've opened a new bag of food, if there's been a formula change--not unusual for the manufacturer's not to warn ahead of time.

...I've used beano before with a GSD. Thought, is she getting some kind of chew item? that could be causing the gas.

I wonder if maybe Scout's food doesn't agree with her anymore. We had to switch from Solid Gold Wee Bits to a Duck and Potato formula because Kimmy couldn't digest the Wee Bits very well. It was too rich for her. After we switched food her terrible gas went away, although she does still clear the room (or at least the couch) occasionally.

...Aw, poor Scout....and you. Her tummy is probably bloated and rumbling if she gives off that kind of stink. Try some yogurt to get her digestive track back in order and then look to her food. They may have changed the formula or it's past the good to use by date. Has she been eating snow or critter poop when you put her outside? I hope you find the answer for your sake and hers. :thumbsup:

....I would also have her checked out by your vet or at least bring in a stool sample, even if they seem normal.

...better be carefull with that beano I heard it was good to use on dogs-hope you checked with the vet first. dogs can only be given some of our meds most of them are dangerous...We know about a couple of culprits at our house that cause this. In the summer it's dried worms found on the sidewalks. Certain treats also, like those dried chicken breasts from Trader Joes. A treat made locally that I bought at the farmers market when Leo was in training class was bad too. I like the charcoal biscuit idea and will look for those myself. Poor Cassie seems to get it the worst and since her name rhymes with gassy you know what her nickname is.

Comment: This isn't hyperbole,folk.  Oft times it matters not what you feed the cairn terrier...........what comes out the other end can make your eyes water.