Cairn Community

Thank you so much! Yes general obedience training sounds a good call. As does clicker training… thank you 🙏

Welcome. Hope a behaviorist is able to get you and your dog pointed in a good direction! Barking is. a self-reinforcing behavior for dogs and in addition to alerts and warnings can also be calls for attention, relief of boredom, saw a squirrel once, air molecules spotted in neighborhood, etc. Sometimes if they are a bit tired out they have time to think about whether every single thing needs escalation; if they are satiated physically and mentally they are more likely to decide to maybe talk about it tomorrow. One idea might be making a concerted effort to tire him out every single day. That might mean long walks (as long as you can manage, 1-2 miles if possible) in the AM and PM.  Or (or if at all possible, AND) mentally stimulating games will tire a dog to a surprising degree. Clicker training them opens a lot of doors for behavior modification.  Likewise, it's never too late to find and join a formal obedience class. For us the benefit of competition-style obedience was NOT competing or even stopping some specific behavior, but gaining the tools to meaningfully communicate with the dog on matters of "attention to me, please" and how to set them up to be rewarded for making good choices. We found the positive "ripple effect" was enormous. The Sits, Stays, Drop on Recalls etc were mostly ways to create achievable goals, add structure to the training, and focus on creating success rather than on behavior deficits that are more meaningful to us than the dog.  Good luck!

Desperately seeking help from you wise sages! Our Herb is 4 years old and came to us in lockdown. Hence no visitors, online training with a split screen with five other dogs which was just chaos, and children who were young at the time so spoiled him like another child. So our bad, we didn’t get off to the strictest start with him, albeit the lack of socialization and getting used to visitors to the home wasn’t our fault.    He’s a typical Cairn in all respects and we adore him. However when visitors come he makes things impossible and is sometimes very aggressive and it’s getting worse. He loves it when they arrive, then one or two minutes in he starts barking incessantly at them and the barking and stance quickly gets aggressive. In some instances he has bitten them. We now have a house lead and when he barks we tell him firmly no and put him in his crate. However he barks in the crate for up to an hour at a time until the visitors have gone. Last week as I was putting him in the crate he managed to slip his lead and ran back to the visitor and bit her on her arm. This weekend we had the in-laws to stay and he barked very aggressively at them and would doubtless have bitten them given half the chance. He spent the entire first evening barking in his crate and the next morning started again as soon as he saw them. We ended up taking him to a dog sitter for the weekend where he’s been sometimes before and loves, hence he had a better weekend and so did we. However she has also noticed he cannot regulate himself once he starts getting worked up. We’ve tried putting him in his crate before visitors arrive but as soon as he hears them he starts. It’s now at the point that we avoid having people here.    I have a behaviorist coming next week but tbh we’ve had several before and he does all the exercises perfectly when the trainer is here but in ‘real life’ situations once he starts barking we’ve lost him, he’s in a red zone and nothing, but nothing, will get through to him. And there is little we’ve found that works to stop the barking in the first place. He will not be distracted by anything. Please help! We want him to feel more settled with visitors and we want visitors to see the Herb we know and love!!!     

Dog tired days Not sure where Cairn ends and sheepskin rug begins lol

Hi and welcome. This sounds like it might be submissive urination. If so, it's more of a confidence issue than a housebreaking issue. Generally it just gets better over time as the pup (if it is a puppy) matures and gains confidence in the world. *Very* common triggers for submissive peeing includes things like owner returns after an absence ( "I got so excited I wet my pants!") meeting a stranger leaning over the dog (I suspect putting on a leash is similar to this) sudden frights anything that triggers excitement Our boy Elroy did it frequently when he first came to us. It gradually decreased from a small puddle to a few drops. Today he is four and might still leak a drop or two when wiggling and wagging and excitedly meeting a new person. We've also had a few puppies over the years who went through a phase of submissive peeing. Generally as they get older and more confident in the world it resolves more or less on its own. Things we've found that help include anything that lowers excitement. For example when we came home rather than greet the puppy we'd simply ignore it, or just sort of say "Oh Hi" and continue to put away our stuff, move about the house etc. After a while when we've moved out of the "coming home" phase and are in the "just another day at home" phase we might greet the puppy with a wee pat if s/he comes over for some attention. By letting the puppy be in control of the interaction they seem to feel less intimidated.  Some dogs have "hard" personalities and they can be little terrors who fear nothing and who's first instinct is to leap headfirst into any fray. Other dogs are softer — they tend to be gentler in nature, more deferential on average. They can still be fully wild as puppies, don't get me wrong; they are just, as the term implies, more submissive. Elroy is a soft dog and possibly the sweetest dog I have ever known. Wouldn't trade him for the world. Some things to try with your pup might be to let her out of the crate before putting on the leash, or even just laying the leash on the ground and letting her be used to it for a few minutes and finding a way to put it on her in the least threatening way you can think of. Sometimes a slip leash that doesn't use a clip to the collar can be less threatening as you can make a big loop and sort of drape it like a big lasso  over her head without getting hands super close.  Another method than can be handy for many situations might possibly work for this one: use a stick of string cheese in one hand to distract her and while he's busily nibbling her treat gently attach the leash. Another approach is to stock up on Nature's Miracle and just wait for her to grow out of it. Basically ignore that it even happened — definitely DO NOT make a fuss about it — clean up, move on, and let time take care of it. Final thought: If your dog is a puppy — and particularly a very young puppy — it is typical for them to go through brief "fear periods" where they are frightened or startle easily. That can be why they're tearing the house up one week and the next they might be hiding from the vacuum or freaking out at a sudden noise — or approaching hands coming at their head. Good luck!