Did I get a dog....or a bull?

[Autumn & Lola]

I am flabbergasted at how strong Molly is! My last dog (a toy poodle/terrier mix) was almost the same size as Molly (weight/height) but so much more delicate. Molly is so tough! My husband was playing with her on the floor and she ran right into him, headbutted him in the face and gave him a black eye! A few times she has been walking behind me and nosed me in the back of the leg and almost knocked me over! When I call her in from the yard, she tears around the side of the house so fast that I have to stand back or give her the command, "Stop!" or I would be knocked flat on my back (and I'm not a lightweight!).

Are these little cuties notoriously strong or is Molly part bull? At just 15lbs., I think she could pull a plow!

Then there are times where she is so gentle. She just wants to sit in my lap and lick me to death. She certainly keeps me entertained!

[bradl]

Are these little cuties notoriously strong or is Molly part bull? At just 15lbs., I think she could pull a plow!

I suspect she could!

Here's Haggis pulling over 200 lbs. The load is out of the picture frame but Haggis is pulling a weight-pull cart with a cinder block plus a full-grown man sitting on it.

(click to embiggen picture)

[pkcrossley]

ha ha ha! hilarious comments.

yes, they are that strong. brains AND brawn.

it is important to let your cairn know when she is hurting you. she thinks you are as sturdy as she is. once she figures out you are both delicate flowers, she will learn to be a bit more gentle with you.

[Shazza]

I agree, I have 2 of them that do that when they start rough housing with each other.

A couple of times they almost knocked me over.

Brad, why is Haggis pulling over 200lbs?

[bradl]

Shazza, our obedience team was renting space in a facility that was run by Rottweiler breeders who were active in weight pull competitions. Competitive weight pulling seems to be most popular with the big muscular breeds that you would expect, but they have classes for all types and sizes of dogs. Just for fun we had a proper harness made for Haggis - the owner of the facility even made us take it back to the maker to make some adjustments so that it would be perfectly fitted. We were timidly trying it out one night at the training building before our obedience practice started. We just put one block on the cart and were worried we were starting too heavy. Ron (a terrifically nice guy) showed up for some other reason and stopped over give us some tips. He then hopped onto the cart and had me coax Haggis forward. To our astonishment Haggis easily moved the cart the length of the run. Haggis seemed very pleased with himself, too. We never competed because Ron was killed in a car crash not long after and we sort of lost interest in the sport since we'd lost our personal connection to it. However it gave me respect for the power of leverage, geometry, and the willingness of a dog to work for a treat :-)

p.s. To give you some perspective, at a dog event this weekend a St Bernard club had a sign up about the most weight ever pulled by a St Bernard: apparently over 5,500 pounds. In 1976!

[Malcolm's Dad]

That is fascinating Brad. I'm sorry about your friend. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see the picture. My gosh these are hardy little dogs. Sometimes I have to put Malcolm on a leash when laundry is on the line, now I'm wondering if he will pull the fencepost out lol.

[sheila and Misty]

solid muscle machines for sure!

[Nikki]

Scotty is kinda like that too. We were taking the dogs hiking at this big state park and we about to go into this lil cave thing and I was walking angel and my husband had scotty. Scotty weighs about 20-22lbs my husband is a pretty big guy hes about 6'1-6'2 stocky built. well scotty saw a bird and pulled my husband down these stone steps my husband had to go to the hospital b/c he lost a few finger nails. So I know my dog can pull well over 200lbs! its crazy what these lil terrier can do.

I take the dogs over to my parents house sometimes and they dont have a fenced in yard so I made the mistake of putting the tie down in the grass instead of in the tree. once scotty saw a group of birds he took of running after it pull the tie out of the ground and broke it (it was warped so bad that you couldn't reuse it) and broke the flat collar that he was wearing right off. and he turned on looked at me like holy crap im free...then I had to chase him for 15 mins...lol

so now the tie out thing is in the tree...

[josie&holly]

Whenever I go to my friends who has the Irish Terrier, Holly and she play but if Paddy gets to boisterous - Holly just goes underneath her and headbutts her! Paddy then falls over............. one of us will stop her her doing that as worried she could hurt Paddy [who is taller and heavier that Holly]. Holly has also knocked me down in garden when I held her toy too high!

They are strong sturdy little dogs but did not realise they could pull anything like Haggis did!

[Sandi16]

Brad... amazing!! Who would have thought?

I love when Louie is running and stops suddenly and flies up on his front legs, back legs off the ground. You know they have to be strong to be able to do that from a full on run. They're little powerhouses.

[tlwtheq]

Whenever I go to my friends who has the Irish Terrier, Holly and she play but if Paddy gets to boisterous - Holly just goes underneath her and headbutts her! Paddy then falls over.......

When we had Holdsworth back in the 1980s, he used to routinely play with Barney the golden retriever

next door. He figured out how to get the "upper paw" by running under Barney, butting and nipping.

Poor Barney didn't know what to do...totally befuddled.

Clever little 's our Cairn children.

[eastofeden]

I know of someone who is active in weight pulling with their Italian Greyhounds!!! The amount of work these delicate looking dogs can do is amazing (of course if you think about it they are all muscle). It is a very cool sport.

[DawnandTuk-tuk]

The picture of Haggis is amazing! I know Tuk is strong and all, but that picture brings it home. I just can't get over it.

[Shazza]

Wow Brad,

That's amazing!

[Autumn & Lola]

<<...and he turned on looked at me like holy crap im free...>>

That really made me laugh out loud!

Thanks for everybody's stories, they are amazing, as are these strong little creatures! That pic of Haggis is just unreal! I'm so sorry about your friend, Brad.

Maybe I can start giving her some real work around here. She likes picking up individual pieces of clothing off the floor where I sort it and following me into the laundry room. Maybe I can get her to push the whole basket. LOL!

[kjwarnold]

I know ours are strong -- they can pull me over if I don't have myself braced when they decide to take off after a squirrel or chipmunk. Honestly, I think the tendonitis I have in my arm is from fighting Kirby on the leash when we don't have the training collar on him.

And that picture of Haggis is amazing!

[Jetti]

I know what you are talking about. Mine is very very strong too and I do blame my tendonitis on him