Stargemmer

[Stargemmer]

Hi there,

I'm a new member from UK, living in Cardiff, and I have a feisty but adorable little Cairn called Holly who is 3 years old and a red-wheaten.

I am a member of the UK forum at cairnterriertalk uk and know a few of your members here, so hi to Scruffy, Pindrop, Hawkeye and Sanford

Here's a few pics of Holly:

Holly on the sofa:

This one is a scruffy Holly on a very windy day, she is actually standing on top of a real cairn, which is a pile of rocks forming a burial chamber about 3000 years old, in the wilds of Northumbria

This one is Holly on the Isle of Skye on a blustery day, homeland of the Cairn Terrier. You can see the Inner Hebrides islands on the horizon:

A recent one of Holly, coat stripped for summer (and has nibbled her tail a bit, apologies, she's getting treatment for an itch there!)

(apologies, after i posted this, I see something that seems to say my username is required in the topic title, tried to change but don't seem to be able to edit the title, please advise)

[Dempsy's Mom]

Welcome and thank you for the pictures! We love pictures and the landscape is fascinating. Holly is a great litte dog - reminds me alot of my Dempsy. Love the pic of Holly on the back of the couch with her back legs stretched out. They are wonderful little characters. That's a nice strip job you have there Holly. Very happy you joined us!

[pindrop]

Stargemmer - Welcome to the US Forum. So glad to see you have joined over on this side of the pond. Holly is a beautiful pup and the pictures you've posted showing the landscape are very interesting and an insight to how beautiful your neck of the woods actually are. Looking forward to your insight and wonderful stories.

[Idaho Cairns]

Welcome! I love having all you folks from the UK on board and now we have someone from Wales! All we need now is a Scot and we are complete. Love, absolutely love the pictures of your Holly on the very cairns we hear so much about--it's just neat. Like the looks of your Holly, as you can see by my avatar, I have a special affection for Wheaten Cairns. So glad you joined us and I look forward to more adventures and photos of Holly on the Homeground!

[TazTalk]

Welcome to you and Holly. What terrific pictures! Holly is a real cutie.

I have been reading the Outlander book series (Diana Gabaldon) which focus on Scotland - so it's really fun to see the pic of the Isle of Skye.

[beccadiane374]

Welcome! Holly looks lovely! Fantastic pictures!

[Stargemmer]

Thankyou all for the lovely welcomes! Great to see you here now Pindrop

As you like the pics and maybe would like to see some more of Scotland where the Cairns are from, I've added some more of my original pics below.

Holly must be one of the most well travelled Cairns within the UK, I've done many thousands of miles with her camping and visiting places all over the British Isles. Last September I did a 3 week trip where we toured all the way around Scotland, around the lochs, mountains, a week on the Isle of Skye, up across the topmost part of Scotland to John O'Groats, then down the East side to the Borders, all done in a tent. I think we did 10 different camping places. The wildest two places were at Kinlochleven, right on the edge of a loch at Glencoe and the wind was furious, we got some help from some great stalwart Scots to pitch our tent in a sheltered place, but I was afraid in the night we would be blown into the loch itself lol

Coming into Glen Coe, sunburst through the surrounding mountains:

The next night we were camped at the foot of a mountain called Sgurr nan Gillian, in the Black Cuillin mountains on Skye. The winds were even wilder there and we were lucky the tent held. I awoke at dawn to the most incredible sunrise. It was like camping on firey Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings lol

This is one next day of Holly on this mountain again, when we were coming down from a walk

Holly in the foothills, Skye:

Holly in Loch Lomond

View of Loch Gary:

View at dusk from our camp on Skye, Dunvegan (where many of our Cairn's ancestors originated). This taken on my cell phone, so smaller:

Holly was such a hit at Dunvegan Castle, where I took her on a visit. They don't normally allow dogs in, but Holly was considered a special celebrity being a Cairn Terrier, as they know the Cairns come from there and were bred by the Macleod Clan Chiefs, Lords of Dunvegan on Skye.

Although I now live in Cardiff, Wales, I'm not actually from Wales but from Northumberland, in the north right next to the Scottish border, and my family originate from Scotland. Holly herself is also a Scottish Cairn. Her breeder had Cairns for many years, and finally decided to try some as close to the original working Scots Cairns as she could, so she drove up to north Aberdeen and got Holly's parents, whose family were more recently working on Scottish farms and Highlands. All I can say is Holly loves the homeland of her ancestors, as I'm sure all Cairns everywhere do and I doubt it makes an iota of difference where they are from today as they all seem the same to me. They are fantastic little dogs and will always be true hardy & plucky Highlanders, & I'm sure given the chance every one would be jumping into a Cairn & getting to work just like they did in past times.

I have lots of pictures of places like this you might like, so I'll see if I can find some others to post

[2littleterrors]

Welcome!! Your Holly is gorgeous, but I may be a bit biased since I, too, have a red wheaten name Hollie. Someday, I would love to visit the UK and show both of my girls (also have a silver brindle) the lands of their ancestors!

[Idaho Cairns]

I have a question. Did you see many Cairns in Scotland? I'm under the impression that the Scots themselves aren't as enthusiastic about Cairns as are the folks in England and the U.S. As great as these little dogs are, I would think they would be all over the place in the land that they were developed.

[Lynn in TN]

Welcome, and thank you for those beautiful pictures!

[Luke Bizzy]

Stunning pictures. And the landscape is not shabby either.

Have owned 2 wheatens and also visited Wales in the past, Mumbles and Swansea areas specifically.

Ddiolch 'ch for sharing with us.

[Stargemmer]

I have a question. Did you see many Cairns in Scotland? I'm under the impression that the Scots themselves aren't as enthusiastic about Cairns as are the folks in England and the U.S. As great as these little dogs are, I would think they would be all over the place in the land that they were developed.

You know Idaho, I don't think I saw one Cairn when I was in Scotland, and to be honest they aren't that common in England either - at least not in comparison to Westies, which you see on virtually every corner and street.

As I said, they are still used in parts of Scotland on farms etc as they have been for many 100s of years, but I think this will be rare too. There are also breeders in Scotland and they have their own club. When I took Holly to Dunvegan Castle, I think this is why she was such a VIP, because the staff there and head Custodian loved the Cairn to bits and knew lots about the history and connection of Cairns with Dunvegan & Skye, but they didn't have any there,although some of the staff had them in the past. Maybe there aren't so many breeders in Scotland as there were.

I took Holly to Eilean Donan Castle, and an elderly couple had two Westies with tartan collars there on the loch side. There were many coach loads of tourists umming and ahhing over the Westies and demanding to take photos of them with Eilean Donan in the back, but Holly was ignored; I don't think they realised that she was Scottish! Most of these were not Scots themselves but a lot of American and English tourists & even Japanese, so I don't know.

Isn't it odd that they picked a Westie to be Greyfriars Bobby in the new film, when he was clearly a Cairn.

[Stargemmer]

Stunning pictures. And the landscape is not shabby either.

Have owned 2 wheatens and also visited Wales in the past, Mumbles and Swansea areas specifically.

Ddiolch 'ch for sharing with us.

"Croeso" Luke Bizzy! (I must say I just love some of the usernames you guys have )

Wales is also a really beautiful place too, lots of great unspoiled scenery, castles and places to visit with Cairns lol

I too really like wheaten Cairns, but Holly was quite dark when I got her as a puppy,she had lots of black brindle and was classified on her KC registration as "red brindle". She's lost all but a few hairs of black on her back, and a lot of her black mask, though she still has some of that. She still has lots of red though, on her back mostly.

Isn't it funny how Cairns change colour so much? Getting a puppy, you can never truly predict the turnout.

Here's Holly as a pup with her brindly colours:

[oscar's mom]

Your pictures are wonderful. Holly is pretty. Was she off lead in most of those pictures?

[Stargemmer]

Your pictures are wonderful. Holly is pretty. Was she off lead in most of those pictures?

Thankyou Oscar's Mom I'll tell Holly, she's a real spoilt princess & loves admiration lol

Most of the time, I have Holly on a long extender lead so I can control her, I've found this to be safe in most places, especially doing things like visiting Castles as in UK there are many you can take dogs into now.

Some of these, when we were higher up the mountain and there were no sheep anywhere (another concern off lead!) I let Holly off, she isn't a dog that runs off and she stays fairly close to me, though many Cairns would be off like a shot lol

If I take Holly on the beach, which is her favourite place to visit, I let her off and give her a good run with a ball retrieving, or if we are in a park with lots of space.

[Stargemmer]

For some reason the "edit" option has disappeared off my posts. Not sure why.

I wanted to add something about the Scottish Cairn thing I said a few posts back.

I do know and verified that Holly came from this area in Aberdeenshire, and looking at her pedigree I found she has had many Scottish Cairns in her line. However, I'm not all together convinced there is a "truly Scottish Cairn" at all, - it may be a myth. I know my breeder fully believed she was getting such stock; she drove 12 hours there and 12 hours back to get Holly's parents, but she may have bought a slightly exaggerated story from the original breeder, or just had that idea.

I think I may investigate this aspect a bit more by contacting the Scottish Cairn Terrier clubs.

I don't know, I suspect that most of the Cairns are interbred like crazy, and there is as much English stock in the Scottish lines as anywhere. And my attitude was so what, they are all Cairns and come from Scotland anyway, and all of them have the same amount of generations back to Scotland.

I do believe Holly would have made a very good working Cairn though, she is certainly feisty and fearless, and I worry what would happen with smaller animals or cats getting into our garden, I think she may fight them.

But, that said, I think the "working Cairn" of yesterday is probably not the dog for most families with children and other animals, and the optimum thing is to have a dog that retains all its personality and pluck, but has an excellent temperament. If that has been achieved it will be down to the better breeders anywhere around the world who care about the breed & make it a good pet as well as a plucky Highland spirit.

I got Holly because she was a Cairn and I loved her as a puppy, and that was all

[josie&holly]

It is great that you have now come on the USA Forum as that is where I originally posted before Sandra started the UK Forum and I feel I have a lot of friends on here - and I know my Holly [who is red brindle and darker] is quite envious of all the places your Holly has been to!

[Stargemmer]

It is great that you have now come on the USA Forum as that is where I originally posted before Sandra started the UK Forum and I feel I have a lot of friends on here - and I know my Holly [who is red brindle and darker] is quite envious of all the places your Holly has been to!

Hey Josie & Holly!! Great to see you here too!

Yes, after that last discussion on the UK forum recently about this one, and how it was recommended, I couldn't resist taking and look and joining!

My Holly has been a lot of places indeed, hopefully many more to come. I even went camping with her in February with ice on the tent lol. But, I expect as she gets older eventually she will want the quieter retired life of an older lady, like some of her veteran UK Cairn friends, and then she & I won't be gallavanting off up mountains and glens lol. Already even at 3 years old she loves to bask in the heat of the fireside or in the sun, so loves her creature comforts as much as her adventures.

[BetsyNoodle]

Welcome, Stargemmer, and thank you so much for all the lovely photos of your adventures with Holly. She is a quite the little beauty! All the photos are captivating, but I especially loved the one of her on the cairns.

When we were last in England, we saw quite a few Border Terriers, as well as Westies and a couple of Cairns in Hyde Park. Interestingly enough, we also saw many Border Collies being walked in the city. In Paris, it seemed the Westies were on every street corner!

I very much look forward to seeing more of your wonderful photos and your sweet Holly!

[Stargemmer]

Thankyou very much BetsyNoodle, that is very kind

I will put other pics of Holly up that I think you may all like.

You mention Border Terriers, they are one of my very favourite little dogs, I was actually in a toss up to get one of these or a Cairn, but Cairn won at that time.

Border Terriers come from the part of the country where I am from. I am from Northumberland, England's Border County next to Scotland and my family come from there and the Scots Borders over many centuries.

For many years I only ever used to see them up there, in the poor towns and pit towns as well as with monied people. Always a very rough and ready working dog, but of kind temperament, and always seem to be quietly under control and loyal to their owners.

Recently, in the last few years, it seems there is a population explosion of Border Terriers across England as I'm seeing more and more of them in the south, middle class people seem to be getting them.

I always worry a bit when I see a breed suddenly get very popular.

When I was a child I had a Westie, named Robbie, and we were the only ones known to have one in our area, my mother had to go quite way to get one. They didn't have health issues or skin problems, and one reason we got Robbie was for this, they were known to be very robust little dogs. That was in 1968 that we got him.

In the last 10 years I see Westies everywhere, especially in the area where I used to live back then. If I go out, inevitably there are Westies getting walked on every street. Now they seem different and seem to have a lot more health issues than they did. I hope line breeding doesn't lead to in breeding with many dogs that become popular.

[Islander]

Thanks for posting the beautiful photos of Holly in Scotland. My sister lives in Edinburgh and I visit every couple of years, so have been to all the places you mention and depict - including Dunvegan, but didn't know the Cairn connection at the time. Seeing Holly posing in these fabulous landscapes is wonderful - since I don't think I will ever take Gus with me to the UK. But your photos help me imagine how well he would fit in to that environment.

I have always seen Westies everywhere in Scotland, and fewer Cairns - though that is true here as well. My sister says that "since Gus" she is noticing more Cairns. But are there more?

Looking forward to more about Holly & her travels.

[KerryJayne]

Hi Stargemmer nice to see you here too :-) I've loved seeing your photo's especially the one as a tiny pup she's exactly the same colour as Nessie but Nessie's black face doesn't have any light in it at all and her ears are still flat :-) Im so envious of all your travels :-)

[Hawkeye]

Hi Stargemmer and welcome to both you and Holly -- great to see you here! I love the pictures you've posted and Holly is such a beautiful girl. You and Holly would make a great team for tourism traveling about the U.K. I know you have peaked my interest in traveling abroad. We could call it...Where in the world is Holly? Wouldn't that be a great

Holly changed a lot from her puppy pics - I also had a little girl (Penny) that did the same transformation, started of with the red/black brindle and ended up a very light wheaten. They do keep us wondering - in many ways.

[BetsyNoodle]

Stargemmer, the Border Terrier is one of my favorite dogs, too! James Herriot (James Wight) said of all the dogs he owned his favorite (although I think he hesitated to use that word) was his scruffy little Border Terrier, Bodie. I read somewhere that Herriot was impressed at how very loyal and devoted Bodie was to him and his veterinary practice, accompanying him on many of his 'house calls.' I would love to add one to our family as a companion for our Cairn, Murphy, and our black Lab, Gracie, if I could get my husband to agree to three dogs!

[KerryJayne]

BetsyNoodle i keep getting asked if my Cairn puppy is a border when im carrying her about :-) it must be her ears i think as theyve not gone up yet ! Im lucky i managed to beg my husband into us getting a Cairn as our third dog we too have a lab and a westie :-)