Getting Ready for a Cairn Puppy-Help!

[MMPF]

Hello everyone

My fiance and I are anxiously waiting to bring home our new Cairn puppy! He will be 7 weeks old when we bring him home. There is so much information on the web and it is hard to know what is best. I guess what I would love some feedback on is what we need to buy in preparation for bringing him home.

Some specific questions are:

-Crate: wire vs. plastic? We live in a condo in southern Alberta, Canada. It gets cold here in the winter (-30C).

- Crate size? How big should it be?

- Doggy gate or enclosure? We will be leaving our little guy alone during the day and I was thinking of leaving his crate in the kitchen and letting him have free range in there. Should we just get a puppy gate or an actual exercise enclosure?

- Leash vs Harness?

I'd really love feedback that is puppy specific. I know things will change as he grows up but while he is my little furball I want to know what will work best!

Thanks in advance for the feedback

[janis]

Hi Welcome!

I bought a medium crate. I got the travel type crate - it's hard plastic. The idea of crate training is the don't (shouldn't) potty where they sleep so a large enough to turn around but not large enough to sleep and poop! Some people buy bigger crates and block of space temporarily. I had a baby gate and closed door to where I didn't want him to go. Some people love ex-pens, because you can put down puppy pads for accidents. Do you have anyone who can check on him during the day? You can leave them in the crate about 4 hours at a time, take them out right after (15 -20 minutes) after a feeding and let them do their business, but 7 weeks old is really a little guy. Kirby has a collar and a sport harness and we have both a short leash and a flexi leash. I would get toys to chew and be sure you put up ANYTHING you don't want chewed - he won't know what's his and what's yours. Post pictures and tell us all about him! Good luck.

[pindrop]

Oh my - another new Cairn puppy on the way. You must be so excited. Our little girl is Layla and she has just turned one a few days ago but I remember so well the day we were going to pick her up - I was awake at 5:00 a.m. and sat here till about 8:00 am before we could leave. I too had tons of questions as I couldn't remember what it was to have a puppy.

We had a hard plastic crate (rather large for a puppy) so hubby inserted a board in the middle making it much smaller and leaving only enough room for her to turn around in. I have to add at this point that 7 weeks is really really young as most breeders won't release their pups till 10 weeks. We also bought an x-pen (eight sided) and placed her crate within that and laid newspaper in that. The difference is we were both home all the time so the x-pen didn't last long. We also had a baby gate to block off the great room from the bedrooms. I also took up all our carpets and waited till she was housetrained before putting them back down. Lastly, we have a collar but also a puppia harness as well as several winter coats. It will be difficult to house train your little furbaby as you are planning on leaving it home alone.

When are you getting your baby? Is it male or female? Have you chosen it's name? Oh...btw....so glad to have you aboard and welcome. There are tons of treads on puppy raising that you can learn a lot on as there are so many new members who have just gotten puppies. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Dempsy's Mom]

Another member, another puppy - wonderful news. I have never had a puppy but I would love to watch the little devils grow up - I guess I get to do that through you guys. Dempsy (4) has a plastic medium crate with a wonderful plump pillow. He has a canvas portable travel crate, works well. Bed in the entry. Bed upstairs - pillow too. Demps has a harness, a collar, flexi leash, Mars comb, slicker brush, thinning shears, regular comb, bully bones, nyla bones, lots of squeakers and toys of all sorts. I am sure there is more and thats for a 4 year old.

Can't wait to meet your little monster. Enjoy this event to the max!!

PS: ... and a Gator .

[zach84]

First Welcome.

Second DO NOT PICK HIM/HER UP TILL HE/SHE IS AT LEAST 10 WEEKS!!!! They learn vital information from their parents/siblings during those weeks. I waited to my puppy was 11 weeks old (breeder didn't let them go till at least 10 weeks old anyhow)

Cage- I have a metal crate size Medium dog

Letting them have free range at a young age will be hard to house train them. They need to be crate trained first, my puppy will not go in his cage EVER, he learned this from his mother and our breeder. Another reason to wait to pick it up. I leave my puppy (now 5 months no more then 6 hours in his gage during the day (he sleeps from 9:30 am to about 3pm) If I am on the road working my wife and I put him in a Doggy Daycare so he gets his attention and play/exercise time. He still gets put down for a nap there from 10-3 just like we ask. I really don't recommend leaving them home all day, especially that young, they are like a baby and need watching and play time. If you can't accommodate this maybe rethink about getting a puppy at this time? Or get an older dog 1 yr plus, it may sound harsh but some people think puppies are just all cute and cuddly. They need A LOT of your time, if you can't give them that re-think your decision to get one.

I think you mean collar vs. harness. We use a harness to walk him. He also has a collar on at all times with his tags stating our # and where he lives.

[kjwarnold]

Welcome and congratulations on your new baby!

First, I'd second the comments on 7 weeks old being very young to take the puppy away from his/her mother. If you have a choice, I'd wait for a few weeks. My breeder doesn't let her puppies go until they're 12 weeks old and by that time, they've learned good socialization skills and are well on the way to crate training.

• Crates: We started ours out with hard plastic but I know others who have used wire and have been perfectly happy with them. We travel a lot, so I like the hard crates in the car. They seem more secure to me.
  
• Crate Size: Big enough so they can turn around but not big enough so they feel they have room to go potty and still sleep in there. If you don't want to buy a bigger crate later on, buy the bigger one but put a board or something in to make it smaller for a while. Once our dogs got more mature, we switched them to soft-sided crates for home. I guess one of us should go measure the crate and tell you exactly what size we use, but I'm too lazy right now...
  
• Doggy gate or enclosure: Both. They serve different purposes. We used an ex-pen to confine the puppies to a small area when we didn't want to watch their every more. We used a puppy pad in there just in case they needed to go and we couldn't catch them. We did not put their crate in the ex-pen and leave them free while we left the house. When we left the house, they were in their crate. As for the doggy gate, we still use them even though our dogs are completely house-trained. If we don't want them to go into a certain area of the house, we put up the gate (like when we're vacuuming!). We has a nice wooden one in the hall to our bedroom. They are loose in the bedroom at night with us, but we don't want them wandering the house, so we always close the gate.
  
• Leash vs. harness: You probably mean collar vs. harness for walking. We use both depending on what kind of walk we're going to do. If it's a walk where I want them to stick close, behave well and generally "work," then we use a collar and maybe even a slip collar. If we're going on a fun walk or hike and they're free to run and sniff around, we use a harness.
  

I did mention puppy pads above but we used them very rarely. I didn't want our dogs to get used to using them all the time, so they only had them very early on. Our boys were potty-trained pretty quickly, too, which is a benefit of having another dog in the house! They help teach the puppy all the good stuff!

Good luck and be sure to send pictures when you can!

[sanford]

7 weeks is generally considered the minimum age to take a pup home. At the risk of sounding like a Killjoy, I have to admit, I agree with Zach84 re the age of a puppy when it's brought home. I've been following this forum for years & the majority of opinions echo zach84. 8-12 weeks with the mom & littermates, benefits the pup enormously during this critical learning period. Can you pay the breeder a little extra to keep the pup with its mom & littermates for a few more weeks? A good, responsible breeder should do this for free, for the benefit of the pup! A number of behavioral & socialization problems may result if a puppy doesn't learn to behave properly from its "doggie" family during this critical time period.

Understandably, you are eager to have your pup home with you ASAP, but if the breeder is conscientious, she'll allow the pup to stay a few weeks longer,

[MMPF]

Hi all

Thank-you SO much for all the feedback so far!

So I screwed up the dates and the puppy will be 8 weeks old when we bring him home. In terms of the breeder we could ask for them to keep him an extra two weeks but I think they want to have the puppies out sooner rather than later for one big reason. The momma actually passed away when the pups were two weeks old. Super sad and it has mean't that they are being hand fed and have required a lot more work than usual.

So given that I'm not sure if we should take him home at 8 weeks or wait until 10.

Also I am prepared to take a week off to stay at home when the little guy first arrives. I wouldn't get him that young and then leave him alone all day. Beyond that I will try to make sure I come home earlier from my work/studies. I am a PhD student so I can do some of my research at home right now which is nice. Plus my boss is pretty understanding. Part of the reason we got him now is because of the flexibility in my student-life.

I did mean collar vs harness. I was being rushed out the door at that point..oops :S

[MMPF]

PS: I will post pics and give more details about him soon!!!! He is the most adorable little guy ever

[bradl]

On the crate vs gate vs pen question - I love them all. You don't need them all at once of course - a crate as a bare minimum, in my opinion, but you will have so many more options and flexibility to handle different situations with an ex-pen available, and baby gates if your house lends itself to them. Maybe add them as you see how they can help you with specific situations.

Regarding crate size, here are quite a few previous related topics: Google: crate size site:cairnterrier.org. We have a mix of small and intermediate, but then we have a ridiculous number of crates - a couple in my computer room; one in Peggy's reading room, four in the kitchen, two in each car, loaners and spares in the garage, attic, crawlspace etc. (We have four Cairns at the moment.) Still, you may want to consider a couple of crates: one to sleep in near or in your bedroom; one for naps or hanging out or time-outs in your kitchen or living area, and possibly one for your car if you'll be taking puppy lots of places.

For later -- my life got easier once I got a grooming table and noose - made cleaning up poopy butts, doing nails, de-burring coats, brushing, stripping, etc. all so much easier. Again, not a requirement for a wee puppy, but a nice thing to keep in mind for later.

Our local Cairn club's code of ethics recommends 12 weeks as the minimum age to release a puppy to a new home. Obviously it can be done earlier but it does mean you will have to be the one to teach your puppy bite inhibition and satisfy his need for other sibling-type activity (namely play-fighting, wrestling, socialization, dominance *games*, exploring, limit-testing, puppy-pile-naps, etc.).

Good luck. We know you'll have fun. Rest up, work on finding your centers of humor, patience, and persistence, and practice taking the long view. These wee charmers will wrap you around their little paws in a heartbeat - for good or ill.

[Lynn in TN]

It has not been long since we picked up Kelly. she was 8 1/2 weeks old. Kelly did fine, but she may have been better staying with her family for a while longer. I don't know as the few puppies we got when I was a child were also 8 weeks old. We have been very fortunate with house training, she has done really well. the biting could be bad at times which is where the since of humor comes in handy. It is hard to imagine that a little 2 to 3 pound puppy can bite a 6 foot 175 pound man on the ankle and send him screaming and jumping up on the furniture to get away from the puppy but you will probably see this happen when the little darling comes home. LOL Don't let that scare you, it does stop in time with persistence in training. ( Don't feel guilty when you think your little darling that looks so sweet is a devil in disguise and few other choice things that I can't say on a family forum. Most of us felt that way also!)

I bought a medium plastic crate for my puppy, We put a divider in it for the first 2 months as it was a little to big for a puppy. I could not use an ex-pen or baby gates so she has full run of the house and has since day one. We watched her like a hawk for the first month to keep her from going potty in the house.

You will need lots of toys, with different textures some rubber some plush small tennis balls seem to be a favorite with cairns, Kongs, empty plastic bottles are also a favorite and are free except for the cost of the drink, empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls are a another favorite.

A dremel to do the nails with is a great tool to start off with so they get use to the noise over time and it does the nails as fast as clippers but is safer. I love mine. if you have a dremel already you just need the nail tips for it . I use a slicker brush and metal comb.

Just remember it is a puppy you have to teach it what you want it to do, no different than a baby it takes a lot of time. keep calm have a lot of patience, Most of all have fun, play with it often and love it dearly even if at times you think it is a. Good Luck Post lots of pictures.

[finncaraid]

Hi & WELCOME!! Have you picked the new babies' name??? Sounds like you have the timing worked out. The more time you can spend with a puppy, the better.---------------- We had a wire crate that came with a partition. Finn came here at 8 weeks & at 12 weeks we bought an exercise pen, which saved my sanity. He was a very active puppy, awake for 16 hours a day with 10 minute power naps a few times, & he really wore me out (I was home with him all the time). Until he was 5 months you couldn't leave him in a room alone for more than 2 minutes because he would absolutely get into something. I didn't want to limit him to a crate when I needed to leave the room: the pen was great. We live in a multi level house so we also had baby gates to limit his access.--------------- The other thing we did from the first day was clicker training. First, his name. Then sit. Then down. Then some tricks, other commands. He loved learning & was super easy to train. And since he was use to the clicker & the routine, it made it easy to teach him "leave it!", which was a life saver. When we'd walk, he picked up EVERYTHING. It took 2 days of training & months of repeating it till he finally got past having to pick up, chew & swallow everything he saw.-------------- You'll discover quickly the little guys' personality but I might rethink letting him have access to a whole room when you aren't there. With Finn, had I left him gated in the kitchen, he would have chewed & eaten the whole kitchen. While the damage would be not good, the stuff he'd ingest would have me freaking out. But, as you can read here, each puppy is very different so this may not be an issue. As luck would have it, I think we just happened to get a demon dog ------------- As for collar vs. harness: both. A collar for his tag & quick trips outside. A harness for longer walks. Until he's trained to walk properly on a leash, he'll probably pull in his enthusiasm & a collar can harm the trachea. And these little guys are strong, even as babies.-------------- Good luck & keep us posted on your new adventure!!

[MMPF]

So far the name we have for him is Commodore. My fiance is in the Navy and we wanted to give him a strong naval name

It may be a longer name but we can't seem to think of anything else and this one has just stuck.

I put a couple pictures of him up too. He was always moving (big surprise) so it was hard to capture him. The videos are priceless though.

We are still torn on whether or not to get him at 8weeks or 10weeks. I never thought 8 weeks was an issue until the posts on here.

My sister in law works at the Humane society so luckily I have her as a resource for a lot of things. She suggested wait until 10 weeks if we can so he can socialize with his litter mates a little longer.

I just want to bring him home so badly though...

Thanks for all the advice so far

I think we will go with a crate and baby gate for now. Buy a bunch of toys for him to entertain himself and make sure there is nothing he can chew up in the kitchen. The ex-pen will likely come later. We will be getting a two-point harness that they use at the humane society and a collar + leash for him.

[bradl]

Love the pic of Commodore attached to a pants leg. In addition to doing the hokey-pokey to shake (*) the little shark off, you will also learn to do the "puppy shuffle" when you walk, to avoid stepping on the littlest sailor when he's underfoot.

* Note: actually trying to shake him off will probably only encourage him to chase and attack the pants. I usually gently squeeze the muzzle from above (to press the upper lips against teeth) to get them to let go.

[kjwarnold]

Oh, good! We can have a game of name that puppy!

Captain (Cappy)

Navy

Drake

Nimitz

Halsey

[Idaho Cairns]

Good advice so far from the members. I have raised and enjoyed five Cairns while living in a condo for the last couple of decades and will say that Cairns are ideal pets to have in a condo, if there is enough common area to allow some outside activity for the dog. Much of your success with the little one will be based on how much space you have to accommodate his outside needs. I have used a crate and baby gates as control methods and they work well. Some of our Cairns have used the crate exclusively for sleep and isolation but most of the crates are stacked in the basement--cheery reminders of wonderful dogs transshipped from rescue organizations and breeders. I like the smaller crates because the one Cairn I have that still uses her crate enjoys it so much--it is still in the same place by our bed where it was placed three years ago--never moved except to vacuum beneath it!

Your pup, even without a nurturing mother, needs the socialization of the rest of the litter but if the breeder is determined to release the other pups early, then the socialization with litter mates is a moot point and you will have to make up the socialization as you go. Cairns are smart and adaptable dogs, you will probably do just fine with your dog as time goes by.

The pictures show an absolutely beautiful, pudgy, well marked little Cairn--I envy you and look forward to sharing in your new adventure with "Commodore"! I was in the Navy--how's about "Skipper" (Skip, Skippy,)? "Mate"(Matey)? "Bosun" (Bo)? Or, even, "Sailor"? All manly naval terms befitting a rugged little Cairn-always need to think about those abbreviated variations on a name for convenience as you train and interact with your dog.

[gt_mustang_gal]

Oh, he is so cute! Loved the pic of him grabbing on the pants (beware: he will also love socks, shoes, and shoestrings). The pics make me realize how fast they grow. It seems like just yesterday when Cracker was that size and now he's 5 months (and 10.5 pounds).

I had a situation where the breeder was going to be out of town and begged me to come get Cracker at 8 weeks. His other brothers were being picked up as well. So there was no reason for me to leave him until 10 weeks. Looking back, he was an absolute handful those 2 weeks and truly tested my patience. I agree with the others that it is a critical time in their development and would probably be best if he stayed with the rest of his litter for socialization. Cracker had a lot of biting and rough play issues that we are still trying to get through. However, I can say that getting a puppy at 8 weeks causes him to form a major bond with you. This little guy is like my shadow and must have some part of his body in contact with some part of mine at ALL times.

Good luck with your decision and keep us posted! I learned (and am still learning) SO much on this site. It's like I have a second family!

[MMPF]

Cute names but again we seem stuck on Commodore. One issue is short-hand would be Commey...not sure how PC that would be...

[MMPF]

Bosun however...that could work...I will run it by his "dad"

I will contact the breeders and see what they say in regards to picking him up at 10 weeks. If we can then maybe we will "patiently" wait the two extra weeks.

[Idaho Cairns]

Cute names but again we seem stuck on Commodore. One issue is short-hand would be Commey...not sure how PC that would be...

That was my reaction to "Commodore" (which is a great name) as well. "Commie" still has a bit of a edge to it and when you are at the dog park, you might scare the other patrons. You'll want a shorter nickname to use. We have a Bonnie Belle which yields Bon, Bon-Bon, B-B, and The Belle and a Sammi which provides Sam and Sam-Sam. You are aware that you and your spouse are going to go really goofy once you get this Cairn, right? Then you will be stuck with us here because we will be the only people who understand--your friends and relatives will be standing around scratching their heads talking about the really sane people they used to know before "that dog" came into the house.

[MMPF]

Hehehe...Oh I know we are going to get rediculous. A co-worker just got a puppy herself a few months before and she created a facebook account for him and the "puppy" started talking to us and showing us his pictures. Once he came home however that stopped as they had to start training him

For "Commodore" a few shorthand options I have are "Commer" or "Comet" (Grew up on Full House so that brings me back a bit). There is also "Dorey" or "com com". I really don't know. It will be a matter of seeing what comes to us when the furbaby is at home.

I just want him home already!!!! This waiting sucks...

[Idaho Cairns]

Yes it does. I remember the awful wait we have gone thru, the questions, the fears, the wondering what he will be like. But, every week he spends with his litter mates is a good week for you and him in the long run. I will tell you that all suffering will be over before you know it but you won't believe me so........!

[pindrop]

Oh my goodness - what a little sweetie he is already. Love that little pointed tail. We all know how hard it is to wait - as we've pretty much all been through it but I have to repeat what everyone else has said - those extra two weeks (if the breeder agrees) is crucial to his upbringing and believe me, you may not agree right now as you are so anxious, but in the long run it is what is best for him that we all say the same thing. We are all behind you here and can't wait for you to bring him home and take pictures and then start whining (you - not the dog) :crybaby:on all the little issues. Of course, we will all be here with tons of advice as that is what we do best.

[Lynn in TN]

Believe me I remember the wait, It wasn't that long ago for me that I was in your shoes and waiting . It felt like that day would never get here. Then when it finally arrived I was so excited I thought I would throw up! We will be waiting with you patiently (NOT) We can't wait for pictures and stories (good and bad). We really love our Cairns on the forum and at home.

[Nancy]

Yup I agree with the others wait..social skills....and your going to love how smart he'll be, and hate how stubborn he'll be!! You won't own another breed that you'll love this much.

My Molly is a year old a few weeks ago. We went with a metal crate with a divider in it, so we could take the divider out when we traveled. We asked the breeder to start her in a crate and delivered it when they agreed. Sounds great doesn't it? Except Molly carried on so bad (4 hours worth) in the car we were finally forced to let her loose. She happily rides in the back car window now...and the crate? Well she looks great perched on the top, upside down, now that she's dragged her bed out of it..she'll sleep up there and stay there all night, but she won't sleep in it..I'm not sure what we did wrong.

Potty training was hard. I taught her to ring a bell strung on the door handle. It worked great, right up until she realized any time she rang it, someone would let her out. Then it was rang for every reason to go out, including going potty. Translation every 5 minutes..It took a while to break her of that. Now she beats on the bell like she's going to go on the floor if we don't hurry, then takes her sweet time getting out the door...We took her out every hour during the day, and if she made any sounds at night. Within a week she was holding it all night and would ring her bell if she felt like it, just stand there looking at us as she peed on the carpet other times..It's only been the last 6 or 7 months that she won't pee in the house for any reason...

I also wanted to say NEVER let him off leash. I read that and thought oh ya right..All my other dogs went off leash...It won't work. So your first real leash should be one that fits comfortable in your hand, cause you'll use it forever..If it moves he'll go after it kids, kids on bikes, ALL other animals, cars, joggers..Molly minds very very well, but if she takes off running she hears no one. Not even me and she minds the best for me, and always minds if I raise my voice, except when she takes off..

She wakes me every morning before my alarm, and then rushes to wake everyone else. Alarms and times mean nothing for the others, when she's up,-every ones up, even on days off. She'll bark at her boy if he's to loud, so I don't have to. Barks and nudges her dad if he stays up to late. And does the same when it's time for me to be picked up at work. And carries on when her boy is late from school. My point? Routines are picked up easily..

Now, if I could just get her to keep her head out of the fish tank now that she's learned how to open the top...

His name? Commodore, how about just Com for short? Whats the worse that can happen? He'll think you said come? LOL He might actually obey you...

Enjoy!!