Naughty Naughty Cairn! Need help!

[nclar0523]

As far as the fleas- he's on monthly Frontline from petsmart plus trifexis that I give religiously, brushed every 2 days and inspected head to toe constantly and guess what, 10 days after both doses he had some fleas on his little belly and legs that the vet found after I asked her to check for fleas because I am a clean freak and neurotic about bugs. After a trip to vet, capstar, dawn bath they gave him there which made his poor little skin bleeding and red, hair all matted behind his legs, and vacuming/spraying every inch of my house, furninture, and car with knockout, leaving for a week and repeating knockout regime, washing and drying all dog and human items on full heat....I will not risk another experience like that. I think he got them at the vet's office honestly, since not but 20 minutes before he was at the office he was on my lap in the car and at the red lights I was checking him head to toe, behind ears, under tail, and rolled him on his back to see his belly (a routine I got him used to even before this terrible experience) I saw not one thing, then all of a sudden after walking into the vet's office and Rory sniffing around the room (which they apologized for not cleaning because they were so busy) he magically has fleas? And I was on my hands and knees with a magnifying glass and LED light in my apartment looking in dark places, behind floorboards, deep in carpets, along with in the car, and I did not see one thing anywhere at any point, before or after the spray, and still haven't, I am sure he picked them up there....I'm obviously a little bitter about that On to a new vet...

 

Anyways! He absolutely understands 'no' 'leave it' 'drop it' and will follow these commands, but he has created a game for constant attention in which he starts out mild misbehavior, like stealing a tissue off the table, and will listen to 'no' etc., that eventually escalates into a crescendo of barks and taunts, purposeful pooping- say that three times fast!- on the carpet, jumping on furniture, and rarely, a nip on the foot or arm to make me react in some way so that he can run in circles and bark with transcendant joy until I calmly catch him and put him in time out...he also is starting to love the 'alpha roll', he stays very still and submissive, then looks at me out of the corner of his eye and starts batting at me with his tiny paws like he's trying to catch a butterfly; he's clearly terrified lol

 

I agree the timeouts are only helpful for a breather, and I may have been using them too much lately so that not alot of learning has occured the last 2 weeks. I also think that I have been a softie and given him too much space too fast...until he is potty trained in his kitchen area he will only be outside of it while fully supervised- I think I was expecting alot out of him to be both potty trained and able to entertain himself for more than 10 minutes alone, along with resisting all the temptations around, at 4 1/2 months of age. We will see how that works for now......

[Hillscreek]

After a while I found Frontline did not do the job. I changed to Advantix and haven't had any fleas on Angus since.

 

Rory entertains himself by bugging you. What could be more fun - like a little kid. Angus still does this occasionally. I found the best way when he little was to put him in a xpen or other small contained area with a toy and ignore him. He barked more for a bit then gave up when he didn't get any attention. We played, trained etc when I said not when he said!

 

You are right Rory needs to be contained in a small area - xpen, kitchen - until he is potty trained which may not be for a while yet. 

Edited August 7, 2013 by Hillscreek

[Roxy]

This thread is AMAZING! I rescued my cairn terrior about 7 months ago and OMGGGG do I relate... He is terrible.. I mean terribly cute! And he's just so cute that I can't discipline him.. Or well break his bad habits.. Lol He loves pooping on the floor and then a round of tag.. Catch me if you can..! Yet, he learns so quickly! He learned his new name, the commands sit, no, leave it, to your bed, and even to just chill and relax with me in my lap. Unfortunately he definitely doesn't want to be potty trained and has a wicked attitude.. Lol this feed helped me NOT feel crazy! As I've owed tons of dogs and he seemed to be just an anomaly! BTW hes barely 9 months old! 

P.s. Your puppy is adorable! He looks so much like my Jax i had such a good laugh at the similarities!! Love these little guys! 

[Roxy]

2 minutes ago, Roxy said:

This thread is AMAZING! I rescued my cairn terrior about 7 months ago and OMGGGG do I relate... He is terrible.. I mean terribly cute! And he's just so cute that I can't discipline him.. Or well break his bad habits.. Lol He loves pooping on the floor and then a round of tag.. Catch me if you can..! Yet, he learns so quickly! He learned his new name, the commands sit, no, leave it, to your bed, and even to just chill and relax with me in my lap. Unfortunately he definitely doesn't want to be potty trained and has a wicked attitude.. Lol this feed helped me NOT feel crazy! As I've owed tons of dogs and he seemed to be just an anomaly! BTW hes barely 9 months old! 

P.s. Your puppy is adorable! He looks so much like my Jax i had such a good laugh at the similarities!! Love these little guys! 

 

[pkcrossley]

oh my gosh he's cute. no wonder you can't discipline him. BUT. it is essential that you convince him the proper way that he is not in charge. cairns will simply try to take over the whole house if they feel nobody else is in charge. a nervous, paranoid, spoiled cairn is not somebody you want to share a house with. but a confident, cooperative, trusting cairn is. if he knows you are in charge, he can relax and be himself. 

[Roxy]

58 minutes ago, pkcrossley said:

oh my gosh he's cute. no wonder you can't discipline him. BUT. it is essential that you convince him the proper way that he is not in charge. cairns will simply try to take over the whole house if they feel nobody else is in charge. a nervous, paranoid, spoiled cairn is not somebody you want to share a house with. but a confident, cooperative, trusting cairn is. if he knows you are in charge, he can relax and be himself. 

Lol thanks a ton! Yesssss I agree.. Im hoping positive reinforcement will eventually work for him.. Fingers crossed! Really hoping he matures soon! Also do you have to have them neutered to behave? Is testosterone playing a large part in his misbehavior?? 

[Hillscreek]

What a cute pup!

My Angus was neutered at six months. This did not affect his desire to rule the home and boss me in the least little bit!

Can't add more to what I posted years ago. And what other owners have experienced.

pk is right if you let him know you are in charge he'll grow to be a fine companion -if not he and you will be pretty unhappy.

Re toilet training. Suggest you go back and start with him as if he was a small pup. Plenty of suggestions how on posts elsewhere.

As we often say it takes patience, persistence and a sense of humor to live with a young cairn. If you can do this the reward, after two or three years of ups and downs and ins and outs and many other challenges is a true loyal friend and buddy who will be just about the greatest dog you ever had the chance to live with.

A cairn may exasperate you but he/ will nearly always have a twinkle in his/her very intelligent eye and will frequently do something that makes you surprised and chuckle and laugh.

Good luck with him

 

[Roxy]

1 hour ago, Hillscreek said:

What a cute pup!

My Angus was neutered at six months. This did not affect his desire to rule the home and boss me in the least little bit!

Can't add more to what I posted years ago. And what other owners have experienced.

pk is right if you let him know you are in charge he'll grow to be a fine companion -if not he and you will be pretty unhappy.

Re toilet training. Suggest you go back and start with him as if he was a small pup. Plenty of suggestions how on posts elsewhere.

As we often say it takes patience, persistence and a sense of humor to live with a young cairn. If you can do this the reward, after two or three years of ups and downs and ins and outs and many other challenges is a true loyal friend and buddy who will be just about the greatest dog you ever had the chance to live with.

A cairn may exasperate you but he/ will nearly always have a twinkle in his/her very intelligent eye and will frequently do something that makes you surprised and chuckle and laugh.

Good luck with him

 

Thanks so much for the info!! I feel like a total helicopter mom! Always having to watch him closely.. Lol im excited for the hopeful news in the later years!! And I totally agree with you.. He keeps me laughing and cracking up.! He is very charismatic and will let you know how he feels about EVERYTHING! lol I love it though. 

[Lupinegirl]

Aw yes, puppyhood. I remember those days still. They were so brief in the long run.  (I got my boy when he was four months old, did not have him neutered until he was six years old, and had him for fourteen years total. I’ve been petsitting various dogs since I lost him and even though I see twinkles of the same terrier mischief and intelligence in the yorkies and Schnoodle I’ve cared for since, nothing has compared to the Cairn attitude.)

Three years seems to be the magic year when a dog suddenly becomes a dog instead of a puppy, but they’ll still have plenty of energy. 
It sounds like Rory is trying to make everything a game at least, and he hasn’t turned into a terrier piranha targeting hands every time he sees them. My guy was a piranha for a little while. I ended up having to use two toys for fetch and I had to keep him engaged in chasing and anticipating the toy instead of biting me. 

I would suggest one thing: make sure you balance fun and discipline.

If you’re a disciplinarian all the time and the only time you do anything fun is when you do active stuff like walks and feeding, then that means in his young mind, he needs to keep You active to make you do fun things.  He’s trying to train You. 

I can’t emphasize this enough: Praise him for Everything he does right. Praise him for peeing when and where he’s supposed to, praise him for chewing a toy, praise him for sitting pretty, praise him for looking at you. Praise him for laying down to nap when he’s tired, and praise him for letting you groom him. Look for ways to make your precious time with him positive.  When you see him getting tired, sit or lay down beside him and rub him and murmur sweetly to him. Most of the dogs I’ve met have absolutely adored soft sweet sounds and gentle interaction, and it also teaches Rory that you can be fun even when you’re both staying still. 

My dog saw “alpha rolls” as a challenge and got mad at me. It took him a while to trust me with his belly and to enjoy belly rubs, so it sounds like you have a very sweet natured, gentle dog. For a Cairn puppy, anyway! They’re a handful! They’re one of the few dogs I’ve met that make humans work hard to earn their respect and friendship, but once you’re earned a place in their hearts, they’re so sweet in their own special quirky ways. It sounds like you’re already well on the way! 

Another word of caution: puppyhood is still a sweet, gentle phase. When they hit the teenage rebel phase around six months to a year old, Watch out! That’s when the jaws and the challenging really begins.  
 

My dog and I were at odds with each other for most of a year since I tried to make him do everything I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted. Of course he said “heck no!” I had to take a long hard look at myself to realize why my dog was giving me attitude every time I tried to walk and play with him. It was my attitude that was the problem. I was expecting him to misbehave and ready to scold him before he even did anything! Once I started looking for any little thing to praise him over and quieted my own attitude, he started paying attention and gradually lowered his guard enough to listen and follow my lead.  I can’t say I conquered every hurdle I encountered since teeth cleaning remained a life long struggle, and walking was always a challenge because he was a Houdini at slipping out of every harness and collar I tried, but within five years, I had a gentle, faithful, utterly trusting best friend who knew me better than I knew myself. I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything. 

[Lupinegirl]

Annnd I just realized the original thread is from 2013. Oops!  
The advice is still good for any Cairn owner though! They work hard to train us! 

Here’s a photo from today of the landlord’s dog who has adopted me as his bestie while his owners go to work. I get awakened by this little Silky rescue barking at my door every morning, but the cuddles make it worth it! I never got to cuddle my Cairn like this teddy bear of a pup.