Updated Photos of the Girls

[LindaMC]

It's been a while since I've posted any recent photos of Maisie and Tess so I thought I'd share a few of the more recent ones.

 

As usual Maisie likes to shy away from the camera but I did manage to snap a couple of her face.

 

 

 

Tess and Maisie after a romp through the house.

 

 

 

 

Isn't Tess getting big?  I took her to the vets for her 3 year rabies shot and she weighted in at 95lbs.....

 

 

 

 

Tess in deep thought....I just love her face.

 

 

 

One more of Maisie.....hope I'm not overloading this site.

 

 

 

[mom42terrificgirls]

They are beautiful! I haven't been reading much here. Are they getting along better now?

[sanford]

Both those girls are gorgeous! Thanks for the pix!

 

P.S. Are Maisie and Tess getting along better now?

Edited December 18, 2014 by sanford

[LindaMC]

They are beautiful! I haven't been reading much here. Are they getting along better now?

 

 

Most of the time they get along very well, however, if I give them both a toy or a bone, then the battle begins.  Tess will want the one Maisie has and vice versa.  Maisie loves to taunt Tess; she'll stand there with a bone or a toy in her mouth and stare a Tess, stomping her little paws and goading Tess to chase her.  Thankfully Tess has a lot of patience with Maisie, she's such a little bugger at times, all the way Cairn.  I usually end up stopping the argument by having both of them drop whatever they're fighting over and put the items up for another time.  I found that the best way to deal with this is to give them items when they're not together.  Tess likes to be outside a lot more than Maisie does and when she's out, I will give Maisie something she enjoys.  Tess likes to take her bones and chewies outside to bury them for another time.

Edited December 18, 2014 by LindaMC

[hheldorfer]

Beautiful pics of beautiful dogs!

[Hillscreek]

They are both beautiful. Sounds like they are coming along real well. You put a lot of work into caring for them. It is paying off 

[pkcrossley]

They are each an ideal specimen of their breed. Just beautiful.

[josie&holly]

They are lovely.

[sanford]

 "Maisie loves to taunt Tess; she'll stand there with a bone or a toy in her mouth and stare a Tess, stomping her little paws and goading Tess to chase her".

 

 Isn't this the way many dogs play, inviting the other dog (or upright) to chase them? Sounds perfectly normal to me.

 

 

Edited December 20, 2014 by sanford

[LindaMC]

  Isn't this the way many dogs play, inviting the other dog (or upright) to chase them? Sounds perfectly normal to me.

 

Yes, but it's not quite the same, Maisie isn't play bowing and there's usually a growl that goes along with it.  It's almost as if Maisie's saying, "look what I have and you don't" and there's something in the look, some type of connection that has Tess whining and running after her.  Of course, Maisie runs under the kitchen table where Tess can't get her, so then Tess runs to me and whines for me to go and take it from her.  This goes on a lot if one of them has something that the other one wants.  They do like to play a lot, especially when they're out in the yard, that is when one will play bow and invite the other to chase her.

[sanford]

"...but it's not quite the same, Maisie isn't play bowing and there's usually a growl that goes along with it…"

 

​Oh, I get it… I know what you mean, when on a visceral level we detect that the growl or body language might indicate that something more serious might be about to take place.

 

​Clearly, my experience is limited, because Ruffy growls all the time when he plays with me or other dogs. No matter how happily he may be enjoying chomping on a toy or chewie, he allows me to easily remove it from his mouth with no resistance at all... growling while I do it. Based on Ruffy's behavior, I mistakenly assumed that growling, (like barking) was a fairly universal cairn characteristic.

 

Edited December 20, 2014 by sanford

[LindaMC]

"...but it's not quite the same, Maisie isn't play bowing and there's usually a growl that goes along with it…"

 

​Oh, I get it… I know what you mean, when on a visceral level we detect that the growl or body language might indicate that something more serious might be about to take place.

 

​Clearly, my experience is limited, because Ruffy growls all the time when he plays with me or other dogs. No matter how happily he may be enjoying chomping on a toy or chewie, he allows me to easily remove it from his mouth with no resistance at all... growling while I do it. Based on Ruffy's behavior, I mistakenly assumed that growling, (like barking) was a fairly universal cairn characteristic.

 

 

Maisie doesn't growl while playing or rough housing with Tess, she growls at the oddest times, like when I lift her up on to my bed.  She will go to the bed, put both of her front paws up as high as she can and cry to be lifted up but when I pick her up to place her on the bed, she growls as if she's being throttled.  I keep thinking that I'm hurting her even though I know I'm not.  She also growls very loudly whenever she's woken up from her sleep or if asked to move over so I can sit down.  She can be quite the little grouch then.  I know she's still young and still acts very much like a puppy at times. She will be 2 years old at the end of next month.  Tess is a lot more mature and she's not that much older than Maisie.  They both tire me out at times but I love them both dearly and life would be pretty boring around here with them.

[Hillscreek]

Angus growls all the time when he is playing. His play growl is something quite different from what I call his real no nonsense don't mess with me growl. This growl comes from deep down in the back of his throat. There's no mistaking one growl for the other.

[Autumn & Lola]

Oh they are both so lovely!  Yes, Tess IS getting so big!  Love the close-ups of both of them.

[Dempsy's Mom]

Great pics!  Beautiful dogs. Thanks.

[pkcrossley]

that growling stuff can be very confusing. my cairn redmon never wanted to be lifted off his feet, even when he asked for it. it is just an instinct, i guess, they feel very helpless when not on their feet. so he would growl and i would put him where he wanted to be and then he would settle. when he was little he would growl if disturbed on the bed, evidently just to see if he could get his way and everybody else would treat his space as sacred. i would laugh at him and ignore the growl, which mostly worked --i think i read on here of somebody else who used the laughing tactic, just as a way of showing that growling doens't get the desired effect. if he continued to growl he would get shouted down. when he was a puppy i taught him to roll on his back to show he was sorry. if he got really stubborn he would get shouted at till he rolled over on his back, then all was forgiven. so i think the growls mean different things. when being lifted, if not accompanied by snapping or scrabbling, i think it means, i don't like this and won't be happy till i am on my feet again --can't help it. if it is about guarding space, it is, i'm a big mean monster and you better do what i say. 

[hheldorfer]

I think the growl itself is just one of the many, many Cairn vocalizations and it has to be interpreted in the context of the dog's body language.  Buffy has a range of growls from the chuffing grumble ["You people are idiots."] to the whining growl ["Who told those Boston Terriers they could walk down MY street?"] to the all-out "This means business!" growl.  Like many of the above, the "bed growl" ["Leave me alone.  I just found the perfect spot."] is common around here too.  

[LindaMC]

I'm learning everyday when it comes to Maisie.  She has a number of different vocalizations, guess I'm still learning what a number of them mean.  Last night, as usual, Maisie put her paws up on the bed and barked, so I picked her up to put her on the bed and of course, she growled, a very large loud growl, I might add.  So I put her down and started to play with her by going up to her and kissing her face and every time I would get close to her face, she'd growl.  I'd pull away, she'd stop, I'd go closer in, she'd growl.  I couldn't stop laughing.  She's not a huge fan of cuddling, only on her terms.  She use to sleep at the bottom of our bed but lately she has been coming up and nestling right in between me and my husband.  She also follows me everywhere I go.  If I'm in the living room on the couch, she's beside me, if I go in the office on the computer, she comes in and lies down on her bed near me.  So she's starting to break away somewhat from Tess and bond more with me.

 

I'm finding out new things about Maisie every day, she's such a character and she's always making us laugh.  She has this thing that she does, it's sort of hard to explain but I'll give it my best shot.  She lies on either her side or her back and starts doing this jerking motion with her whole body and while she's doing it, she's making a small sort of growling noise and focusing on someone, It's hilarious.  In fact, I was going to come here and post a question on whether or not anyone else's Cairn did the same thing. 

[pkcrossley]

i hope you've seen idaho's tickle-me-bonnie video. what you describe sounds a little bit like it. it is wild, never seen another breed of dog do anything quite like it.