Blessings of the Animals

[Ms Molly Mae]

So Tuesday we took Ms. Molly Mae to the church for the Blessing of the Animals. Now Molly has a problem with some big dogs and will bark her head off. Trying to get her to refocus on me even with a really good treat is extremely hard. So she was pretty excited since she had not been on an outing in weeks since she flunked out of class. All was going well until she spotted a pretty Golden Retriever. After much effort, we get her to stop and walked her to the other side of the field away from the Golden. I finally picked her up to keep her quiet so the pastor could talk. Afterward, I went over to see a friend with 2 dogs and 2 cats. Molly didn't have a big reaction to her dogs because they have meet before. However she had not meet the cats, so I let her stiff them in their crates. She started to go crazy so I pulled her away as fast as possible. It was nuts and I got some mean looks. My son took her to the playground with his friend, and she did great. She has never had this reaction to people or even children. In fact she loves playing with my son's friends. It was this behavior that caused us to pull out of training, most of the dogs were big and set her off. She did not do this when she was younger. I am not sure how to get her to stop so I can take her out and about. 

That is them on the sled afterwards. 

[Autumn & Lola]

I've not been very successful in this regard with Lola, so I will let others address this issue. However, just wanted to say that the pic is adorable! Your son is a very handsome young man and he and Ms. Molly Mae sure look like they are having fun!

[Sam I Am]

Ditto here with Jock. He eventually grew out of thinking he had to be the boss of all....when he was about 8..  

[sanford]

Ruffy has always had the same reaction to big dogs, and cats as well! His barking and growling can sound really fierce and the only way to distract him is to pick him up. Just like Molly Mae, he loves kids and is very tolerant and patient with them and enjoys their play and energy... Never, ever uses his mouth, but I supervise them anyway.

We missed the annual blessing of the animals this year at my neighborhood church, but hopefully, there was no expiration date for Ruffy's blessing from the previous year!?

[hheldorfer]

Count Buffy among the Cairns whose report card says "Doesn't play well with others."

This seems like a common issue among Cairn people.  Cairns are like that one super-bossy person who yells at everyone to fall in line for the parade and then insists that he/she choose the parade route, too.  

[LindaMC]

Another Cairn here who doesn't seem to like big dogs, although she did have a sister who was a German Shepherd and they played well together until they turned 3 yrs old and then that ended.  Maisie use to like to antagonize Tess (GSD) a little too often which landed her in trouble......no fear whatsoever!

Edited October 6, 2016 by LindaMC

[Idaho Cairns]

You do not mention whether you have ever had Molly around other dogs off leash.  It has been my experience that restraint can sometimes create problem, especially when the dog in excited and curious.
You might want to try an off leash dog park where Molly can freely interact with all the other dogs on a physical basis, satisfy all her curiosity. 
We have always enjoyed those kinds of dog parks and in most cases they are quite safe for dogs of all sizes but are often segregated by size and if you prefer, that is a start.
Once a Cairn gets used to and comfortable with the approach, the sniffing, the playing with other dogs it seems they settle down pretty well.
Dogs are generally quite social animals.  Might want to give that a thought to get Molly used to other dogs.

Here's our little Bonnie "running with the big dogs" (which she thinks she is) at a local dog park.

[Hillscreek]

Angus is the same. Off leash interacts or not with other dogs pretty easily. On leash gets tense and anxious sometimes. He's had one dog park experience where he Jumped over the fence when we put him first with the little dogs and ran off to join the big guys! He went to doggie day care for a while when he was about eighteenth months. He learned a lot about relating to other dogs there. He loved it and pulled hard on the leash when we arrived. Couldn't wait to go and play.

[Pepper Bug's Mom]

Pepper is fine at the dog park as long as the butt sniffing doesn't go longer than 5 seconds...then she does the quick correction and moves on....Our dog park usually only has 4 - 5 dogs at the most.  Having Teddy (our yellow lab) has also helped Pepper with other dogs.

 

[sanford]

2 hours ago, Hillscreek said:

Angus had one dog park experience where he Jumped over the fence when we put him first with the little dogs and ran off to join the big guys! 

These darn cairns! Ruffy did the same thing the first time I put him in with the little dogs. In his case, he wasn't attempting to join the big guys... he was after a squirrel. The fence was a mere 3 feet high on his side, but there was a 6 foot drop to the stone path on the other side. Of course he scaled it with ease, but by the time my adrenaline took me over the fence after him, Ruffy was out of sight! I ran, searching and calling until I was out of breath and finally saw him in the far distance firmly held in the arms of a good samaritan, happily walking toward me!

[Ms Molly Mae]

Whew? That was close. Thank goodness for your Good Samaritan . I don't think there is any dog parks in my town,  but I think there are some doggie day camps. It sounds like that is the way to go to get her to be part of the pack instead of attaching it. I knew Cairns are 'big dogs' in a small package,  but I have not had one of my big dogs in the past ever challenge every other dog like she does.  It is more protective instead of aggressive. I am starting to think that the Cairn and their cousins are a breed of their own. 

[Ms Molly Mae]

So Molly went back to class tonight. She was all calm has the class started and there is two German Shepherds sitting in class. The trainer noted they were both females. We thought that all would go well until a little Boston Terrier showed up, a little male! So we think she might have something against the boys. I still don't get it. 

[kjwarnold]

Kirby has leash aggression with large dogs he doesn't know.  He's fine at the dog park off-leash.  If I know we're going to be around large dogs in a leash situation, I use a prong collar.  This is the collar we used for Beginner and Advanced Obedience and he does well with it.  It's like he knows he's working and is perfectly behaved.  I know some people don't like the prong collars but my breeder recommended it, I tried it on myself, and its worked well for us.