Cairn winter co-existance or ignoring!

[Idaho Cairns]

Sammi chooses to ignore or co-exist with local Mule Deer on a snowy day last winter.  She's fun to watch around our local herd she never chases unless her running mate Bonnie is around and then the two of them go for it.  As you can see, the deer are tolerant and hungry enough to tolerate an audience.
As is the case with Cairns, you can never predict how they are going to react--the minute you think you have them figured out, here comes a behavior tight on the inside corner!
 

[sanford]

Idaho - It always amuses me to see a "classic" cairn reaction... Bonnie observes the deer, and I know she's thinking, "hmmm... To chase, or not to chase"?

Then you call her and there is a short, but deliberate time-delay pause as she considers: "l'll obey him, but in my own good time, just to demonstrate who's really in charge here!"

Then, she approaches as bidden, but demonstrates her superiority by stopping for a glance over her shoulder at the deer, as if to say... "Just so you know - i could chase the deer if I was in the mood!?

P.S. Maybe that's why I love cairns so much... I might have been one in an earlier life!? They remind me of myself as a youngster... My parents constantly complaining, "Why don't you listen to me"?, Why don't you come when I call you"? 

[pkcrossley]

it's interesting how she keeps looking away from them. is there something over there for her to look for, or is she just trying to not spook them? is she trying deliberately to be non-aggressive?

she may have her own interest in them --deer are not natural cairn-bait, so they might not push her prey drive. 

but i'm wondering if she seems them as protected because she thinks they belong to you somehow. i remember my redmon as a puppy wanted to chase rabbits. my mother lived in a suburb that every morning had rabbits under every bush and munching away in every garden. then i got pet rabbits, kept in the house, and he bothered them for a day and then cut it out. and then when we visited my mother he very politely ignored the rabbits. he would look at them, sort of thinking, but then look away as if to be polite and not bother them, and we would go on our way. the rabbits, of course, did their mannequin act, since it is an urban legend among them that dogs cannot see unmoving objects. 

[JoJo]

Too cute, but be careful.  Our friend with a Westie let him out in the fenced backyard, there was a deer there, and the deer actually attacked the poor little guy.  He was pretty seriously injured, but luckily pulled through.

[Idaho Cairns]

" it's interesting how she keeps looking away from them. is there something over there for her to look for, or is she just trying to not spook them? is she trying deliberately to be non-aggressive? "

I think you nailed it PK--there is nothing to the left to keep her eye contact--I think Sammi is simply signaling non-aggression to those two Mulies, a good idea since they are within 15ft on the deck.  I have seen that behavior several times with her over the years--I believe she is very, very curious about the deer--she spends a lot of time in the area around the feeder, sniffing, their tracks and drool and I believe she wants to approach but is simply aware that's not a good idea.
The dead give away is that avoidance of eye-contact which, if employed, would trigger aggression on the part of the deer--especially the case with the further Mulie which is a young buck--the near one is a younger doe.
These Mule deer live on this property, some of them year round, and they become quite assertive, especially with smaller dogs.  Bonnie, being much more protective and aggressive will chase but she has learned to keep a distance--it the deer won't flee, she backs off. 
With Sammi it all seems to be curiosity. 

[Kathryn]

Funny! Oban met his first horses up close earlier this month, when we visited my cousin in the suburbs.  She still has about 15 acres and is "grandfathered" in with her stable license, though she is now surrounded by MacMansions. She has "layers" of fences around the house and pasture for dogs and horses, and the horses were inside the interior fence, about three acres enclosed by the larger chain link for the dogs. Oban was running about gleefully (he doesn't get acres to roam in in the city) when he first saw the two horses.  He stopped - still as a statue - and watched them for a while.  They looked up and saw him too, but put their heads back down and started grazing again. They are used to dogs...

Then I called to him.  He looked up at me, realized I saw him -- and started barking ferociously at the horses.  What a bluffer! 

[Hillscreek]

Angus knew horses from birth at his breeders but not mules. When he first saw my friend's mules he did not ignore them like with the horses. He went up to the fence to check them out. He was barking and trying to make eye contact.Had to teach him quickly to stay back and not make eye contact. One strike, faster than ever you could move Angus, will kill you. So learn and he did. You can boss a lot of animals but not a mule - even if you are a cairn!

[Kathryn]

Hillscreek - Yes, I know mules too!  My cousin had one, about 10 years ago - Jake.  But she had to get rid of him because he learned how to jump the dutch door into the grain and tack shed and help himself to dinner.  He could even open the grain bin. And then he learned how to lie down and roll under the fence, and then he would wander the neighborhood.  Mules are, perhaps, even smarter than cairns...

[Hillscreek]

You are so right Kathryn. Mules like cairns learn very fast and then, also like cairns, decide whether or not it is worthwhile doing what you ask!