Surprised to be here.

[arevcindy]

A few months ago we had a spur of the moment visit from an old friend who could not stay long and who happened to have three, two month old cairn pups with her. My husband and I are....well ...not young, and definitely not dog people, but he was instantly smitten, and at the end of that very short visit we were standing in our driveway waving good by with a dog kennel and a bag of dog food sitting next to us, and a puppy in our arms. As she drove away I thought "what did we just do?" I honestly felt a bit of a panic. Beginning that night "Archie" has proved me wrong on every reason I had for not wanting a dog. He is adorable, a sweetheart, a very good little guy and I am enjoying him more each day. Being so new at this I have had a lot of questions, so I have joined a few cairn groups and have mostly been reading and learning. Been hanging around here for a few days and thought I should say hi.

[Sam I Am]

Welcome Archie’s mum! He is adorable...you are in for a load of fun, a load of learning (because this ain’t no lab. ) . For me number one rule is be the boss plus never ever have a Cairn off leash unless in a safe confined area. There are a few Cairns that do have reliable recall but mostly their prey drive is way to strong in most of them to remotely pay attention to you when they are chasing something furry.

[bradl]

Welcome.

I wasn't a dog person either but it was a direct line from an old photo my wife had to that smitten feeling meeting a Cairn for the first time to a life filled with Cairns. Enjoy the ride and fasten your sense of humor securely. 

In the Portland-ish area there is a pretty active Cairn club that offers periodic activities open to any Cairn person member or not. As with this forum, Cairn people can add a lot to the experience. 

Good boy, Archie  

[calypso]

You are in for a great time!

[sanford]

Quote

Welcome to CairnTalk! Don't hesitate to ask questions and be sure to send lots of pix of Archie and keep us posted with his antics. Like you, I had accessed a number of other Cairn sites, but this one proved to be the most informative, comprehensive...and fun, as well!

I was also a novice when I joined Cairn Talk years ago. It got me off to a good start and my education continues to this day, thanks to the support of the exceptional folks you'll find here.

 

 

[Hillscreek]

Hello Archie and family.

He's so sweet - now. In a month or so  he'll be asserting himself. Cairns want to be the leader. Humans have to convince them otherwise. My Angus was my first cairn also.  Living with a cairn is a lively ride as most of us found out. Fortunately, for me any way, and I'm sure for others too this forum has been so supportive, so wise and so much fun.

Enjoy him .............always remembering a terrier is not  retriever!

[pkcrossley]

wow! i wish somebody would stop by my house and give me a cairn puppy. i think i do. i hope he will be an angel his whole life, but be aware that is not generally the cairn way. any problems, come to us. somebody or other here will have been there and done that. 

[arevcindy]

I can't figure out how to respond to an individual comment so I will just respond to them all here.

Sam I am, thank you for the good advice. You actually answered a question I had about being on a leash.

bradl, I already signed up for the newsletter. Hope they have another grooming event soon. 

calypso, I believe you are right!

sanford, thank you and I love the pic from TWOO

Hillscreek, he is 5 months old now and still very well behaved, but I keep hearing that they are stubborn.

pkcrossly, Oh he wasn't free lol, one of the reasons I was in shock as our friend was leaving. :)  

[pkcrossley]

oh yes, i realize he wasn't free. it's still a great story. by the way, my late stepfather was the farthest thing from a dog person, but he became best friends with my cairn. they really had something special. you just have to be willing to work for it. it is a process, but if you hold your ground you end up with an uncommonly intuitive, sympathetic, very loyal, endlesslt amusing friend. 

Edited September 22, 2019 by pkcrossley

[Kathryn]

He is adorable -- I would have been on the driveway with him in my arms too, in the same situation. And I think you will love this period of your life.  Good instincts -- good choice.

Everyone here talks about the "ride" you are about to take with a cairn -- and it is wild. They are unpredictable and distractable and stubborn and goofy and funny (cairns have a great sense of humor - who knew?) -- and wonderfully cute -- and probably the most fun I have had in my life.  We have now had five cairns over the last 35 years  - right now a wonderful 6 year old, who is my "velcro" dog, and a one-year puppy that our neighbor calls the "wombat." He going to be my first agility dog -- smart as a whip, athletic, but also all over the place. In love with the world. Keeps me in giggles. 

I personally have learned to love those decisions where I just jumped in -- usually my senses lead me to the absolutely right choice.  I am thinking Archie is going to be one of yours.  

By the way, folks here love puppy pictures, so don't be shy about posting lots of them

Congratulations!

[Ripper70]

You lucky dog! I understand the "panic" you felt as your friend left you both standing in the driveway. It was the same feeling I had after hesitantly agreeing to getting a family pet and driving home from the rescue shelter with not one, but two Cairn terriers. But now, after just three months, I can't imagine this household without them. Enjoy the ride!

[sanford]

On 9/21/2019 at 11:00 PM, arevcindy said:

sanford, thank you and I love the pic from TWOO

Glad you liked my avatar of the actress, Margaret Hamilton as the nasty Miss Almira Gulch in the movie. At the risk of being accused of name-dropping, I actually lived in an apartment building (36 Gramercy Park) right next door to hers (34 Gramercy Park), many years ago. Although I never met her, she was recognized and well-known in the neighborhood, by all accounts a very pleasant, likable neighbor, reportedly quite distressed that so many children had been frightened and traumatized by her! Too bad I never got to introduce her to Ruffy... It was way before his time!

Attached is a pic of her apt. house, which looks appropriately forbidding and spooky, but it's actually a very celebrated historic, landmarked luxury building. (Mine was the white one to the left).

Edited September 23, 2019 by sanford

[Sam I Am]

Sanford, what a beautiful building. What is the name of it?

[pkcrossley]

i like to point out to people wondering about cairns that Toto is the hero of the movie --because (actress Terry was actually a she) causes all the TROUBLE that makes the story move along...

[hheldorfer]

A warm welcome to both you and Archie!  

Briefly, here is Archie's master plan (which is the same plan for all Cairns):

1. Overwhelm humans with cuteness.

2. Attempt to convince humans that they'd be better off with you in charge.

3. Become dictator of the universe.

In short, be cautious during phase 1 and take action when phase 2 begins.  If you allow the process to reach phase 3,  heaven  help you.

[sanford]

2 hours ago, Sam I Am said:

Sanford, what a beautiful building. What is the name of it?

It's called "The Gramercy" built in 1883. So old, it even predates the famed "Dakota" apt. house, (home of Yoko Ono and the late John Lennon). By contrast, my building, to the left, bore the strangely interesting name "The Children's Crusade". It had carvings and statues all over the facade, of children in armor! See attached. 

The pic looks very grand, but when I lived there it was down-at-the heels and by a fluke I landed in a bargain rent-controlled apartment there. I was told that originally there were two10-room apts. per floor, which were mostly chopped up into smaller units.

[Sam I Am]

Recently came back from a bike/barge tour through northern Holland (saw a lot of Cairns!) and same thing there. Lots of grand old building that are divided into apartments. Thanks for the history on this grand old building!

[pkcrossley]

Quote

In short, be cautious during phase 1 and take action when phase 2 begins.  If you allow the process to reach phase 3,  heaven  help you.

yes, heed helene. you don't want to see phase 3. draw lines and stick to them, no matter what. your cairn will respect you. then you will be the apple of his eye. 

Edited September 23, 2019 by pkcrossley

[arevcindy]

Sanford, that is an interesting story, and an awesome old building thank you for sharing it.  Also, can someone tell me how to reply to individual comments? Is that possible or do you just have to go to the bottom of all the comments and post like I did here? 

[bradl]

1 hour ago, arevcindy said:

can someone tell me how to reply to individual comments

I will do a quick tutorial later and post it as a how-to in Forum Support. The "How-to-quote" post there could use some updating to include the easy new method.

Quickie version: highlight relevant part of a comment, click "Quote selection" on the pop up that appears when you highlight it, and add your reply.  Lather, rinse, repeat for additional snippets, if any. 

[sanford]

12 minutes ago, arevcindy said:

...can someone tell me how to reply to individual comments?

To reply to specific comments,see the word "quote" in the left side of the grey band at the bottom of each entry. Click on the word "quote" and a window will open up with a duplicate of the comments, enclosed in a small pale grey box. You can type your reply in the larger blank space, below that window, then click on "submit reply" in the black box on the bottom right of the window.

Hope this helps!

[sanford]

Oops! By the time I finished replying to arevcindy, Bradl beat me to it!  I'm sure his directions are better than mine.

[Dianne]

Welcome to Archie and Mum!

This is a great forum for invaluable information and support.

We are a couple of a “certain age” that adopted our Cairn Katie 2 years ago. We were not new to terriers, having 35+ years with Westies.

We quickly learned that this was to be a challenge; more than well worth it. Often commenting to each other, joking  “What were we thinking” ?!!

Cute, but willful. Turned our house upside down as she was a virtual “Hoover”. If she could get something in her mouth, she would either chew, tear or swallow. This led us to barricading our book cases, placing everything at least 24 inches above ground level and frequent vacuuming. Shoes, books, pens, nails, bugs, acorns …anything that hit the floor was “hers”.

My recommendation: be patient, firm, and consistent. Prepare to laugh a lot. Sign up for obedience classes with a gentle experienced instructor. Have Charlee Bear treats in all your pockets.

We took a year of classes. Took me that long to completely grasp that Cairns will only do something if they think it is their idea. We achieved our goals of sit, stay, down and walk on a leash. Drop it, leave it, come when called … that’s for Charlee Bears.

Recommended reading: Born to Bark by Stanley Coren.

Share with us your journey with Archie. Besides being informative and entertaining, it helps with other Cairn newbys.

Cheers!

[pkcrossley]

yes! cairn-proofing the house is essential. nothing on the floor, or the kitchen counters --they can levitate. either get baby gates to barricade the living room while you are out or say goodbye to your pillows. leaving electrical words where they can get them is not wise. don't assume that what looks inedible to us looks inedible to them. my cairns (when they were very young) ate shoes, slippers, watches, tv remotes, eyeglasses, wallets. they will swallow jewelry and coins, and bills will be chewed and digested. car keys will be taken to hidden dens and never found. don't let them get access to dirty laundry unless your strategy for lessening your laundry tasks is just to have your waiting laundry shredded to bits. and of course don't leave them alone with a fence. they climb like monkeys, dig like earth movers, put prefer to simply find loose fence pieces and make them open. 

Edited September 26, 2019 by pkcrossley

[sanford]

pk... Did you forget to add that Redmon(?), ate your kitchen cabinet door? Do you still have the photo?

Here is pic of Ruffy, happily posing with a dead stuffed toy... and Peaches, with what was once a chair. (She's not a cairn, but deserves a mention).