Biting 5 Yr old cairn with any personal care

[Anne]

My Cairn acts very aggressively to any personal hygiene care, ie wiping eyes, rear end, bathing, drying with towel and any attempt to remove or replace collar or harness. She acts like Cujo when she bites and bars her teeth.The only person who can do anything to her is her groomer. Why? She also resource guards. I got her when she was 8.months old and she was adorable, what happened

Anne

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[pkcrossley]

you mean you didn't bite before the age of 5? but, you say, the groomer has no problem with her. have you seen that? or is the groomer just good at restraining her? 

in most cases the first step is a thorough checkup (I assume she will tolerations ate the vet? if not, get her a muzzle and take her in). if she is in pain, she could overreact to everything. If she is in pain, you want to find out the cause and fix it. Second thought is something in the environment, like a high-pitched noise (maybe too high for you to hear). the groomer is out of the house, right? she goes out of the house and she behaves?

Even after, fixing it, she might need some retraining to resocialize her. You might need a behaviorist to come to the house and observe what seems to set her off and how you are dealing with it. 

Sorry this happened! Very distressing but you should be able to work through it. 

[sanford]

Thankfully, Ruffy doesn’t bite or bare his teeth, but he has become increasingly intolerable of being groomed. Unlike your5 year old, the worst I can say is that when grooming, he’s uncooperative and a handful. As a youngster he was extremely compliant and I attribute his resistance to aging. Perhaps skin becomes more sensitive??? I’ve watched him at the groomers — and he’s a perfect angel! What’s up with that?

      Of the many descriptions I’ve read about the cairn personality, the one at the top of my list would be “eccentric!”

P.S. A trainer advised me to keep the grooming implements stored next to his food bowl. (positive association)?  I only did it for a brief time  so I can’t teport any results.

[Sam I Am]

The truth is once they figure out they can intimidate you...you are in trouble. That’s just how a lot of Terriers are like. So the trick is to get ahead of their game, wear thick leather gloves so they can’t hurt you when picking them up or taking away something and I would as suggested by PK once cleared of any medical conditions , muzzle him calmly and get on with bathing, grooming etc. Don’t yell, dont get physical, don’t get in a flap just make it safe for you and get on with it. Once muzzled even though they hate it and raise a fuss for a few minutes or longer, they soon realize being aggressive when they can’t bite is futile. I say this out of my experience with my previous  Cairn Jock , who would just as soon bite off a finger than have some grooming done. The minute the muzzle went on he just went totally quite and no one was injured.

 

[pkcrossley]

"Don’t yell, dont get physical, don’t get in a flap just make it safe for you and get on with it. Once muzzled even though they hate it and raise a fuss for a few minutes or longer, they soon realize being aggressive when they can’t bite is futile. "

this is so essential. once a cairn of any age gets the idea that somebody can be intimidated or worried or made sad, things go off the rails fast. pushing people's buttons is big fun for any red-blooded terrier. the only weapons are confidence and calm. I do indeed recommend thick gloves, and I would suggest the purpose of the gloves is to effect time out in some safe room. being ignored is the worst for them. the trick here is to get across that the behavior is useless because you cannot be impressed. it must be their Scots blood --they don't waste their time on something that is absolutely useless. also, become calmly confident gets a cairns respect. and is good for you. builds character.

if your girl passes all medical checks, I would assume something has to have changed that has in turn changed her attitude. she could be scared. or she could have got an idea that intimidating people is suddenly the path to riches. reassure her you are the same old you and she will have more fun if she returns to the same old her.

[Anne]

I have tried gloves but fireplace gloves don't give you enough dexterity. I was also told to flip her on her side which is impossible. For a little dog she is very strong. I have tried a muzzle and harness and can't get either one over her face w/o getting bit. She is food aggressive and has also been attacked by bigger dogs at dig Park so now she hates big black dogs even friendly ones that just want to play. She started out as a sweet puppy but now around 75% can be an overly stressed mess. She can also be an adorable sweet thing, she is like jekyll and hyde.

Anne 

 

 

[pkcrossley]

cairns will fight fiercely to resist anything they don't like, but my impression is that once they are convinced they are wasting their time, they stop. your dog sounds unusual. the Jekyll/hyde thing makes me think something medical --vision problems? hearing problems? back problems? 

I'm still sticking to the advice about a strong harness and a short leash kept on in the house. if you can get it on once, its on. use it to put her in time out when there is a problem. but she also needs a thorough physical check. she's a good girl, sounds like she needs help over this hump. if she checks out medically, the next thing is to check everybody in your household --is anybody giving her the idea she can get her way? are you backing off when she gets snarly? are you inconsistent in what you permit or forbid? all these create big problems in dealing with a cairn. 

[sanford]

 I also tried to flip Ruffy on his side as per advice I was given and found that it only escalated the situation. As PK says, Isolating and ignoring usually have an effect, but it’s not easy to be more persistent and stubborn than they are!

[pkcrossley]

that's true, they are big escalators. with time out, there is nothing to escalate. look sorry, you get out on probation. more nonsense, away you go. they learn the game fast if you are consistent and fair. 

[Hillscreek]

Agree with pk and others. Get vet check. If she is healthy then the thing that worked best for me with Angus when he got riotous was time out. This was demanding and hard work for me. First because in the beginning bad behavior often happened again soon after he was released. I had to start over many many times. Second I did not want to use his crate for punishment. We travelled quite a bit and his crate was his safe place. I found a spot where he could be safe and out of sight. I left him alone a short time after he quieted down. At times I had him on harness and leash where I could step on the leash and hold him by one hand on harness and the other arm round his body and under his chest -  struggling and carrying on of course. Message was you can be with us if you learn to restrain yourself  - hard for a cairn or any terrier to agree to. But eventually he did learn. Most cairns are very sociable and hate to be left out of what's happening. Also as several others mention do not get mad at her. She'll get mad right back. A canine behaviorist might help by observing you and your dog's interactions.

 Can't say much about grooming. I didn't do much. He went to his groomer regularly. He loved her.

 

[Pepper Bug's Mom]

I have fed all my dogs since puppies with my hand - now they can eat their food from bowls and no growling, etc.  You might try the hand feeding for a while and see if that helps