Cairn Outsmarts my Training!

[Cairn Parent]

Hi all,

From time to time my 4-year-old Cairn goes through a phase where he seems to outsmart my training. For example: if I'm working on having him not bark at the window, he is rewarded when he follows my command to leave the window and go to his "place" in a different room. He trains easily. But sometimes he goes through phrase where he will decided that he can trigger a reward by doing artificial barking, then stopping and going very eagerly to his place when I request. To me, the different between real barking at a trigger and fake barking to initiate some training is very clear. He can manipulate other kinds of training in this way, too. I'm impressed by his understanding of cause and effect, but I would like my training to be effective. Any suggestions for a Cairn who outsmarts his training like this (I suspect most of them are capable of it). Thanks for any advice you have!

Edited January 7, 2021 by Cairn Parent

[Sam I Am]

Ha ha ...nope no advise. They have a strong personality bred for free thinking and working alone, ridding vermin off there masters property. Cairns are amazingly smart, and will always keep their owners on their toes. Let’s face it that’s why we love our Cairns. I know our Cairns past and present have made us laugh everyday, filled with understanding  that these little devils dance, mostly, to their own tune, but with an amazingly loyal little heart towards their family.

[sanford]

I agree with Sam I Am when it comes to being outsmarted!

1. When I decided it would be convenient to teach Carrington to poop on command during our walks, I began to give him treats and lavish praise each time he did it and It didn’t take long for him to figure out that he might continuously earn treats by repeatedly stopping and squatting while looking up at me expectantly for a treat — No pooping — just squatting!

2. I would routinely give Ruffy a treat for dessert at the end of his meal. But one day, instead of starting to eat, he turned away from his bowl with tail wagging and an eager look on his face. The lightbulb went on in my head and I rightly concluded that he might be asking to start his meal with a dessert treat. Needless to say, he now continues to get dessert both before and after his meal!

Sorry, Cairn Parent — I have no advice to offer. I’m in the same boat as you!

[pkcrossley]

Cairn parent, be assured you got the authentic item. not a cheap imitation cairn. the real thing. he's probably been wondering when you would notice. 

[Toto-lee Cairn]

You gave me a good laugh.  Alas, misery loves company.  

Actually, one of the things I find so endearing is their personality -- in all of its forms, even the aggravating ones.  Your Cairn, like someone else here commented,  probably did wonder how long it would take you to catch on to 'his routine.'  My Toto keeps me shaking my head, scratching my scalp, kicking myself, and laughing.  I feel like, at best, he is only one step ahead of me, and usually, it is more like two or possibly, three.

But then, I look at my Cairn and consider his antics, and I still take-him-hands-down over my husband's Weimaraner -- always eager to please, do the right thing, 'Yes, Master Dear?' approach, and think to myself, "nah."

[Cairn Parent]

Thanks to everyone for replying to this topic! You made me laugh and feel not alone in this issue. It is fun to imagine how much these little terriers are trying out their routines on us before we catch on. My Cairn's latest training routine (him training me) is to try to trigger dinner by asking to go outside. He feels sure  a full meal will follow his return into the house—and he's just waiting for me to figure this out!

[sanford]

Don't Fence Me In...Outsmarted by Ruffy! (Casualty: one baby gate).

Did Ruffy have a tantrum? — Or just a really good time? He always has free rein to sleep wherever he chooses, but for reasons I won't go into right now, I had  him sleep in the kitchen last night, with a baby gate secured in the doorway. As I fell asleep, I could faintly hear him rattling the gate, but thought nothing of it while I drifted off in the arms of Morpheus.

Imagine my surprise at 7 AM today, when he came to visit me in my bedroom! (Huh? How did he manage to get out of the kitchen)???  Somewhat foggy from sleep, I went to the kitchen to investigate. The gate was on the floor, damaged, with the strong wire mesh chewed, bent and broken in 2 places. I was stunned — and somewhat concerned that he didn't hurt his mouth, chewing through the metal. He's OK, but I can't say the same for the gate — or the torn bag of recyclables strewn all over the floor and the overturned shoe rack. See attached photos showing the remains of the gate.

Edited February 21, 2021 by sanford

[bradl]

Ruffy on an unstoppable mission. In order to save his pal, he must first break in!

[Hillscreek]

He knew you needed help. Nothing will stop a cairn from saving his/her best buddy 

[Sam I Am]

Oh dear...someone is not amused at your attempt to confine him. and take that Dad...you Can now pick up the garbage! Fear the Cairn!

Glad no teeth were broken! 

Edited February 21, 2021 by Sam I Am

[Catalyzt]

Yeah, this is why the AKC "cookie dog" technique for leash aggression is only 70% effective for Spike.

If he starts barking at another dog, I say "Spike!  Cookie dog!" and when he looks at me and stops barking, he gets a treat.  Weirdly, this mostly works-- he sometimes doesn't bark at other dogs, or when he does bark, barks less.  Sometimes, he responds to just a verbal command without the cookie.

However, when there were no other dogs out, and no opportunity for treats, he tried randomly barking to get a treat, which I did not reward.  I thought I had him figured.

But he was just plotting his next move.  When he passes neighbors houses where dogs live, he will bark at their houses-- specifically at the windows where he knows the neighbor's dogs watch him-- which causes those dogs to bark at him.   Then he will stop barking and look at me, like, "Okay, I'm not barking randomly, I'm still barking at another dog, and I just stopped, so how about that cookie?"

 

[Cairn Parent]

Haha! Catalyzt: this is so familiar to me. Exactly the kind of thing my little guy does: orchestrates a situation that should logically produce a treat!

[pkcrossley]

you go, Ruffy! dad got a bit above himself, there. 

[Kathryn]

Oh dear, Ruffy.  You had a busy night.  Bet you slept through the next day though.

Our cairn T Bone didn't like to be crated, but we had to crate him once in a while.  He tried to chew through the metal gate/door, and couldn't.  So he chewed a hole through the plastic to pop the gate out of its hinges...

Too clever for their own good...

[Toto-lee Cairn]

My first experience with a terrier was a 2-year-old Jack Russell we adopted from the Humane Society.   Only 2-3 days after we had brought Cosmos home, my husband and I had to make a short trip, and my husband's sister, who lived just across the way, and was a very accomplished animal person, agreed to let him out of a crate we had, feed him in the a.m.,  and let him have some outside time before she re-crated him, only until she got off work after a few hours.

She called us about supper time, saying she felt she'd better warn us for what we'd come home to the next day.

Cosmos had worked on the corners of the crate, until he collapsed it, and had spent the entire part of the day, deciding that not only would he NOT be crated, but he would also NOT be in the house -- not when he had several acres, and a large pond, to explore, from his vantage point at the French doors on the back of the house.  She described all that he done, so we would be braced for it:

He tried to bite, scratch, claw his way through the wood door.  When that proved fruitless, he thought he'd dig his way out. The carpet was annihilated for about a two foot swath, where he discovered the house sat on a concrete slab foundation.  Undeterred, he ate the blinds in the lower 1/3 of several 23x72" long windows, and tried working on the wooden frames.  He dug at the carpet at the other French door, and then decided to tackle the door to the garage, which to his chagrin, turned out to be a secure steel door.  He tried to eat his way through the molding and sheet rock, before I guess, exhausted, he quit.

End of Day 1.

Knowing she had to, somehow, secure him in that crate, she took metal clips, and reinforced all of the seams -- sides, bottom, top.  This is late afternoon, so she gives him outside time, plays with him, feeds him, and then, later secures him for what she thinks will be the early evening, with plans to get him again before bedtime.  Dog-tired, both she and Cosmos, spent some time together before she crated him for the night.

When she returns, she finds 'Houdini' had figured-out the TWO latches, because he greeted her as she came through the front door.

Day 2.

We were due home later that afternoon.  When we arrive, we find a really cute little JRT at the front door, greeting us, and what is a badly-damaged crate, with its sides pushed to their limits against the reinforcement,  damaged metal stiles here and there, and two locks, one on each of the clasps on the gate.  The key to the padlocks had been left on the counter.  He had pushed so hard for so long against one corner, until he managed an opening large enough, somehow,  to squeeze-through.

My husband and I were stunned.  After assessing whether he had damaged himself somehow -- teeth, in particular, paws, nails, coat -- I sat with Cosmos and proceeded to tell him that if we took, out of HIS allowance, everything he had damaged, he wouldn't eat for a year.  At least.

Twenty years later.

We bawl like you wouldn't believe (or maybe, being 'dog people' you all understand too well) when we have to call the vet to put the little fellow down.  Cosmos had turned out to be the best little dog, so full of fun and life.  He kept us laughing until our sides hurt for the twenty years we had had him.  There were so many more antics, including climbing a ladder onto the roof of our two-story home, but those stories are for another day.

Good luck with Ruffy.  My advice?  Just love the hell out of him.

[sanford]

Toto-lee cairn, meet Peaches!

!

[Toto-lee Cairn]

OMG!  Thanks for the *laugh* this morning.

Cosmos never ate the furniture, and after that first experience with crating him, thank goodness we never went through that again.  Turns out, he liked a crate, but not being locked-in.  I made covers for our two dogs' crates, and Cosmos's became his 'safe haven' for thunderstorms, and the like.

My husband and I were just talking about the little devil the other morning, over coffee and 'puppy time' with Toto and Rupert (neither of which is a puppy, you understand), and decided again, that Cosmos had been the perfect dog for us at the time, and more importantly, we had been the perfect home for him.  Cosmos had been one of the many Poster Child dogs for people who got one because they were 'cute.'  He had been a little boy's Christmas present, on the heels of My Dog, Skip.    And when he didn't behave, perform, conform to the family's preconceived notions of what he should be, he was badly abused, until finally, out of frustration, and most fortunately for him, he was left at the Humane Society.

The afternoon my husband and I picked him up, as a surprise for our daughter who had asked for a JRT,  the handler stepped outside with me, and proceeded to tell me every bad thing the little fellow had ever done.  I know my eyebrows, raised in shock and horror, probably gave me away, but when she asked, "Do you still want him," I didn't skip a beat.

And the longer we had him, and surmised the abuse he must've suffered, we were committed to providing him his Forever Home.  

Just out of curiosity -- what became of Peaches?  And did you end up with a house full of outdoor furniture?