Who's a Naughty Dog? ​​​​​​​​​​​​​You are!

[bradl]

This is an open topic for the, uh, rare (well, we hope) days our dogs have been naughty. From as simple as "got up from a sit-stay" to "ran off with the turkey!" we can all commiserate the small moments when our Cairns have been Naughty Dogs.

Oh yes, there's a companion topic  

 

[Eliz222]

Atticus is known as the "sock bandit" in our house. He can spot a sock a mile away, run and and grab it, and  NOT give it up! He knows the command (I say this loosely) "drop it", and will drop what he has in his mouth (sometimes only if I have a treat) most of the time, EXCEPT  if he has a sock! Nothing I bribe him with works!! Trying to take it away doesn't work either because he thinks it's a game and RUNS away. The sock he has in this pic is my BIL's, who is living with us for a few months. He gave up and let Atticus have the sock. BIL - 0 / Atticus - 1

I shouldn't complain because, at 5 months old, he's pretty darn good!

[Dogcoat lady]

Gosh, wicked cute!

[bradl]

Elroy is like Atticus and specializes in "footies."  Peggy keeps a pair tucked in a nightstand shelf for cold nights and Elroy gets up on the bed, leans deep into the shelf and extracts a footie to play with on the bed. I often come into the bedroom to find a lone, damp — but at least undestroyed — footie in the middle of the bed. 

[Hillscreek]

Angus has a spot in both naughty and good for this

His favorite game for several years when a youngster was fetch the ball. I've had retrievers. I know how to teach 'fetch'. Angus is a terrier, very smart and quickly learned what to do - go get the ball, bring it to me and give it to my hand. However being a cairn he played it his way, either bringing the ball towards me dropping it on the way or his favorite method- twisting his head and hurling the ball towards me - surprisingly accurately..

Many a laugh but I felt it was at least a bit naughty not to do what I asked.

See his post in good dog............

[Kathryn]

Angus specializes in shoe theft but he is not a quiet thief.  We hear him when he collects his prize and runs joyfully back and forth in the hallway, occasionally stumbling over the shoe if he has taken a larger one (think Steve's trainers or my ankle boots). He would get around to chewing them, too, if we didn't pay so much attention and take the shoe away first.

He is adorable, though, when running back and forth with the shoe in his mouth, head held high...

[bradl]

Sorry Elroy, nothing about a nap involves the word "pounce."

[Catalyzt]

Spike understands that there are rules-- but uses logic to try to find exceptions to them.

He understands that he is not allowed to take plastic from the (indoor) recycling basket and appropriate it as a toy, and usually will not do so.

However, the other day, after putting a dab of cottage cheese into his dinner and his brother's dinner, there was a scrap of cheese remaining on the lid of the container.  Rather than scrape it into the trash, I put Spike into a sit-stay, and then released him and let him lick the lid of the container clean as I held it.

So far so good.  I put the lid of the container into the recycle basket, which had all kinds of other plastic in it that is almost exactly the same color and thickness-- yogurt containers, etc.

Later, I found the lid of the cottage cheese container thoroughly chewed in his doggie bed.  He had reasoned (and I don't use that word lightly) that because I let him lick it, that particular piece of plastic was fair game-- the usual rule must not apply to the lid of the cottage cheese container.   So he went into the recycle basket, sorted through all the other junk, and appropriated the lid as a chew toy.

This was such a sophisticated behavior-- he not only extrapolated/created a new household rule based on my own behavior, but correctly intuited that I could not get angry with him about this.  He knows I praise him and make a big fuss whenever he demonstrates his intelligence.

[bradl]

I love this example. It so much captures their intelligence.

[Hillscreek]

Exactly. 

[Dogcoat lady]

Let’s not forget the owner’s brilliance!

[Eliz222]

Spike, you are one smart dude!

[bradl]

23 minutes ago, Dogcoat lady said:

Let’s not forget the owner’s brilliance!

Agreed. Sometimes when our dogs annoy us we have literally trained them to do something and then blamed them for doing it!

I'm still trying to figure out how or what turned Dundee into the Midnight Gargoyle On The Bed. Every time I leave the bedroom and come back I have to remind him, "Dude, remember me? I live here?"

[pkcrossley]

they are accomplished and discerning thieves. mine came up with all kinds of sophisticated ploys, often in phases and executed with some patience --beginning age 4 months. these are not little people you can let your guard down around. 

[Steve 53]

Bennie likes to steal socks and hide them. 

[Kathryn]

So says my retired lawyer DH: If our cairns became attorneys, I would not want to face them in court.

They are well versed in offering their own well-reasoned arguments...

Edited January 2, 2022 by Kathryn

[Catalyzt]

I think I also mentioned somewhere else here that in the first few weeks Spike was with us, he walked up to me with a little, clip-on guitar tuner in his mouth.

And just stood there.  Like, "Man, I would really like to appropriate this as a chew toy... but I have a really bad feeling about this, so this time, I'm checking."

He knew this wasn't a sock or a shoe; somehow he realized that Dad might get much more pissed if he destroyed this particular object.

I told him, "Drop It" and he did.  Treats and toy substitution followed immediately.  That was a class move!

[bradl]

It is the best feeling when your dog checks in with you for guidance. Love this example. 

[Moto-Rama]

Theft is definitely a dog thing, and Cairns truly relish their exploits.

Our Fergus is no exception , even at 17 months.

Favorite items, other dog's balls on our nearby playing field. He outraces his peers, of all breeds to get "their ball". It's led to some somewhat uncomfortable situations, even though he readily drops fetched items and even flips them to anyone will to fling the ball. It's not sport, it's more of a jihad.

Around the house, it's things like his well-used E-collar, he'll snatch it from the latest hiding place and gleefully prance off with it.

All fun aside, he has occasionally gotten ahold of sticks and ingested pieces, including a chunk of leftover Christmas tree ; fir twig, needles and all.

The next day was spent at the doggie ER having it manually removed from his caboose by the best canine gastric surgeon in the West Coast. Fortunately he survived that story , albeit with a very sore finale.

Good grief. The next 2 weeks I spent training him to Leave That/Off. Not that we hadn't already made that a high priority thing. City dogs must be trained to avoid so many dead serious hazards. The list is long. 

This was the first time I've used a combination of positive reinforcement and negativity to get him to avoid foraging or compulsively grabbing things. His 90% compliance meant that 10% of the time, he was able to sneak something into his mouth. Not good. I have a net I used last year to keep him from inhaling foxtails, but I want him to be able to walk away from things that might be problematic.

I deployed a can full of pennies, some bitter apple flavoring to pretty good effect. He's now much less interested in woody snacks, but has been tempted to relapse, so it's more training on every single walk.

When they made Fergus, they did not scrimp on the Stubbornness genes. He's also trained me a few times around "Leave It"

He knows that whenever he grabs something he's not supposed to pick up on walks, that he's given a small treat to reinforce that he is doing the right thing for "Leaving It" It didn't take long for him to start snatching up things and waiting for the Leave It command,  so he could "get paid" for complying. Yes, Fergus was thinking 2 steps ahead, and training me. Ok,. he's smart but that's Cairn Cleverness,.no doubt I'm not the only Cairn parent getting trained.

It's like having a lightning fast 2 year old with an indiscriminate appetite for anything that smells interesting.

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Moto-Rama

[bradl]

Totally accurate description of life with Cairns. I especially relate to the "Pay me" training inversion. Sigh. I've been turned into an ambulatory Pez dispenser.

[Tracy A.]

A few months ago I called the dogs in for breakfast. Here comes Walter through the dog door with a gallon ziplock that I keep bully sticks in. He marched right in like he was bringing his own snacks to breakfast. Apparently I’d left the bag on the coffee table from the night before and he grabbed it. The bag was still intact, I’ve gotten more careful as he tends to shop the end tables.