"Wild energy bursts"...is this normal cairn?

[Gracie's Mom]

I know this is probably a crazy question, given what I have read about the high energy level of this breed, but Gracie is sometimes so wound up that she will nip me several times before I know what hit me! I try to distract her with a favorite toy and always say "no bite, Grace!", but honestly, sometimes she is like a crazy pup. She will run at top speed around and around the dining room table making little growling noises and then maybe nip me if I am on the floor. We love watching her "rip" and understand that she is a puppy and puppies chew, but not on me! She is getting a little better I think as she gets a little older but I just wondered if this was normal and if I am on the right track with making her stop. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Linda

[Guest mrskti]

Linda, my Ellie Mae does that on occassion too, it's really funny to watch her rip around the living room. I have a pen set up in here and she gets on a rant and does loops around it.....Dori just sits on the hearth and watches her mostly. It's pretty funny.

Terry

[bradl]

You're on the right track - the race track And you're right to not let her nip at you - she can race without doing that. She'll eventually learn you're a person not another dog.

[Bekah]

My Liddy is 3 years old and still does sprints around the living room every once and awhile. We like to play the chase game and Liddy is always going full speed. I think its a Cairn thing.

[Apollo8it]

Apollo does this and we too get a laugh out of him. He is at his silliest when he comes indoors from being out in the rain. He knows I am going to get a towel to rub him down and that too will get him racing.

[Milopup]

My pup is 18 months old and still does this when my mom comes home from work (everyday!), or when I come home from a trip. Will he outgrow this in a few more months?

[CathyAnn]

Yep, my two do what we call the "looney poochie"!!!

Cathy

[Kramersmom]

I'm chuckling as I'm typing this. Kramer now 7 months is running full energy back and fourth on my sectional sofa, I think he thinks it is a race track. He goes top speed back and fourth and I just laugh. There so silly, full of such love and ENERGY!

[toomanypaws]

I'm amazed at how fast these dogs are! I have 3 and they have been trained not to nip. Mine have all outgrown the nipping, but they can get rough playing w/ me and I have to remind them to "be nice".

[Ms. Maggie]

I am so happy to hear I am not alone with this nipping thing. I truly thought Maggie had razors for teeth one evening. She still nips hard and we yelp to get her to stop. NO means something just not " don't do it yet". Any counsel at all is appreciated. Maggie is fast and runs full speed most of the time. She hides from us then jumps us as we go by. She thinks this is great. Considering she is so little it is dangerous for her though.

Debbie

[Kate]

Mila loves to take off and run at full speed around and around and around the house with her ears back - it is so funny to watch. We went to our farm last weekend and she was off her leash (finally as we keep her tied up at home). She realized she could run free and run she did. She just ran and ran and ran until she just plopped down. A little rest and there she went again and this continued for 2 days. Needless to say, once at home and she slept for 2 days!

[savannahsmom35]

This sounds JUST like Savannah!!!! My DH will look at me and say, "Savannah is going nuts again". I know this means that she is running around in circles with her ears back making a crazy growling sort of sound. Sometimes she just does it but most times, it is after we do something to her that she doesn't like, like rinse her muddy paws off in the sink, or dry her off after she has been playing in the sprinkler!

Savannah has been better about not nipping but she will sometimes still do it usually when we are petting her. One thing that I found helps us to get savannah to stop nipping is to stop petting her and tell her "no bite". Until she stops, I won't start petting her again. If she does it again, I get up and ignore her for a few minutes. This has taught her what "No bite" means and she has gotten MUCH better about it! Most times all I have to say is "no bite" and she stops.

[Mama Kim]

Yep, Piper will do this if she hasn't had much vigorous excercise in a few days. It's like all the pent up energy has to be released. Lucy used to do it too. Totally normal as far as I can see. We don't allow her to nip, though. One of her favorite things when she does this, is for me to tackle her with her big pillow as she comes at me. She could play that game all night long!!

[Toto times 2]

For those of you with puppies, my 9 and 10 year old still do the race around the house or yard thing. Not as often perhaps but they still look like puppies with tongues, tails, and ears flying in the breeze.

[Guest mrskti]

this morning i put ellie in the pen to eat and dori outside of it. When they were done eating, Dori did the run around the outside of the pen annoying the heck out of ellie!!! Ellie's usually the one running around, she couldnt' figure out what was going on!!!!

[PeppersMom]

We call it "crazy dog"...I chuck Pepper under the chin if he gets too rough with the teeth...not hard but just enough to get his attention and I say No bite!

[Kathryn]

We call this being "cracker dog" and it's so interesting that so many cairns do it! Allie gets on a tear fairly often, and it really is a hoot to watch her fly from couch to chair to floor, up the stairs, down the stairs, around to the tile (oops -- sliding around the corner!) then back to the couch and to the chair, and then again, and then again. She'll finally flop down in a cool space, and I swear she's smiling behind that drooling tongue!

She used to nip when she ran and played too. Whenever she did, the game was over. We picked her up and put her in her kennel for a time out. That taught her to be careful and not to nip.

[Eliz222]

Finch and Scout do the "crazy" dance around the house too. Scout use to nip me too, but we worked with her and she doesn't anymore. Now, Finch and Scout race around the house and leave me out of the fun.

[Guest posting as: pepandfriend's m]

My Cairn and Westie go flying around the living room, onto the sofa, over me, around the furniture and out the door into the back yard. This normally happens when I get home. They fade pretty fast, though. Pepper the Cairn is a pretty mellow little guy at 6, and he likes to move around and investigate the yard at slower speed.

I just remembered where I saw "cracker dog," which was in Kathryn's post. It was in one of James Herriott's wonderful stories -- remember those? Andthe dog in the story was somewhat nuts.

Pam