Adopting an adult cairn

[Guest]

My husband and I are considering adopting a old cairn that is 4-5 years. He appears to be quite overweight, maybe 30 lbs, and had a serious case of pancreatitis last year. We assume that this is due to his diet and weight. His current owner does not feed him dog food but table scraps. Does his prior pancreatitis indicate potentia future health problems?

He is also not very disciplined. At this age, how difficult will it be to train him to be more obedient?

[bradl]

Does his prior pancreatitis indicate potentia future health problems?

Hard to say of course. According to this site, "Pancreatitis can be acute and only occur once in a dog's lifetime or it can become chronic and keep returning over and over again." Surely you will always want to be watchful of his diet. My sense is that mostly it's related to either obesity and/or Bad Dining Choices and not to a predisposition to other ailments. You should probably ask a vet for veterinary advice. I think just about any dog can get pancreatitis if fed indiscriminately.

He is also not very disciplined. At this age, how difficult will it be to train him to be more obedient?

Cairns are very bright and seem amenable to training at pretty much any age. On the plus side for adult dogs - they often have a pretty big 'vocabulary' even if they have no manners. Plus this guy is likely to be food-motivated! My guess is the situation is more likely influenced by how consistent your training is and the nature of the individual dog, rather than being a factor of his age.