Getting to know YOU

[The Cairn Farm]

I suppose I'll join in the fun! I'm Sarah and I have been married to Doug for almost 4 years. Doug is a milk hauler for now with the anticipation of becoming a professional fire fighter. I am a professional horse trainer, but have given that up so I can stay home with our 3 year old and 1 year old girls. We are kind of animal-o-holics! We have a Black Lab/Coonhound named Case, 2 cats named Cali and Beaker, a ferret named Sid and the Cairn...Chloe. She is our newest addition and has changed my feelings on little dogs...I'm a big dog lover, but I LOVE Cairns now! We would really like to add a couple horses, cows, and goats to the mix, but I'm afraid we don't have any room right now. Well I guess that is it for us!

[Vivian]

My turn!

Well I'm Vivian, 18 years old (19 in July) in South Florida where it's way too hot ALL the time! I was born in Brazil, and moved to the US at the age of 5. It's just my dad and I.

Oscar is my first Cairn, and also the first dog that I've raised. I really do everything for him: vet trips, training, potty training, feeding, walking, playing, grooming... and all that comes along with a Cairn.

I'm in college right now still partly undecided which direction I'm heading. Next year I'll probably be transferring into a school in Maine... haven't seen snow in years! I love sketching, reading, learning, traveling, kayaking, and hiking.

Believe it or not, I've never seen the Wizard of Oz! Though I have read "Wicked", great book! Now that I own a Cairn, I feel as though I have to watch the movie.

This forum has been a blessing for Oscar and I.

[MrsAcorn]

Hi! I'm Claire, wife of Darrell (aka Biotrooper) which makes me "mom" to Bailey, Dale and Colby...we're holding out for a bit on the two legged children. We live just on the PA/DE border in a cozy house that is slowly being taken over by the three aforementioned cairns. I am an avid reader, wine enthusiast and I love home decorating, knitting, crocheting, sewing cooking and baking. I also enjoy hiking, walking, aerobics and yoga . I am in Grad school part time for my Master's in nursing (Neonatal nurse practitioner) and work as an RN in the NICU. DH and I also enjoy being part of the Potomac Cairn Terrier Club and all the wonderful people we've met at the events. I am hoping to get Colby and Dale trained as therapy dogs and get all three in basic agility and earth dog one of these days. We enjoy these boards and all the helpful info we've gotten on keeping our little mudgins happy and healthy!

[DawnandTuk-tuk]

I'm Dawn and very new to this site, but love all the pics and info about Cairns! Tuk-tuk is three and I see him being joined by another Cairn in a couple years.

I'm married to my high school sweetie for the last 14 years. He's wonderful with a great sense of humor, keeps us all laughing. I have two children a girl, 11 and boy, 6 who are so much fun and just the most beautiful people. We had a cat who passed away about two weeks ago at 18 years old (we'd had her since she was four), and have another cat, Molly (she's my daughter's cat and earned the nickname "devil" cause she bites everyone except my daughter! We still love her-and she's become very friendly since our other cat passed). We had a great dane, Honey, who got bone cancer at 5. She was a very sweet dog, and it took us a long time to be ready for another dog-Tuk was worth the wait!

As for me, I'm in my early 30's and a stay-at-home mom mostly. I never say housewife cause I can't cook very well, and cleaning is challenging for me! I am also finishing my BS degree (I took time away to have kids) and will graduate hopefully in May. I'm a Psychology major and hope to work with children in the future. I hope to attend grad school at ASU and get my Ph.D. Off for the summer though.

Other than that we are kinda boring. Like camping/hiking and being outside. Went camping two weekends ago and saw bald eagles at a lake in northern AZ, it was really exciting!

Everyone always asks me, so I'll guess you are all wondering how Tuk-tuk got his name. My hubby was playing a video game set in Thailand (I think) and he had to drive this little three wheeled car/cart called a tuk-tuk. He had sooo much troubling passing the level, but I thought the cart was so cute and the name fun to say. I jokingly said when I get a dog, I'll name it Tuk-tuk.....he held me to it!

[ginnyaiken]

At least I'm not the only one who's taken a while to introduce herself after joining the forum! I'm Ginny, and we have a Sun Conure parrot, an 8 yr old Golden, and we got Gidget, our almost 8 month old Cairn, about three months ago. As much as I love all dogs, I will never be without a Cairn now that I've discovered these amazing mischiefmakers. I'm the mother of four boys--28, 25, 22, and 17--and grandma of a 2 yr old. Dh and I have been married for 31 years (boy, does that make me feel ancient!) and we live in south central PA. I'm a writer, which means I get to spend my days in my home office with my critters around me--some days that's great, others (when I'm on a killer deadline) not so great! I'm thrilled I found this forum, because I've had a ton of questions since adopting my sweet little Terrierist.

[SparkyJonesMom]

I'm Shanna, and I'm from Little Rock, Arkansas. I graduated with a degree in history, and I plan to get certified to teach and do that for a year or so before going to grad school for Library Media and Information Technology. The last year has been crazy for me, which involved meeting a guy who ended up as my fiancee, graduating college, moving from college to Little Rock, planning a wedding, and I'm getting married in September. I got my little Cairn Terrier puppy on July 1, the same day I started my new job. To say the least, it was probably the absolute worst time in my entire life to get a puppy, but I didn't care. I've always wanted a Cairn, and I saw an opportunity, so I took it. I haven't regretted my decision one bit! Sparky is one spunky puppy, and I love him. My fiancee wasn't sold on the idea of getting a puppy right now, but as soon as he saw that little black muzzle peak up over the box I had in my passenger seat, he was sold. When he picked Sparky up for the first time, I could just see his heart melting. Sparky was the best decision we ever made (other than to get married)! I've already gotten a lot of useful information from this forum, so thank you! As a new Cairn Terrier owner, help is always appreciated.

[ladymac]

Hi, I'm Tricia. My husband & I live in the cold state of Minnesota. We have 2 Cairns, and 6 children. I first became familiar with the breed a few years back when I found out about Muggs. He was about to be destroyed as they couldn't find anyone to adopt him. I fell in love with him at first sight. He's been an awesome companion, not to mention a great watch dog. (All bark, no bite LOL) I thought about changing his name, but at 2 years old when I got him, I decided to let it be. Toto has really learned lessons on the watch dog from Muggs. He's learned about every trick that Muggs does, including sitting pretty, etc. They are both such smart dogs, its easy to teach them new things. I know they say Cairns aren't lap dogs, but both of ours can be. Muggs will curl up next to you and sleep, while Toto seems to think he has to hog the pillows, or our laps. Muggs has a few health problems, but we're dealing with it as best we can. Toto is in good health and I hope he continues that way.

I'm a truck driver, and my hubby is disabled and is home. We trucked over the road for many years before this. Muggs was in the truck from the time I got him until we had to retire the OTR life. He still loves to ride with in the car, and now Toto has finally figured out going for a ride is fun.

Both dogs are great and help my hubby just by being there.

[rileyboy]

I am new to the forum because I am new to owning a Cairn Terrier. My name is Teresa and I just joined last night and have spent almost all day (off and on) reading different topics on Cairns. I feel I know all of you already so when I ran across this post I just had to get in and introduce myself. I recently adopted Riley, my brindle Cairn Terrier, and he just turned 3 months old. I would post a picture but I can't get the system to accept my pictures for some reason.

I live in Canton, Ohio. I have been married 9 years to my husband and have 2 boys ages 2 (will turn 3 in January) and 7. I used to be a Human Resources Manager in mfg. but stay home with my kids now and babysit a couple little girls ages 3 and 4. To say the least, with all the kids running around it has been really interesting raising a puppy! My husband manages a large health food store in our town and works only a mile from home but unfortunately works very long hours. Hobbies? Hard to do anything and get time to myself with the kids and my husbands work schedule. But...I love gardening, working out at the gym and riding bikes and taking the kids for short hikes.

I was introduced to the Cairn world many moons ago when I got a pound puppy and shortly after bringing her home she started to look like Toto. After researching what kind of dog she was we found out she was a Cairn. We loved her 'til death...literally. So when we decided to get another puppy we decided to get a Cairn. My last dog was 6 months old when I got her and she was great...easy to train, well manered, etc. Riley, on the other hand, is a typical puppy so I love all your advice you have shared with each other over the years and am happy to have ran across this forum. Nice meeting you all and look forward to sharing more with all of you! T-

[mercymoon]

Howdy from Warren, Arkansas!

Hi guys, I just joined up yesterday on your lovely forum. Well about me,

my name is Brittany Burkhardt, I just got married June 8th of this year

to my high school sweetheart after dating for 3 years. We are having a baby

girl Feb. 2009, we are going to name her Isabella. Oh in case I forgot to mention,

I am only eighteen years old. I have a great deal of experience with dogs though

and have owned so many different breeds growing up and have read so many books

on different dog related topics from training, to health, grooming, and on dog breeds.

I am going to start breeding poodles in the future, well I just have a stud and I'm just

going to find bitches for him. Poodles will always remain my favorite breed though, sorry

guys! I just got my first Cairn puppy today for an early Christmas gift from my hubby,

he is a male wheaten colored I believe, and is absolutely adorable, I named him "Mr.

Cheezle." My goal is to open up my own grooming business someday.

[jimnconnie]

Howdy from Warren, Arkansas!

Poodles will always remain my favorite breed though, sorry

guys!

We'll see, Mr. Cheezle may have something to say about that!!!

[mercymoon]

Howdy from Warren, Arkansas!

Poodles will always remain my favorite breed though, sorry

guys!

We'll see, Mr. Cheezle may have something to say about that!!!

LOL, you're right, now it's a constant battle Cairn vs. Poo for my attention!

[RockyCairn]

Hi all. My name is Ward and I want to introduce myself and my soon to be home pup. I am married with my 16 yr old daughter at home and my 19 yr old son in University out of town. We plan to get Hamlet in the middle of January. I first started looking at Cairns a little over three years ago. We had put our Yorkie down at the age of 13 due to cancer. I received him when he was 6 years old from my Gran dad who had to give him up because he could no longer look after him. Little Brutus came to me as a yippy, no holds barred little terrier. It only took him 2 weeks before the yipping stopped and he settled down to become a wonderful pet. He was beside me all the time.

He passed on in May of 2005. For the next 4 months I researched terriers. I kept coming back to Cairns. Unfortunately in the fall of 2005 there were none available anywhere. we ended up getting a Westie, I felt the next best to a Cairn. My son wanted to call her Calphurnia, the 3rd wife of Caesar, in keeping with the Shakespearean theme. We called her Calley for short. In January of this year, Calley started to develop skin issues. I knew this type of thing may happen as they can be afflicted with allergies. We tried everything with respect to food. Then we were on to medications. In the end, her condition got worse and the vet advised us that she had an auto-immune condition in her skin. We got up one morning and the poor thing was bleeding from her back. We talked to the vet and put her out of her misery in October. She was in such pain, and there was nothing more we could do.

Our house seemed empty without the terrier attitude. So we talked about getting another dog. This time I knew I was going to get a Cairn and started researching the breeders. In late November I contacted breeders registered with the Canadian Kennel Club. Much to our delight, there were a few litters available or coming available.

Two weeks ago we met a breeder, the pups and the parents. I am looking forward to getting our new addition. (Avatar is Hamlet at 4weeks)

I might also add that I inherited my mothers Shi Tzu/Poodle cross this fall. I seem to be our families rescue. Mom had to give one of her dogs up after my stepfather passed away. Little Susie is definitely my wife's dog: her little shadow. Suzie weighs about 9 pounds.

[Sandi16]

I've been a member awhile and never posted on here.

I'm Sandi, married to my high school sweetheart. We've been married 11 years now, and have two children, Aislinn who is 8 and Jonathan who is 4 (will be five in a few weeks). We're a Navy family, and currently reside in Virginia Beach, Va but we're originally from St. Louis, Mo.

Tony and I have lived together for many years, in many apartments, and never considered ourselves "dog people". We preferred cats. Over the years we whittled down the cats until we had none, and then we concentrated on our children, the thought of having a pet was just too much for me to handle. Also, the extra cost of a pet just didn't fit in our budget, and to FIND a place that allowed pets was tough. Something became very appealing about a dog. I wanted a small, hardy breed. Something with a littlke bit of fire and attitude.

This past August the owners of the townhome we were renting asked if we were interested in buying. We were, we did, and we got a puppy before the papers were even signed. That would be Louie.

[josie&holly]

Hello, just realised I have been on this Forum a few months now and never posted anything about myself [plenty about Holly though!].

I am single, have been retired almost 2 years from Civil Service, where I worked in a JobCentre dealing with unemployed people claiming benefits and looking for work. I spend nearly 29 yrs doing that and saw the systems, rules, name etc change a lot in that time. I am a Methodist local preacher and am quite involved in the life of my local Methodist/URC Church. I also do other voluntary work since retiring. Originally I lived 7 miles outside Manchester [England!] and a few mths after retiring moved across country near some friends. I had visited them regularly and liked the area and access to countryside that the move gave me. I have made new friends in this area since moving 15 mths ago.

I have wanted a little dog for some time but was not able to have one as before I moved I lived in a apartment and had no garden, also worked full time. Now I have house with enclosed small garden and plenty of time[supposedly!], and so nearly 6 mths ago I acquired Holly. Am not sure what I used to do before I had her to fill in time but now have good walks each day, sometime in the local country parks if weather is good. Also my friends have a 1 yr old Irish Terrier so Holly and I spend time round at their house so she can have some good races with Paddy round their larger garden and I can have god conversation!

My sister and her husband lived for some time in USA, firstly Connecticut then Wisconsin and then back to Connecticut. They now live back in England on Surrey/Hampshire border. My eldest neice and my nephew live and work in England. However, my youngest niece and her husband live in Lebanon, Harrisbury, Pennsylvania so I have family connections in the States.

[Brianne_Kathrine]

Lets see...my name is Brianne and I am 26 years old. I work in non-profit management. I love my job more than any job in the world. Its so fulfilling and I work with the nicest people I will ever meet.

My hobbies include hiking, photography, running, working out, and traveling. My biggest accomplishment to date has been purchasing my own home. Its such an amazing feeling to have a house that I own. I have a very bad obession with shoes...I cannot go to the mall without wanting to buy a pair. I love fashion and buy new clothes. My bachelors degree is in English although I recently started going back to school for Physical Therapy.

My love affair with Cairn Terriers began 3.5 years ago when my mom was given a Cairn Terrier as a gift. That Cairn is named Ricki. (a girl) Then a year later my mom got a Westie named Harri. When I bought my house in early 2007 the first thing I did was get my own Cairn Terrier, Benny. After nearly two years with Benny I decided he needed a sister and so I got my own Westie, Sally. When my mom and I get together its a zoo, but we love our animals so much. Here is a picture of all four of them. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1652...mp;id=513106360 My mom and I have dealt with the loss of my sister and our dogs have become our way of coping with the pain.

My biggest love in life is running. I was unable to run from 2000-2008 due to knee problems. I had seven knee surgeries from 2006-2008 and I finally got the problem fixed. I resumed running on November 24, 2008. I was doing amazing in my come back and then I severely sprained my ankle on New Years Eve while dancing with some friends. Whoops. Its been so hard for me to be unable to run once again. Since I cannot sit still for more than 3 seconds I have been biking and swimming to occupy my time until my ankle heals. I very much committed to a healthy lifestyle. In 18 months I turned things around, got healthy, and lost nearly 70 pounds.

Otherwise, I try to be goofy and spontaneous as much as I can. I love to laugh and I love to try new things. I have been known to bust a move in my office from time to time. One of my favorite quotes is "life is too important to be taken seriously." My other favorite quote is "Success is getting up one more time than you fall down."

[Dixieandme]

Hi my name is Drenna and I'm married to Ed we have 5 children and 11 grandchildren. ..I live Birmingham,al and have 2 children and 6 grandchildren living in Birmingham but our other childrenn live out of state ( son in Fl with 2 children, son in N.C. no children, daughter in NY with 3 children) My Husband is retired but still works for fun and ofcourse money too..... We have always had animals, dogs and cats, our Daisy who was our first Cairn died from stomach cancer......After owning our first Cairn we knew we would never have another breed...

We have no breeder in Al . that we could find so we started our search and found some in Tenn., Fl, Ga and decided to go with the one in Georgia ( outside of Atlanta) so next Thursday will travel 2 1/2 hours and pick up our new puppy that we have named Dixie............. Can't wait!!!

I have really enjoyed reading about everyone and their Cairns, it is so neat to have a forum where there is a common interest and a real love that we all share...I look forward to getting to know all of you and sharing with each other about our fur-babies...........Thanks for listening

[Autumn & Lola]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Autumn and I am 41. I am originally from the Philadelphia (PA) suburbs, currently living in the southeast and will be relocating to West Yorkshire, England by the end of the summer.

Molly is my first Cairn. I've only owned one dog before her, a neglected and abused toy poodle mix I rescued named Mandy, who died at age 13 last August. I had her for 7 years, nursed her through many illnesses and problems, and I took her death very hard.

Molly came to me a month ago. She is 13 months old and a little handful! Mandy was 6 when I got her, and I've never owned a dog this young before, so lots of energy and fun (and a few surprises!) I did research the breed before getting her though. I was considering a Norfolk Terrier, a Westie or a Cairn, and when Molly became available, well, I guess it was meant to be! It is a lot different having a young, healthy, spunky dog than my poor, old sickly (yet fiesty and oh so lovable) Mandy. I laugh every day at Molly's antics. She is funny and very sweet.

Oops, I just realized I was supposed to talk about me in this thread and not Molly. Oh well, Molly is much more interesting and I did say a few things about myself.

Can't wait to read more on this lovely forum!

[josie&holly]

Hi Autumn - are you are bringing Molly Cairn with you to West Yorkshire?If you are in the Leeds area there are people there who belong to the West Midlands Cairn Terrier Club[even though West Yorks is not really Midlands!] and in September they have a Cairn Day which is for anybody with Cairns - not just members. They do demonstrations of grooming and then have fun competitions in afternoon.

[Brody]

Maybe I should introduce myself as well..

My name is actually Kimber. We got our Cairn, Brody in Sept when he was 9 weeks old. He is the first Cairn for both my partner and myself. I preiously had a Great Dane. What a drastic change in breed!! I currently live here in Oregon but I've acutally lived in a few other states previously. (Grew up in VA, Moved in MO where my dad's family live, and then college in Iowa) I seem to just get further and further away from home! LoL! We love finding weekend outings. (When it's not raining, it does that alot here) Can't wait for the nice weather so we can have the last minute weekend trips to the beach. Other than that I'm pretty much a homebody. I love just being home with my family and cuddling with our baby on the couch!

[2crazycairns]

Hi All-

We are new not only to the Cairn Forum but also to the breed. My name is Rita and my SO is Dale. We've been together for 5 years this summer and recently added Fergus the Ferocious (aka Gus) to our family. We did this mainly because my son AJ is 18 and headed to college in the fall and I knew I was going to need another baby to fill the void.

I am a student, recently graduated with my BS in Apparel Design and headed off to the University of Oregon in the Fall to pursue my Masters degree. Dale is a city planner and has been for a number of years. We live in Portland, OR but Dale prefers working for a smaller jurisdiction so he works for a little town north of here with a population of about 2,500. He loves his job! I was really done with school when I graduated in December, but with the economy the way it is, I felt it would just be safer to stay in school and get more education under my belt while waiting for things to turn around.

Gus, now 11 weeks old, has us both completely over the moon. He is such a character! We researched the breed intently before making our final decision and traveled 2 1/2 hours to a wonderful breeder in southern Oregon to find him. What a delight he's been (other than the twice a night potty breaks when we first brought him home. He now sleeps through the night). We were both happy to find this forum as it seems an absolute wealth of information and are making good use of training tips and tricks we've found. We look forward to getting to know you all and spending many happy years with our new baby!

[ShaabaMcShaabsons]

Hello!!

Jennifer from Maryland here! Well, I'm not actually from Maryland, but live here now. I was born and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, PA and came to Maryland for college. After I graduated, I started grad school and was not enjoying it but did not want to go home either, so I got a job, got an apartment, and dropped out. That was not a good idea. I was pretty depressed for awhile after the polish of having my own place wore off. I lost interest in my friends, my hobbies, and my job (which I loved). Even though I've never had a pet, EVER, I thought a companion might be good for me. I researched different breeds for over a year, and I picked up Shaaba, my Cairn, on May 15th of this year, the day before my 24th birthday. I can not tell you how good he has been for me to have around. Not only am I enjoying him, I'm enjoying myself. I've even decided to go back to school, for something I really want to do this time.

When I'm not with my puppy (not often, because I have the advantage of being able to work from home), some things I like to do are: make-up (former M.A.C. make-up artist), go to wine festivals, check out museums, play the Wii(sooo much fun!!!), read (just finished One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez), and drive around with the sunroof open and my music turned up

[tlwtheq]

Hello!!

Jennifer from Maryland here!

Hey Jennifer. We're practically neighbors. I live off of route 50 just a few miles

before the eastbound Chesapeake bay bridge. The town is called "Arnold", but

I always say "Annapolis" since we're in that metro area and most people know where

that is.

I'm glad your puppy is helping you and that things are starting to work for you.

So welcome; you'll love the pups and their humans that frequent this forum.

Tara, Mom of Many

[carolinaila09]

I am bored soooo I figured I would introduce myself now! My name is Ila, I'm 22 years old and getting my first Cairn on Saturday! I have previously posted about what to name her, and I have decided on Paisley (for now anyway haha)! I graduated from UNC this year and I am now a reporter for a small paper at the beach. I love boating and football games, and my true animal love will always be horses...but a dog is a little more affordable...plus I can't cuddle with my horse on the couch! haha

I have a great family... Two little brothers who are 19 and 14. My family has a black lab named Dixie who just repaired her SECOND torn ACL (although in a dog I think its CCL). Its a rough 8 weeks for a lab who has lots of energy! My dog, Magic, died in May after 11 long, yappy, but wonderful years. I can't wait to get my baby home on Saturday, I have so missed a little dog running around. I have her crate in my room all ready and waiting! Im sure I'll be posting many more questions as we go along!

[avlsarah]

Its high time I added something here.

I'm Sarah. I live, currently anyway, in TN where I'm in grad school studying agriculture. I work on an organic farm and do lots of research related to sustainable agriculture. My undergrad degree was in Psychology / Sociology, so I'm a little out of my field, but hoping to one day use horticulture as a therapeutic tool for rehab. I also play the fiddle, am an avid mountain climber, and somewhat of a photographer. I've lived all over the East Coast (US) going to school, working on farms and playing music. When I have a little bit of leisure time, I'm probably canning things from the farm or cooking gourmet food.

I've had my boy Maxwell for 3mo. now. He is my first Cairn Terrier. My first dog, Pistol Pete, was a Lhasa. He grew old while I was out traveling and being young; I made it home for his last year. He was a good friend. I feel pretty lucky to have found Max. He has such a great spirit and enthusiasm for life; its just impossible to dash his hopes. I think I have lots to learn from him!

Edited July 17, 2009 by avlsarah

[WHiteout]

Hi my name is Chris and im located in New Mexico. I am currently in my 3rd year of college going for a degree in biology. My hobbies include Reef tanks, Electronic music (iv been djing for the past 5 years) and my car. I will be 20 in a couple of weeks so im still a young one. i currently work in a fish store where i maintain slatwater tanks, sell, raise and buy livestock. I love my job allmost as much as i love my pup.

My girlfriend and i have been dating for 2 years and she is as addicited to this little dog as much as i am! I hope to be a part of this fourm for some time to come.