I finally gave up. Went out and purchased two 36" tall fence and totally blocked off 1/4 of my living room to protect my plants and xmas decorations and the other one to block off the stairs and rail spindles (started with a baby gate, but Abby squeezed through the spindles) to protect the xmas tree downstairs.

I moved all the tree decorations up out of reach so the bottom of my tree was totally empty, but she would grab the tree limbs and shake it until something would fall off.

So I gave in and we're all alot happier now. I don't care how many classes she goes to, she can't resist the pretties....

What a cutie pie although she does have that Cairn look in her eye...

Gates were made with Cairns in mind...I don't know what I'd do without my stairway gate.

I am sorry, and do not mean to have such fun with your post, BUT, it reminds me so much of my twins when they were little.

We had turned over trees, broken ornaments, pulled down beads.........Our little buggers learned early on in life how to divide, in order to conquer mom!

Let me just say that I have earned every gray hair the pops in these days. And, let me also say that I am very relieved they use their twin powers for good these days!

By the way, I even decorated only half the tree as well......they just figured out a way to climb up and get what they wanted!! Be thankful your baby doesn't have a cohort, or is able to climb.

Abe & Scruf's Mom

We're putting up our tree this week end. It's an artificial, so water won't be a problem, but....This will be Fergus' first Christmas. I don't know how he'll react to the decorations. I'm afraid.......very afraid!

Fergus & Alf

Your Abby is just precious looking! As a house w/ 3 baby gates up, I understand. We did decide on putting our Christmas tree in the living room this year. We bought dd's kitten a 6 ft. cat gym/tree that is in the family room where the tree use to go. My Cairns should be ok w/ the tree, but I also love to decorate w/ stuffed Christmas bears and they love to grab one and run. I'm more concerned about dd's cat destroying the ornaments on the tree than my Cairn girls.

have the cairns tried to climb the cat tree yet?

I was leary as well, Kramer isn't really one to get into things like my Missy was.

I put the family room tree up which is Missys and Brandons and Kramers tree our son each year makes things for Xmas in school (6th grade now) Our living room big tree has pine cones etc... and Kramer does the same he does in the family room tree here he is.

the entire front half of our home is off limits to the girls. We have a tall puppy gate on one side of the kitchen and hubby built a swinging gate we can open at the other side of the kitchen. This has made things so much easier. They girls are only allowed to the open area that is the kitchen, dining area and family room. Our bedroom door is kept closed. This also helps with opening the doors up front and not having dogs escape.

I only decorated the formals with x-mas stuff since the girls cannot get to it.

Well, you could always try the christmas trees that "hang from the ceiling." My girlfriend was telling me about these trees that mount on the ceiling and cost mucho $. I did a search and sure enough, they seem to be very popular. Why anyone would want one is beyond me. What will people think of next?

Obviously, Christmas trees that hang from the ceiling were thought up by a Cairn owner!

If you're thinking of the same kind as I am, they're called "upside down Christmas trees". I saw one yesterday at our garden shop. I suppose they could be decorated qute nicely and have an effect similar to a weeping willow tree.

Believe it or not but none of mine (even Elliott) has gone near our tree I put up yesterday. If I remember correctly, it was the PRESENTS/bows/wrapping paper/ribbon that Elliott wouldn't leave alone last year.

Savannah hasn't been too interested in the tree, a sniff here and there but nothing else. She is more interested in "helping" me wrap gifts! Everytime I roll out a new piece of wrapping paper, she trys to lay right in the middle of it!

Our tree is not up yet. My hubby asked me where we were going to put the tree. My first answer was "outside" I'll keep you posted on the Rusty roo spirit of Christmas.

L

Cute photos!!

I've just decided to put our Christmas tree in the basement...we used to put it upstairs by the window. I like how passersby can see there is a Christmas tree inside a house, but if we put it in the basement no one will see it I'm afraid Alfie will destroy whatever he can reach.

I thought I was the only one with baby gates! I always feel more normal after being here....

We have lived in baby-gate heaven well over 14 years now!! We have two that are downstairs, one for the dining room and the other for the living room.

The last few years we have put the Christmas tree in the LR gated. I didn't trust either of my Cairn's as pups around the tree....way too tempting!! Toto used to rip open her presents while we were gone from the house. I finally had to resort to keeping them up til XMas day as I came home to a big mess!!

I also gate Piper in the master bedroom at night when we go to bed. Otherwise, he'd be dinging his doorbell to go out all thru the night (he goes in and out constantly during the day).

It has been over a year now and I have been thinking of trying it without just to see what he'd do. I have been home sick with the stomach flu for several days and yesterday I took him back to bed with me. I left the gate down and door wide open to see if he'd stay on the bed. He was a good boy and let me catch up on some much needed rest!!

Cathy

That upside down Christmas tree is out of control~ I hadn't heard of them until I read about them here! We have a small (3 foot) artifical tree we put on a small table... this is our first Christmas with the dogs.. so we're keeping a good eye on them. Luckily, our fake tree is left over from our "poor, starving college kids" Christmas'... who knew it would work out for our future dogs, too!?!

Spoke too soon. Savannah unwrapped one of my gifts last night... All my small gifts that are small enough to be carried around by a Cairn are now on the table.

Last year Finch left our tree alone and Scout has never bothered the tree either. Now, the presents are another whole ballgame......I'm not going to even chance it this year....not after cleaning up their mess last year!