Tuffy

[tuffysmom]

I am new to the board and a proud parent to Tuffy a brindle Cairin I waited and researched and finally decided they are the right dog for my family and boy was I right. He is so beautiful and sweet his ears are up and he is rapidly becoming like another child to us. The kids 11,10 and 8 adore him except when he get crazy and bites and attacks but a few moments of the Dog whisperer hold and he clams right down. I am attaching a few pictures. I am feeding him Eukanuba small puppy and was wondering what others feed. Also he does this weird digging thing on my bed, will just start sniffing and dig dig is this normal? He loves to eat poo also which is sick but I hope normal. Pottying is going okay I dont believe in crates he was sleeping with us but is now on our bedroom floor and has one accident a night usually both pee and poo. I cant wake to take him and he has no signal so I will have to work on this. He has a string personality but is also so sweet. We take him out often but there are times when he will go and then come in and go right again right by us. I just think of him as a baby and today was his first real day alone I am back to work and cant wait to get home and see him. Hope all of his issues are normal.

Lydia

[oregoncoast71]

Welcome to the forum. I am a new puppy owner myself. My Greta is almost 14 weeks old. I was feeding her Eukanuba as well but have switched to Solid Gold Hundchen Flocken Puppy. She is doing great with it. Many people on the forum feed their dogs Canidae (which I have my pointer on). It's great food as well.

Can I ask why you don't like to use a crate? Greta loves her crate and ex pen. She was crate trained by her breeder before I got her. She sleeps through the night with no accidents. As far as eating poo, I don't have that problem.

Is your puppy on a schedule? If so , it will help with housebreaking.

There are many other experienced cairn owners on this board that will give advice.

Welcome!

[Kramersmom]

Tuffy is beautiful! My first Cairn, Missy was all black and looked just like Tuffy when she was a baby. I lost her two years ago at age 17 from old age liver failure. We now have Kramer who just turned two. He is a sweet heart.

Both my Cairns were crate trained. Kramer at 6 months of age had the run of the house when we were home and when we were not. He never had an accident in his crate. He was trained to go to the door when he had to go out and does that to this day. Cairns are very smart. He will go in his crate at night when he is tired and doesn't want to wait for us to go to bed. His crate door is always open, that is his little home and he loves it. When anyone goes near it he guards it. Cairns are very very smart.

Welcome & Enjoy Tuffy

[toomanypaws]

Welcome to the forum! Your little Tuffy is adorable, and I bet your children are thrilled to have him! I'm proud to own 3 Cairns, all females. They were being fed just Canidae, but we are now mixing the Canidae w/ half Embark, a dehydrated raw dog food that is grain free.

I also have a 14 wk old male Westie pup that I am currently housebreaking. I am a firm believer in a crate. It is not mean, it serves as a den, a sense of security. All 3 of my Cairns were crate trained and loved their crates. My oldest Cairn still runs for hers when there's a thunderstorm. I've put the pup in his crate since bringing him home at 8 wks, and he has yet to soil it. When 10 p.m. comes, he wants to go in his crate. I carry him to it, and he's kicking his legs to get in there and go to bed. At first, I set the alarm around 2 a.m. to take him out. Most pups can't hold their bladder all night. He quickly learned to go outside. Now, I wait for him to wake and I quickly take him out. If he wakes before 6 a.m., I put him back to bed after he goes "potty". Anytime after 6, I get up w/ him and feed him. He's still on 3 feedings a day. I do have to watch him closely during the day for signs he has to go out. He'll be playing one moment, and stop and get this look on his face that I'm learning means he needs to go NOW!

Enjoy your little Tuffy. Puppies grow up way too fast!

[Brody'sMom]

Cute puppy! Sounds like a pretty typical Cairn. The biting would concern me if it is really biting (mouthing is something different). Even the kids should learn to say "No" when the puppy does this. Make sure he has plenty of chew toys to play with as they definitely need to chew.

Regarding the potty training, we used the crate I second (third and forth) what everyone said about dogs really liking their crates (it should never be used for punishment). A crate will probably eliminate the middle of the night accident, though we did not get either of our Cairns until they were over 4 months old and could sleep though the night so I'm not sure at what point they can make it though the night.

[TNA]

Welcome. I can assure you this forum will be a place of great learning. Our little boy Digger has been "crate" trained in a sense, that we converted our little laundry room into his large crate. He does his best sleeping in there, and goes there for water, food, quite time or to sleep. He is now 8-1/2 months old, and he is a wonderful playful little boy.

Your Tuffy sounds like anormal Cairn, and everyone deals with potty training differently. Other than when Digger was a bit under the weather, he has not had an accident in the house in months. He is nearly trustworthy all the time. We still put him in his "room" while at work, but will be making some changes when we bring home his new sister in a couple of weeks. She is a year old, so we may open up a bit more of the house for them to share.

We feed Digger holistic products from Nutro. He loves it and it seems to work great with his young body and bones.

Good Luck with your precious new little one.

Ang.

[Barney's Mom]

Welcome to Cairn Talk! Your little pup is so precious! I am sure it didn't take long for him to steal your heart!

I have to add my name to the list for being in favor of crate training. It makes life MUCH easier, in every aspect of training your puppy. Their crate is their "special place" all their own. A warm, safe den where they can sleep undisturbed, as well as feel protected. Crate training is essential to successful potty training, in my humble opinion. It teaches them to hold their bladder and go potty when YOU want them to, when paired with an appropriate eating schedule.

Barney loves his crate and runs to get in it at night with his bedtime "cookie" (dog treat!). When dogs are trained with a crate, they are much more at ease when traveling for long distances in one, and also when they have to be confined at the vet. Last fall we traveled for the first time with Barney, not knowing how he would do on this 20 hour car ride. We are proud to say he was A+ perfect! He jumped in his crate when we left and literally slept the whole trip away! Not one bark, not one wimper, just a very calm and relaxed dog.

I have a friend who never trained her dog with a crate (her dog is a dachsund) and now when they need to put her in one for any length of time, the dog goes absolutely crazy. It has no front teeth from biting at the walls of the crate.

Crates are very humane, so please don't have fears of using one. Dogs are den animals by nature and if you make their crate a warm and inviting place, they will see it as their den, which is a GOOD thing. And training with it when your dog is small is essential!

I wish you the best of times with your new furbaby!

[Mollyrocker]

Welcome! I love the name Tuffy. He is cute!

Cricket is crate trained. She is 10 months old and she loves her crate. She often goes in on her own when she is ready for bed or she needs a break. It really helps speed up the housebreaking. I highly recommend crating.

Keep the picture coming.

[maggie]

Welcome, you will find lots of useful information here, I have to go along with the crate advice you've been given, both of mine are crate trained, they both sleep in our bedroom in their crates, we also have crates in the kitchen, family area that they go in and out of as they please. It makes life a lot simpler for them and us, especially when traveling etc. I know they like them because they use them of their own free will.

[Eliz222]

Welcome to Cairn Talk! You have gotten some great advice already, so I just wanted to pop in and tell you that Tuffy is adorable!