What is going on in his little Cairn mind?

[Barney's Mom]

Among Barney's many idiosyncracies, this one baffles me. I would love to hear some theories on what posesses him to do this:

The minute anyone sits down on the floor, he runs for a bone to knaw on. And it must be a bone, not a toy. Or if no one is sitting on the floor, he grabs a bone and must be in contact with someone's body, whether it be a foot, a leg, etc. He must lay across your foot and chew, or lean against your leg and chew. If someone is laying on their side on the floor, he gets his bone and has to hang over their hip and chew, which often leads to him dropping his bone a million times and having to jump to the other side to retrieve it!

Why does he have to have body contact when chewing a bone? I think this is so strange! Maybe some of you could shed some light on this behavior.

Thanks in advance!

[sheila and Misty]

My theory would be he loves the opurtunity to snuggle close with those he loves,with his favorite bone- perfect time to be close to both and relax (doesnt get any better than that!) kindof like us snuggling up to the person we love and snacking on one of our favorite foods while watching a good movie.

[fiddler927]

What Sheila said makes sense! Remember, dogs are pack animals, and if someone is sitting and relaxing, they take that as a signal to do the same. What a great time to munch on a bone!

Incidentally, Ellie always has to be in contact with me or my husband. She always has her head on a foot or a lap, or she has to be right there up against us.

Pack behavior too?

Laurie

[BradysMom]

Brady loves when I sit on the floor with him. He will bring either a toy or a bone over and snuggle up next to me. If I'm on the sofa he sits right underneath my feet. I love "floor time" because it's really one of the only times that he snuggles. He does the same thing with any other person too.

[Kramersmom]

Whenever my hubby or myself sit on the couch or lay on the couch Kramer gets a bone and does the same. When I get on a couch with is not to often he knows I'm sitting to relax same with hubby so I would imagine he knows this is quiet/relax time and he snuggles up with us with a bone. Funny you mentioned this and with Kramer it has to be a bone, nothing else.

That is the only time he gets his bone to chew, he pulls it out of a million toys. Too funny

[fiddler927]

Sometimes for Ellie, couch or floor time is relaxing time, and at others it's play time. I'll sit down and she'll get her rope toy for me to throw. She chases it and comes back to play tug-of-war with it until I get it back. Then I throw it again, and begin all over. After 10 or 15 minutes she gets bored.

Laurie

[kjwarnold]

Packy does something similar. If I sit in front of DH on the floor (he's on the couch) and he massages my shoulders, Packy will run to get his hard white bone (and it always has to be that specific bone) and site near us, chewing on it. Lots of times he'll sit on my lap while chewing. I think it's the pack animal thing, too, but it's funny that it always has to be a specific bone.

[Barney's Mom]

That is too weird!! I now realized too that Barney will not touch his bones for days, then when I sit down on the floor he will get them and come over! Even ones that he shows literally NO interest in, like those hard brown Nylabones!

[mrskti]

Ok, this is a weird one for you. When my dh and I sit in the living room and have our laptops on our laps, when either one of us closes our laptop, Dori hops up, bolts to the tv and leans up on the tv stand and stares at the tv......it's just weird!!!!!! She does it every single time.

[Darcy's Folks]

LOL!!! When I turn off a specific tv in our house (the master bedroom) Darcy knows it means it's time for mommy to get ready to work. She bolts off the bed, into the master bathroom and sits on her doggy bed and keeps me company while I take a shower and get ready.

I agree through. Darcy usually has to be near us when chewing on pretty much anything. Bailey is just happy to be here and have a good home. He's not picky.

Edited March 27, 2007 by Darcy's Folks

[toomanypaws]

I think it's great to know we're loved by our Cairns. Barney is showing you that he loves you and wants to be near you. My oldest Cairn, Kiara is more "standoffish", if that's a word. She would NEVER be comfortable to share our space w/ her when she's chewing on a bully stick or bone. Abbey and Hannah have no problem being right next to us while they enjoy their chew stick, but they don't have to necessarily be touching us. Hannah does have to be laying on our feet while we are trying to make dinner. I know it's crazy, but we have learned to look down and step over Hannah when we're cooking. My little Westie, (which is related to Cairns) has to be laying on my feet when I'm in the bathroom putting on my makeup.

[Sandysmom]

My Sandy used to bring his food morsels (dry food) one by one into the living room where we were sitting, put it down on the floor next to us, play with it with his paws, and then finallly eat it, then walk back to the dining room where we had his food, and then come back with another morsel. He would go back and forth with his food to eat with us. It was so cute.

[Bekah]

Liddy likes to lay in the middle of the room to chew her bones. I always thought it was so she can keep an eye on all of us and make sure no one makes an attempt to steal her beloved bone.

Sandysmom's story reminded me of a cute Cairn story my friend told me. His Cairn would hide her treats under the pillows on the beds of different family members. It was as if the Cairn was rewarding them for good behavior!

[Sandysmom]

Sandy used to hide his food also. I am still finding little morsels of food of his around the house. It was a game with him, he would hide a morsel and then go back and find it.