Funny habits?

[josie&holly]

Holly has a funny habit whenever I have taken her out in car. Like this afternoon we went to local country park and walked round lake along with friend and 2 of her Cairns and the three of them got nicely muddy, so I get her back in car - drive home. I get her out of car and she starts walking in opposite direction to house tugging me behind her! So we go for a short walk and then return home.

Now I am used to this, I manage to lock car before she sets off with me in tow! The first time I end up not locking car but it was OK - and she now does this regularly. One of my neighbours thinks it is really odd behaviour! Their dogs just get out of car and trot in house.

Holly seems to think she should have some more exercise after 15 minutes in car!

Does anyone else's Cairns have strange habits like this or do this?

[sheila and Misty]

not mine one short little ride in the car and they cant wait to get in their own backyard again or if over grandmas that day-straight to bed.

[Nikki]

mine do that one the walk like they don't want to stop and seem to pout when they have to go back in....after the car ride they usually need lots of exercise...they just act insane...they are so hyper

[Marty & Sherry]

Ours usually want to go pee before they go in the house. That may just be an excuse to stay outside longer though!

[Sandi16]

Usually, Louie is dragging me to the door! He walks really well on the leash until we get near home, then he's scrambling to get there. He's my soul mate, home body at heart.

I noticed that Louie uses his butt a lot when play fighting with the cat or another dog. He will back into them or try to sit on them. I saw him today, butt on one step, front paws on the step below, slowly scootch his butt toward the cat to sit on her. I have never seen that before!

[sheila and Misty]

Ours usually want to go pee before they go in the house. That may just be an excuse to stay outside longer though!

Thats probably why mine are so anxious to get in the backyard....we seldom walk and they spend alot of time back there.

[SparkyJonesMom]

When I take Sparky on his walk around our apartment complex, we usually circle back around the entrance to our apartment at least twice. Every time we get close to it, Sparky slinks down and walks really slow because he thinks I'm about to pick him up and take him up the stairs. As soon as he realizes we're going to walk past the entrance, he perks right back up and tries to run as fast as he can.

[DawnandTuk-tuk]

Tuky knows when we're getting closer to our house and starts walking slower, when we get within a couple houses he'll usually starts walking behind me. Then while I'm opening the front door he stands at the opposite end of the leash from me (except in the middle of summer). Even if we've been at the dog park for a couple hours he still doesn't want to go in, when we get outta the car, he tries to go for a walk. I'm glad he likes to get out and stuff, but sometimes I think he's just a little stubborn about it! Occassionally I have to pick him up so as not to drag him in!

[mjones]

I noticed that Louie uses his butt a lot when play fighting with the cat or another dog. He will back into them or try to sit on them. I saw him today, butt on one step, front paws on the step below, slowly scootch his butt toward the cat to sit on her. I have never seen that before!

My friend's dog (a schnauzer) did this to my Cairn a week ago at a playgroup. It was the strangest thing, he kept putting his butt on my dog and pushing him with it. I was cracking up. My friend said that he does it all the time and it is a dominance thing for him.

[Brody]

Brody is NOT a morning dog. He sleeps in bed with us and if we go to wake him up and he will snarl at us. We have to ease him out of bed to get our chipper puppy back.

[Hagar]

One thing Renny does that strikes me as a little strange is the "rotating poop". He will assume the position, pass "part 1", and then turn a half turn for "part 2". While doing part 2, he will lean down and sniff part 1. So, I usually have 2 piles about a foot apart instead of one pile.

[josie&holly]

Oh, Holly does that too Hagar! I just thought it was normal!!

It is not so bad in garden but when you are walking down road it makes it more difficult or interesting depending on how you view it!!

[Brianne_Kathrine]

Benny likes to suck on blankets. He does not destroy them or chew holes on them...he just likes to lay on my bed and suck on a blanket. He also sucks on stuffed animals.

[Holly_go_lighlty]

Speaking of funny poo rituals...

I have seen Murphy back up to the chain link fence in our back yard so his poo goes outside of the yard. I guess he doesn't want to accidently run over it when he does his whirly dervish nutso freak out.

[jimnconnie]

When there is deep snow in the back yard, I make paths for Bailey & Sophie to get around, and also for them to have somewhere to go potty easily. For some reason, Sophie jumps off the path and into the deep snow to squat & pee. #2 she does in the path, but #1 in the deep snow! Maybe she doesn't like the splash-effect on her back legs and uses the snow to avoid that. In any case it's funny to see her climbing into a snowbank to pee!

[Hagar]

Renny is that way when we get more than a few inches of snow. He won't take care of business in the snow until I clear a couple of spots for him. Then he will walk around the cleared areas and then jump into the deep snow and walk around until he finds just the right spot!

[Brianne_Kathrine]

Benny does not mind doing his business in the snow. He loves being outside and even when it was below zero last month he wanted to go outside and play.

My Westie on the other hand will only go if I clear a spot down to the grass. She does not want to do her business on even a little bit of snow.

[longhornkelly]

Petey does the same stuff with his butt! When he and my other Cairn tussle, he swings his back end around to hit her in the face. I even caught him trying to sit on her head and kick her with his hind legs like a little mule. He also likes to spin in circles when he's excited. He usually jumps and spins when I feed him his dinner or wants to go out.

One morning, he sat on my head while I was in bed. I was not amused and corrected him immediately, but it was still kinda funny. He just loves to put his butt on stuff.

[shellj2323]

Mickey has a weird ritual when he's settling down for a nap or night time... he rotates in a small circle while making little growling noises and "fluffing" whatever he's on. It was a bit disconcerting when we first adopted him - I've never had a dog do that before. Maybe be because he was kept in a crate so often?

Angus doesn't do this as much anymore (thank goodness because he weighs 21 pounds now), but when he was a puppy, he always wanted to lay on my hair (which is only chin-length, so that basically meant lay on my head). It was sweet and I didn't mind too much except for when I couldn't lift my head without ripping out my scalp - oh, and the time he farted up there...

[josie&holly]

Mickey has a weird ritual when he's settling down for a nap or night time... he rotates in a small circle while making little growling noises and "fluffing" whatever he's on. It was a bit disconcerting when we first adopted him - I've never had a dog do that before. Maybe be because he was kept in a crate so often?

..

Holly does that when she goes in her crate - she always has to pull at all the bedding and squeaks as she is doing so! Sometimes she re-arranges bedding so well that she is sleeping on metal floor of crate and the bedding is at side of her ! She also fluffs up the towel/fleece that she lies on floor next to table when I am on computer. I always thought that was something cats did not dogs!

Good to know that some habits that we see as odd are shared by other people's Cairns!

[Sandi16]

Louie fluffs his bedding too. He does the circling, usually with the blanket in his mouth, and then kinda bunches it up and hops around. Sometimes it takes awhile to get it just right and it gets annoying because I want to sleep!! (he sleeps on my bed)

[jimnconnie]

Sounds like what you are all describing is the "nesting" instinct, an evolutionary holdover. Before dogs were domesticated they spent all their time outdoors, so when it was time to sleep they would circle and flatten the grass, or snow to make a place to lay down. They would make a nest of leaves or underbrush to sleep in. Today instead of leaves & underbrush, it's blankets or towels that they build their nest with. Guess they just miss the good old days!

[Sandi16]

Between Louie's nesting instinct and Leah the cat's instinct to "make doughballs" it's a wonder I get any sleep!!

[bradl]

The Princess and the Pea.

[josie&holly]

Bradl - what a great picture they look so cute - I have heard about wanting a bit of comfort but -but how do they get up there?