Cairn owner in the real world

[Sandi16]

It seems that now that I own a Cairn, I've seen more Cairns in my world than I've ever have before, although they are rare to see. Whenever we see another Cairn, me and the other owner get really, really excited.

Today, we took Louie on his first ever Geocaching adventure. (www.geocaching.com) While we were walking toward the cache we were looking for, in teh distance we saw what we first thought was a Scotty. Upon further neck straining, we see that it's a Cairn. That owner was also straining her neck, and pointing at Louie excitedly. We were with friends, so we weren't able to go and have a chat, unfortunately.

It's so neat to meet people who have this "unfashionable" dog. Not many people have them, so when you meet someone, it's like meeting a kindred spirit.

BTW, Louie LOVED geocaching. He loved being out in the woods, smelling all the lovely smells. Sometimes he would lay flat on his tummy to get as close to the good smells as he could. We got to a pretty hairy spot at one point and had to cary him for awhile, but he was fine with that. It was so awesome to see him "in his element", even though his pretty walking on his leash went out the window!!

[bradl]

Having a dog with you is particularly helpful with some caches when you're having to look around a lot while trying to not look too suspicious. I'd sometimes pull a baggy out of my pocket and pretend I was looking for a poop

[Sandi16]

Bradl what an EXCELLENT idea!!

[Idaho Cairns]

Cairns are pretty rare in this part of the country--rarely see another one unless it is at a dog show. We have traveled fairly widely in our motorhome and have only seen very few as compared to Westies and Scotties on the road.

I like having them even if I have to remind everyone, "Cairn Terrier, like Toto in the 'Wizard of Oz'!". I'm sure you know exactly what I mean.

Actually, I see more Cairns in old movies and in advertisements than on the paw.

[Marty & Sherry]

We have stopped several times when we have seen others with Cairns (or Westies). There are always stories.

It sounds like we may have to start another room here for Geocaching with Cairns! Everytime I lift a rock or a log or anything for that matter Emmy dives right in under it before I can even see what's there. Crazy dog!

(BTW Garmin Colorado 400T here)

[tlwtheq]

We were walking our gang in a local park on Saturday, close to one of the park roads, when an SUV

pulled up and a guy said, "Nice Cairns." First off, we do zero-to-no grooming, so I guess

he was far enough away not to notice.

And since we had just walked 2 miles everyone was (for a change) walking beautifully

on leash.

Turns out, he was president of the Potomac Cairn Terrier club, based out of the

Washington, D.C. metro area (Northern Virginia probably.) So he and his crew

had driven at least 60 miles to get to our little park on the Chesapeake Bay.

We had the usual bantering and exchanges about our little s. They said they

had two Cairns in their van, and we asked if they wanted 3 more.

Then they retorted by asking "wouldn't you really want 5 in your household?" LOL

Just like the original poster said, it's such a joy running into fellow Cairn lovers.

[Sandi16]

Hey! I live in Virginia Beach!! You live close

[josie&holly]

Round here Cairns seem to be popular. My friend who found Holly for me has 4 Cairns and lives about 12 miles from here. Then on walks 2 roads away I meet someone with 2 young Cairns [a red and a wheaton], and I meet a another wheaton that is 15. So that makes 4 just in space of about 1 mle. When I go to local country park I have met other Cairns too.

Also round where I live there must be about 6 Westies that I meet on walks too.

But a friend who lives in another part f country has never seen a Cairn - bt round her there are lots of Westies.

I love meeting other people with Cairns and finding out about their dogs. Holly will greet them all but if they get too fussy with her she backs off. I think she had enough of her breed when she lived in kennels with 10 more!

Oh, and when Holly is out walking anywhere she will regularly lie flat on tummy to investigate an interesting smell in grass or pavement - I stand there patiently whilst she does that! I thought about that when you said Louie liked to do that. But sometime, when people pass they look at the her oddly - and one woman asked if she was tired!

[tlwtheq]

Hey! I live in Virginia Beach!! You live close

We live outside of Annapolis, and actually go through Virginia Beach on our

way to the North Carolina outer banks for our yearly summer vacation.

(You know. east on 50, south on 13, across the Chesapeake Bay

Bridge Tunnel.) We'll definitely wave as we go by this year.

[Sandi16]

I'm not very good with geography as you can tell I'll wave back when you go by

[Hagar]

In my area Cairns are not very common, but Westies are everywhere. Most strangers we meet do recognize a "Toto" or "Oz" dog. Nearly everyone we meet asks if it's OK to pet Renny and he eats up the attention.

I have noticed that Cairns do seem to be appearing in a few more commercials lately. I haven't seen any in recent movies. I do enjoy having a dog that is not the current "dog of the day" because of some movie. We don't meet ourselves at every corner.

[avusblue]

Tell me about Cairns being rare. When we were in Chicago, there was one in a neighbouring community, and another one that frequented the dog park we went to. I think that was about it.

We did see a few in Europe when we were traveling: one in Paris walking along the Champs Elysees, and one in Budapest. We saw more Westies than Cairns.

Now that we're in Malaysia ... haven't seen one here at all. Until I opened the papers one day, and saw the picture of one in an article about a boarding place. Called up the boarding place, and asked the owner of the boarding place to pass my contact to the owner of the cairn. Apparently, he moved here from UK 18 months ago with his Cairn ... so we're meeting up soon, although he lives 3 states away. The extent we go to ... at least now I know there's 3 cairn terriers here.

[Brianne_Kathrine]

Cairns are not at all common in my area. I am always shocked when people recognize Benny as a Cairn. Most people stare at me blankly and so I have to say, "like Toto from the wizard of oz".

I agree on the getting excited about seeing other Cairns in public. At Petsmart last June my mom and I were there with her Cairn and my Cairn and we ran into a lady with her Cairn. We were all so excited.

Brianne

[Sandi16]

Good to know the phrase "Like Toto from the Wizard of Oz" gets a lot of use elsewhere.

[RockyCairn]

I used the "Toto from the wizard of OZ" fame yesterday when I had Hamlet out for a walk. I met a couple who did not know what a Cairn is. I then met another person who did not recognize him as a Cairn (he is only 12 weeks old), but knew what a Cairn is, when I told him Hamlet's breed.

I have not seen any around my area, yet. I will know better come spring. I notice a lot more people walking their pets. Plus, there are no snow banks to see over.

[brooklyn_cairn]

We have many dogs in our neighborhood including a few Cairns that we see from time to time when we're out for walks. My fiance and I have noticed, though, that while Mr. Bo is dying to greet almost every dog he meets on the street, he never seems very intersted in other Cairns!! In fact, there's a Cairn named Mr. Mustard (funny, Mr. Bo and Mr. Mustard) who we see on almost a daily basis and they both totally ignore each other! No idea why! We always laugh with Mr. Mustard's parents as we try to get them to look at each other