A big shout out to Callie for being our Wacky Wednesday model this week!
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Wacky Wednesday!
A big shout out to Callie for being our Wacky Wednesday model this week!
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Sunday Sweets!
Sunday is full of SWEETS! Each week we will showcase the sweeter side of Cairns. If you have
a sweet filled Cairn and would like us to consider YOUR picture for an upcoming
"Sunday Sweets!" send it to us at cpcrnblog@gmail.com (All photo submissions become the property of CPCRN
and may be used for fundraising, promotion and/or outreach purposes.).
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| Garah |
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| Foster Tootsie |
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| Callie |
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| Foster Calix |
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| Molly Anne and Dandi |
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| Ruby |
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| Princess Leah fka CP Italy |
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| Gibbs fka CP Citron |
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| Foster Scipio |
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| Ty |
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| Foster Bobby Boy, Filmore, and Fredi |
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| Foster Denmark |
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| Sweet Sophie |
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| Foster Sigmund |
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| Foster Skitch |
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| Foster Yuli |
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| Welcome Henry! |
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| Penny, Dougie, and MacPerry enjoying the Cairn Lounge |
Friday, March 13, 2015
Helping Your Cairn Conquer Fear
“…Your patience and willingness to work
through tiny steps will in and of itself take pressure off the dog and speed
the process. Slower is literally faster when it comes to this type of work with your
dog…”
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| The deep understanding and loving dedication of his Mom and Dad have enabled Sonny Boy to conquer many of his fears. |
Dogs can develop fear of any person, place or thing. Considering that the same thing happens in humans, this isn't surprising. Dogs inherit their temperaments from the dogs who make up the family tree. A confident mom and dad don't guarantee confident offspring, though, since dogs further back in the bloodline may have planted genetic surprises that hide for a generation or even a few generations.
Physical health plays a major role in dog temperament, too. Unable to explain that something hurts, a dog will try to avoid that painful situation. Some dogs do this by moving away if they are free to do so, but these dogs as well as the more assertive types may react aggressively to ward off something they know from experience is going to hurt. With any fearful or aggressive dog behavior, medical issues are the first thing to consider.
Once a dog has begun to react with fear, correcting the original trigger of the behavior is not always enough to change the dog's habit of reacting that way. The earlier you intervene, the better your chances of relieving the fear. Recovery is faster when you start rehabilitating the fear sooner. In fact, if you work through it immediately after the scary event happens, you may be able to alleviate the fear in just one session. In such a case you're dealing with a first impression rather than an established fear.
Don't count on this quick fix, though. Be prepared to continue helping the dog at a pace comfortable over the long haul for as long as it takes. Your patience and willingness to work through tiny steps will in and of itself take pressure off the dog and speed the process. Slower is literally faster when it comes to this type of work with your dog.
Understanding and Prevention
Puppies who have the right early life experiences have the best chance of developing confident personalities that cope well with life and have the ability to bounce back from stresses. The temperament the puppy inherits from its ancestors will always be a limiting factor on just how healthy the personality can be. But the right handling will make the most of whatever strengths are there, and help to limit the problems from the dog's inherent temperament weaknesses. Providing a puppy with the right early experiences is more complicated than it seems. Puppies can stoically endure events in their lives, apparently be fine, and then show serious fear reactions from those events as their defense drives emerge with maturity.
Yet keeping a puppy protected from any potential fear or stress doesn't work, either. Part of growing up to become confident is learning that scary things can have happy endings. Another part is learning that you can overcome something scary. On the other hand, puppies can get carried away in the enjoyment of overcoming and become aggressors.
Puppies who have too little stress in early life can grow up lacking the ability to handle stress. Puppies who have no frustrations can grow up unable to cope with frustration, and unable to take "no" for an answer. This can happen to pups who grow up in one-puppy litters with no littermates to compete with, and to pups removed from the mother dog prior to about 7 weeks of age. Knowing as much as possible about the dog’s early life experience will help you understand why you are seeing fearful behavior now.
Vacuum Cleaners and other Loud Noises
Vacuum cleaners make weird noises. Their use involves a person thrusting the thing around the room in gestures that wouldn't make any sense to a dog. The concept of cleaning a floor, other than by eating any food spilled on it, would also be foreign to a dog's way of thinking. There's not much about a vacuum cleaner for a dog to like! The occasional herding dog will chase it because it moves, and some dogs will "attack" or threaten it because it isn't acting right!
Adding treats to vacuuming time can work through this fear. If the dog is really traumatized about the device, you may need to start with setting up the vacuum cleaner and giving the dog treats in the next room. Over several sessions you can move the treat-giving closer, never faster than the dog's comfort level can handle. Do the process with the vacuum off, next with the vacuum cleaner running, and finally with the vacuum cleaner moving. While going through this program, put the dog in a different, safe place whenever you do actually vacuum so as not to undo all the good conditioning by scaring the dog again.
Principles of Working Through Fear
If physical pain is determined to be the root cause of the behavior, make any indicated changes in medical treatment to keep the dog comfortable. Don't assume that a problem brought under control at one point will never need further treatment. This requires detective work! Dogs have a survival instinct to hide their pain, because an animal showing weakness in the wild gets killed. Look hard for possible physical problems, rather than expecting the dog to cry out in pain or otherwise "tell you."
Assess the Problem
1. Do you know of an event that started the fear?
2. Is the thing the dog fears actually dangerous and/or likely to cause pain to the dog? How are you going to keep your dog safe?
3. Are people or other animals being placed in danger by the dog's behavior and if so, how are you going to put a stop to that danger right now?
4. How can you protect the dog from experiencing this fear while you work through the behavior modification steps?
5. Is it necessary for the dog to cope with this situation, or could things reasonably be managed to simply keep the dog away from it from now on?
6. If you determine it's better to protect your dog from this situation rather than trying to treat the fear, give the dog time to get used to your new plan. Chances are you'll be surprised to see how much happier your dog becomes.
To treat the fear, plan the steps for conditioning your dog gradually to the feared thing.
Plan how you are going to start at a DISTANCE from the feared thing, with it functioning at a low INTENSITY for periods of SHORT DURATION. Plan how you will, over time, gradually reduce the distance, increase the intensity, and expose the dog to the feared thing for periods of longer duration. Plan how you will increase one variable at a time.
Determine what things this dog finds rewarding.
For the greatest chance of success, you'll want to use as many of them as possible. Incentives include: food treats the dog likes, food treats the dog goes crazy for, regular meals, retrieving, games with you the dog enjoys playing, special toys reserved for special times, "happy-timing" the dog with a jolly attitude (using excited voice and body language to convey to the dog that is a happy thing), privileges such as a walk or ride in the car, and anything else THIS dog likes.
If you can't come up with anything your dog finds rewarding, developing these motivators is your first training goal! One option is to break the dog's daily food into more, smaller meals. Some or even all of the food can be fed by hand, depending on what works best for your conditioning program.
Discontinue all exposure of the dog to the feared thing.
Start your conditioning program at the distance, intensity and duration where your dog happily accepts rewards. Advance very slowly toward your goal of having the dog comfortable with the feared thing so that the dog will be able to function happily around it in the future. Be patient and take as long as needed to avoid pushing the dog too fast. If you trigger the dog's fear during this process, that's a big setback, so keep the progress slow enough to avoid that.
Reward your dog at times the dog is showing confidence.
Avoid rewarding fearfulness. Certainly don't punish the dog for acting fearful! Just give the rewards at the moments when you see in your dog the state of mind that is your goal.
It Works - Even with Much Older Dogs!
Chances are good that at some point with every dog you'll have the opportunity help the dog overcome a fear. Some dogs go through most of their lives with barely an apprehensive moment, and then get hit hard in old age when their bodies begin to fail and they don't know how to cope. Now you know how to help your dog develop the ability to cope, at any age.
Condensed from “Fear: How to Help Your Dog Overcome
It” Copyright 2004 - 2007 by Kathy
Diamond Davis.
Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Col. Potter Training Tips: Nothing in Life is Free!
Contributed by a Col. Potter
Volunteer
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| A nice "Sit!" is a small price to pay every day for a yummy treat, yet the dividends accrued in terms of ongoing excellent behavior are priceless! |
Are
you thinking about adding a new Rescued Cairn to your family? There are many things to consider, and lots of planning to do. You can expect to get many great tips to help
you integrate your New Cairn into your home, so it is good to know that some of
this advice will also will apply to your current resident dogs. Learning to establish and maintain your Alpha
placement is a great example.
Before your new dog arrives, it's important that
you understand that your new dog must accept YOU as the leader of the pack in
order for there to be peace and harmony in the home. Follow the great advice in “It’s Always Best to Start at theBeginning!” and add to it with this very easy training tool: Nothing in Life is Free!”
How to Establish and
Maintain Harmony at Home!
Are
you looking for a good, easy way to develop peaceful, harmonious relationships among
your dogs?
Ask
and you shall receive!
Really!
Every
day, throughout the day, however you choose to set the pattern, you simply need
to Ask the dogs to respond to a simple command, offer praise, then reward with
a high value treat.
Nothing in Life is Free!
When
you ask your dog(s) to “Sit!” for a treat - and make them wait just a bit for the treat - you are
really saying “I am Alpha!” and when you are Alpha, you will ease any tensions
in the pack. Also, give all treats directly from your hand. It is an easy, easy way to reinforce your dog's understanding that all good things come from your hands. Toss it on the floor* and you have thrown away a valuable tool.
Do not ever give a treat of any kind
without Asking your dog(s) to do a simple task.
The
list of possible commands is long:
"Sit!"
"Down!"
"Here!”
or “Come!"
“Look
at Me!”
“Wait…”
“Crate!”
“Bed!”
Anything
you can ask your dog to do – that he or she will understand – is a great and
easy training tool for harmony. It establishes a calming pattern that carries
over into other aspects of their life.
This
is not to say that there won’t be dust-ups from time to time, but as a strong
Alpha leader, you will find it easier to anticipate and diffuse any issues that
might naturally arise.
Just remember, Nothing in Life is Free!
Doing simple training exercises, every day, you will keep things clear as to who is in charge, and if you are in charge, harmony will reign!
Doing simple training exercises, every day, you will keep things clear as to who is in charge, and if you are in charge, harmony will reign!
**NOTE** Great training treats are small bits of block
cheddar cheese or high quality grain-free kibble. You should factor your training treats into
your puppy’s daily meal portions so you don’t accidentally end up with an
unhealthy weight problem.
*Tossing treats on the floor also communicates to your dog that it is perfectly OK to eat off the floor. Don't expect that your dog will differientiate between what you toss and anything else he might find down there. You can not 100% prevent having your dog swallow something harmful, but think twice before you encourage them to think that scavenging food is a good thing from any place other than directly out of your hand or the bowl you set down at meal time.
*Tossing treats on the floor also communicates to your dog that it is perfectly OK to eat off the floor. Don't expect that your dog will differientiate between what you toss and anything else he might find down there. You can not 100% prevent having your dog swallow something harmful, but think twice before you encourage them to think that scavenging food is a good thing from any place other than directly out of your hand or the bowl you set down at meal time.
Good luck! And thank you again for opening your
heart and home to a rescued Cairn!
Rescuing one Cairn will not change the world,
but it will surely change the world for that one Rescued
Cairn
Read More About It:
It’s Always Best to
Start at the Beginning!
I’m Not Sure we’ve been Properly Introduced!
There’s No
Place Like Home!
Easy Housetraining Tips!
Toto: The Other Side of the Story!
Col. Potter Needs a Few More Beginnings!
Please
Volunteer to Foster and help us help give a new start to every Cairn in need!
Please Consider being a CP Volunteer!
CP
Foster Home Application form:
CP
Transport Volunteer Driver form:
CPCRN
Volunteer form:
Col. Potter’s Name a Rescue Cairn
Program
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Wacky Wednesday!
Wednesday is the day to be WACKY! Each week we will showcase a terrierific cairn picture with an appropriate caption. If you have a terrierific cairn and would like us to consider YOUR picture and caption for an upcoming "Wacky Wednesday" send it to us at cpcrnblog@gmail.com! (All photo submissions become the property of CPCRN and may be used for fundraising, promotion and/or outreach purposes.
A big shout out to Bea for being our Wacky Wednesday model this week!
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Sunday Sweets!
Sunday is full of SWEETS! Each week we will showcase the sweeter side of Cairns. If you have
a sweet filled Cairn and would like us to consider YOUR picture for an upcoming
"Sunday Sweets!" send it to us at cpcrnblog@gmail.com (All photo submissions become the property of CPCRN
and may be used for fundraising, promotion and/or outreach purposes.).
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| Dan |
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| Riley fka CP Tramp |
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| Foster ShaSha |
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| Simon Rubin Paddy has Snow Nose! |
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| Rocky |
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| Kevin |
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| Calvin fka CP Roxy |
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| Foster Denmark |
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| Foster Trekkie |
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| Dara fka CP Twizzlers |
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| Monahan in motion! |
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| Callie in Snowy NY! |
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| Bullit |
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| LB the cat pondering the view... Think Spring! |
Friday, March 6, 2015
Time Bandits...
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| A Rescued Cairn needs time to adjust to any new environment, time to understand how the new pack works, and absolutely clear Positive communication from the new owner that establishes calm, reliable Leadership that he can happily follow. You can Not go too Slowly with a Rescued Cairn, but you can go too fast! Time is essential, and any rush to judgement eviscerates the heart of Rescue. |
“…I think there is a place for
healthy doubt when it helps remind us that indeed we might be wrong… ‘” Suzanne Clothier
I Might Be Wrong
Reading
The Fatal Grace, one book in the
Inspector Gamache mystery series by author Louise Penny, I was struck by this
passage, which is advice from a wise older policeman to a younger detective:
“I often think we should have tattooed to the back of whatever hand we use to shoot or write, ‘I might be wrong.’”
What if this were on all our hands, easily seen each time we reach for an animal, or hold a leash? What would happen if this reminder was read before each interaction with our dogs, or horses. . . with anyone? Would we move with greater care? Might we have less assurance in the rightness of our actions? Would we act with fewer assumptions about how entitled we are to even ask or impose our intent upon another being?
Uncertainty can paralyze us, no question. But I think there is a place for healthy doubt when it helps remind us that indeed we might be wrong. Our animal friends need us to keep this possibility in our minds, for their sake, and for ours too.
"Copyright © 2013 by Suzanne Clothier. Used
by permission of Suzanne Clothier. All rights reserved. For more information
about Suzanne please visit SuzanneClothier.com"
Read More Training
Tips from Suzanne Clothier:
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Col. Potter Training Tips: Easy Housetraining!
Contributed by a Col. Potter Volunteer
Toto:
The Other Side of the Story!
 |
|
Your little Cairn can positively be trained well, but sometimes it is wise to also use belly bands or panties as insurance when in doubt - and be sure to clean all accidents thoroughly! Borax works really, really, really well!
|
Are you thinking about adding a new Rescued Cairn
to your family? There are many things to
consider, and lots of planning to
do. You can expect to get many great
tips to help you integrate your New Cairn into your home, so it is good to know
that some of this advice will also will apply to your current resident
dogs. Housetraining is a great example.
Think
Ahead about your Dog’s Housetraining Needs!
- Expect confusion and mistakes for the first few days even in a trained dog
- It is vital to use a crate and/or a confinement area so as to not allow opportunities for accidents in the first week or two. Set your dog up to succeed.
- If using a crate, it should be just large enough for your dog to turn around in and stretch out.
- If using a confinement area, confine to one un-carpeted room (the kitchen is ideal) with pet-proof gates.
- You can always relax the regime later, but initially, be consistent in your schedule. Set your dog up to succeed in the early weeks.
- Provide extra opportunities to eliminate outside:
*First thing in the morning
*After eating
*Every 2-3 hours
*Last thing before bed
*If dog doesn’t eliminate on any particular
outing,
try again an hour later
try again an hour later
- Accompany dog to eliminate – go with him rather than sending him outside so that:
a. You know whether he’s gone or not, and
b. You can reward at the right instant –
praise or
a small food treat as he finishes
a small food treat as he finishes
- Go to the same spot to make it easier, or at least the same kind of surface
- Praise and reward all outdoor elimination for the first few days – later can stop but it is ok to continue praising if you want.
- Interrupt him (“Ah! Ah! Let’s go outside!”) at the start of any mistakes indoors, then hustle him outside to finish. If he finishes outside, praise and reward. Note: interrupt him, do no punish him. Punishment is not a good idea early in a relationship with a new dog, and of dubious value at any time in housebreaking. And, even more importantly, if the dog makes a mistake unsupervised, it is your fault not the dog’s fault. Never punish your new dog for making a mistake somewhere if he is unsupervised – there is zero connection to the act that happened in the past.
- Clean all accidents thoroughly! Borax works great!
- Add one extra room of your home to your dog’s allowed area every few days if your dog is successful. Supervise closely every time a room is added.
- Gradually extend the duration between opportunities to go out, adding a half hour per week. It is reasonable to expect an adult dog to hold on for 4-5 hours. Of course, many dogs can hold on longer but it is always more humane not to have to (except at night)
- Sudden onset of indoor elimination in a trained dog may indicate a medical problem – consult your veterinarian immediately before getting behavior help.
Getting a puppy? The same rules apply, except
you will need to make more frequent trips
outside to the potty spot in the beginning, stretching the intervals slowly as
the puppy grows and matures. Consistency is the key! You need to make an appropriate schedule and
stick to it to create patterns that will set your puppy up for success.
Good luck! And thank you again for opening your
heart and home to a rescued Cairn!
Rescuing one Cairn will not change the world,
but it will surely change the world for that one Rescued
Cairn
Read More About It:
It’s
Always Best to Start at the Beginning!
I’m
Not Sure we’ve been Properly Introduced!
And
the Oscar goes to…
Col. Potter Needs a Few More Beginnings!
Please
Volunteer to Foster and help us help give a new start to every Cairn in need!
Please Consider being a CP Volunteer!
CP
Foster Home Application form:
CP
Transport Volunteer Driver form:
CPCRN
Volunteer form:
Col. Potter’s Name a Rescue Cairn
Program
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