Little buggers (Cairn Terriers)

Member Name: dave27

Product:	Cairn Terriers
Date:	11/05/01 (1054 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovable, Lively, Easy to look after

Disadvantages: ...apart from the walks

Cairn terriers, eh? I've been waiting for a subject like this for ages.

Mrs D and her family have always been big Cairn lovers and they got their first one more than twenty years ago. Mrs D was in her teens then and she got VERY jealous of their new pup, but it didn't stop her nagging me like bloody mad when we first got married to get a Cairn.

I was dead set against at first and my comment always used to be, "Look, if you get a dog, I will bury you and it in the garden."

Humph, Mrs D was not going to believe that old baloney and shortly after we'd moved from Stafford to Basingstoke in 1985, a couple of years after we'd got married, she got our first Cairn.

Now I'll give you the full run down on "Cairns I have known..." shortly, but I'll just summarise a few points first.

Some while ago, Mrs D got a "Know your breed" type of reference book which outlined what you could expect from every different sort of breed. At that time, the book said that they didn't need much exercise. How bloody wrong can you be? Our Cairns would be out on the run all day long if you let them. We take them out of an evening up to the beach in Lytham St Annes and walk along a hilly bit of grass which is literally pock marked by rabbit holes. Our youngest (God, listen to me) spends hours with her head stuck down the holes and running after the bunnies, who just sit there taking the mickey out of her.

She has a similar eppy time of things when we go walking in the woods and chases squirrels up trees. They just sit up there laughing their socks off at her, but you can never get her to come back.

It was with some amusement that I noticed recently that the book now says that they love exercise (Now you tell me...)

Cairns in general are loving and faithful dogs and give their owners a lot of pleasure, but they guard the house like a right bunch of demons, and when
the postman (or anyone for that matter) comes to the door you can't hear yourself speak for the barking.

The little one has decided that she despises posties so much that she only has to see the uniform to go absolutely off her head.

We had her in the back of our car one time when we were in town and she saw a postie. God, we had to hold her down.

Cairns are playful little devils and love attention, but our little one (yes, her again!) always cheats and if you throw a stick or a ball, she just won't play fair and refuses to bring it back - she's all chase me, chase me!

Anyway, back to our family history with Cairns....

In 1985, Mrs D had decided that she was getting a Cairn. She contacted a breeders where we had previously lived and arranged to buy one, but she never went to see it - what a mistake!

They sent it down to us on the train and when we opened the box it was clear we'd got the runt of the litter, a very odd looking creature, all gangly long legs, which, if you know Cairns, ain't right.

We (well, Mrs D actually) eventually settled on the name of Muffin (cringe!), although I couldn't understand why she objected to my suggestion of Vicious Fang Brute IV (Cripes, women!)

Anyway, Muffin was a bit of a grumpy old git although we found him very lovable.

A year later we got another Cairn, again a male, and this time we saw him before we bought him, again from Stafford. We went to see the litter, which consisted of five bitches and just one dog. He was getting a right going over from his little sisters and I felt very sorry for him, so Ted came into our lives. Again, Mrs D elected herself as naming guru and rejected my suggestion of Jah Wobble (What is wrong with the woman!)

The two dogs settled down together eventually, but there was a lot of bickering at first and I had to spend the first night on the kitchen floor with our new arrival (Sucker!
)

Another year went by. It was now 1987. Mrs D got a call from her animal rescue mate (Old Witchy Woman) who told her that she'd seen an advert for a Cairn bitch that wasn't wanted.

Softies that we are, we were off again to Stafford on our great rescue and this female was absolutely amazing, thin as a rake, smiling and showing her teeth with pleasure when she saw anyone.

The guy had been keeping her outside in a shed because he couldn't allow her in the house and he had to get rid of her.

She was already named and it was then that darling Meg came into our life. She was marvellous and very loving and the three dogs settled down very well together. At least that's what we thought...

Xmas 1987 - up to Stafford for the holidays with Mrs D's crazy parents, who also had a Cairn, a right old duffer aged about twelve, and almost blind.

One morning we heard a frightful tracket and all hell had let loose. Ted and Muffin were fighting each other as if their life depended on it and there was no separating them. We eventually had to keep them in different rooms or there would have been a murder. That was how Muffin became the pet of Mrs D'smum and dad....

Five or six years on, and Meg had a stroke one morning. She'd always had a bit of a dicky heart and never recovered. the vet advised us to see how it went for a while, but she was clearly suffering, so it was injection in the paw time.

I've never known anything as heartbreaking as seeing her little body there on the block and our son Lewis, who was about four was with us as we said goodbye to Meg. It was a grim time and Mrs D was in tears.

Within the next couple of months we'd got a replacement because Ted was pining and lonely and this was another bitch, almost identical physically, but a completely different character. Enter Poppy....

Unfortunately, that was a bad year for us and within the
next 18 months or so, I'd also had to take the in laws' dog, plus Muffin down the long dark alley to the vets.

Why me? This is a hellish thing to have to do, y'know, but I managed to get through it.

Now, we've just got Ted and Poppy. Our Ted is just turned 15 and fit as a fiddle, spending hours scampering all over the hills of St Annes.

Yeah, Cairns are wonderful dogs. If you're thinking of inviting a little friend into your life, think of this lot...

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