4 replies to this topic

[PFlynn006]

Hello,

Our 2 yr old Cairn, Chase, has started to show some aggressive behavior towards other dogs, especially puppies. We socialized him very early (10 weeks) and often. This new behavior is very concerning.
He was traumatized about 9 mos - 1 yr ago while on his leash at a dog park by a Huskie who attacked him, however, the aggression is just recently over the last month and has become more constant.
I did decrease his exercise and socialization to 3's/wk at the dog park, down from every morning during the last couple of months and think this maybe adding to it. Although he has been intolerant of puppies since last summer.
We have enrolled him in training at Petsmart however he bit a puppy there and am now becoming increasingly concerned. We have also contacted a trainer whom we will see next week. We love our dog and would like to do everything possible to reverse this.
Any thoughts?

Thank you,
Patty

[pkcrossley]

i don't have any experience with this particular kind of situation and haven't even read of it. but the first thing that occurs to me is that chase is still very young himself, since cairns seem to mature rather slowly. though you might not discover the cause of this behavior, you can certainly have chase retrained and resocialized with a focus on this puppy issue.

while the attack was a while ago, i would not dismiss it as a possible explanation. in some ways i would analogize this to situation to horses who have been abused and as a consequence weakened by starvation. when they first come into care they are very docile, but as they recover their health they tend to go through a stage where they become rambunctious, unmanageable, and perhaps even aggressive. it is most likely a combination of feeling defensive on the one hand and feeling a new sense of being strong and energetic.

in chase's case, he may feel at two that he is stronger and may consider himself bigger than he was when he was attacked, and he may think that the way to work out some fear and resentment is to start attacking something smaller than he is, since that was the situation when he was on the receiving end. i notice that cairns tend to quickly model aggression, whether it comes from people or from other animals, and to consider it a standard of interaction with others unless they are trained/retrained to behave otherwise.

apart from a delayed response to his own traumatic experience, chase may be working out some other kind of issue relating to small/young/cute beings. is there a new baby in your life? kitten? puppy? is chase feeling neglected for any other reason ? it would be nice to identify and remove stressors, but really chase has to be retrained to handle stress, if that is what he is feeling, without attacking smaller, weaker dogs. he is still plenty young to learn this as well as any other new tricks you want to throw in.

in the meantime, keep him away from puppies and any other small creatures he is likely to attack. just lowering opportunities for aggression will lower his threshold for aggression.

[rainysriver]

Hello, I am a new member here and I am excited in finding a place to chat, ask questions and add to posts regarding Cairn's and to get to know everyone here.. let me first say I am a lover of Cairn's.. My name is rainy

I had a beautiful male Cairn Terrier for 11 yrs and he only pasted away on (9/7/09 from Kidney failure.. We were devastated.. and heartbroken... His name was Jax.. I never thought that I could or would get another one... Well, that has changed, Jax was the center of our world and he left such a void on our lives, so we decided to get another one... Jax was a Wheaten Color , they are very hard to determine the color anyway.. But , our new baby is a Black Brindle , he's just over 10 weeks , we named him River...

He has shown some aggressive behavior... as I am familiar with this as Jax had a very bad aggressive attitude... most of the time he was loving ... but around other dogs , he was a horror... and he even snapped at everyone in our home... Not all is his fault.. I take blame .. for not training him early on.. We got him when he was just about 6 months old... he had lots of bad habits and so did we... Taking charge is of the essence.. at all ages... Make sure you let him or her know who the alfa / boss is... No .. screaming NO is essential in their learning and will become the happy dog and social dog you want... Having someone come in to train and teach is a great idea.

I am learning and plan on being an active participate as often as my schedule allows...

[Idaho Cairns]

Rainy the new member has it right: "Taking charge is of the essence.. at all ages... Make sure you let him or her know who the alfa / boss is... No .. screaming NO is essential in their learning and will become the happy dog and social dog you want..."

Nothing is more important with a Cairn than making sure you, the human, are in charge 24/7. You have to control that natural aggressiveness in the Cairn through constant, firm, quiet, no exception, correction of behavior. Put the dog down on its side immediately and make it relent and relax every time it exhibits aggressiveness toward another dog or a human. You will not have to do it many times before you have a well mannered and trustworthy Cairn.

Welcome aboard Rainy--I see you have already moved toward reducing the heartache of losing your Jax--my cure has always been another Cairn.
I'm sure we will learn much from your experience with owning Cairns.

Patty, welcome to you as well. My middle daughter, a Cairn owner of many years, is a "Patty"! She actually had the "meanest" little Cairn I have ever seen--really a witch of a dog! However, she is doing much better with her new puppy. To me, "Patty" and Cairns just go together--it just fits!!

[hheldorfer]

You mentioned spending a lot of time at the dog park and that Chase was attacked while on a leash. Do you normally keep him on a leash at the park? Did the episodes with puppies happen while he was on a leash? Speaking from my own experience, it's generally a bad idea to keep a dog on a leash at the dog park. It interferes with their socialization with other dogs and, if Chase shows "leash aggression", it may make matters worse. My Cairn, Buffy, will play with any dog at the dog park (off-leash) but will throw a fit when she's on a leash and we meet another dog walking around our neighborhood. Just a thought.