Dewclaws

And yes if another breed of dog was grabbing on to my dogs and wouldint let go then I would do all that I was capable of ending the fight including causing pain and injury to the other dog . No matter if it's a poodle or a St. Bernard or a Heinz variety mutt . My responsibility is towards my dog .

The name of these breeds are pretty descriptive if what they were originally bred to do . Which was grab on to the nose of a bull and not let go no matter how they were swung around and beaten in to the ground . When that was banned they where used for the equally cruel ' sport ' of dog fighting . A border collie is selectively bred to herd . A bull breed was selectively bred for jaw strength and a tenacity to hold on at all costs . It's not being a ' breedist' to acknowledge this . It's a reality that in a dog fight these breeds have a clear advantage due it's genes . You can acknowledge this without getting defensive and saying other breeds can also causes severe damage . Which no one is denying .

Also if pup does decide to roll in something dead and rotten or drops a silent one then then stinky inky rolls of the tongues perfectly !

Slinky Inky . Not a fan of Secret .

Hmmm all the breeds I seem to get are gluttons and feast until they are nearly sick . Or chew on bones so long that when they are finished its not worth burying . I refer seem to have any dog food hanging around that needs to be burried .

Yeah I was sort of thinking of a basenji for coat , none barking , size and independent nature . I know someone online from another forum who raves about them . I guess if the op was up to the challenge ?

How about a basenji ?

To me it just sounds like an overstimulated dog in a new situation that was very reactive . All involved judged the dog wrong . I think her original message was harsh to judge the handler , but I imagine she was in pain and shock and probably thought they should have known their dog better . But she has apologised . She has also acknowledged these are working dogs , so the training and temperament is going to be quite different to fido down the street . I think her biggest mistake was to treat this dog like fido down the street . Harsh lesson for her, harsh lesson for the handler . Ultimately a storm in a teacup because she seems to be happy to accept it as a learning experience . The end .

The university gets grants from hills and royal canin . Two pet feeds not sold in supermarket pet feeding departments . Considering they are not being transparent with their findings makes me think their findings are not significant enough to get the companies producing these feeds in to trouble . But naming and shaming them could get them a defamation case .

Does this conformation actually cause any health problems for the dogs ? I am gathering breeding stock stills needs good hip scores ect ? See while I get that people don't like the look of them if you start not rewarding prices to breeds of dogs that you feel is a ' extreme ' version of the standard then there a many many more breeds who will be banned . Most brachy breeds are much more extreme than the dogs around when their standards were originally written . Coated breeds have ' bigger' coats ( border collies for example ) . I think if you attack these German shepherds due to their looks then really your attacking show dogs in general . Because really is a vet going to say a pug is being bred with its optimal health in mind? A English bull dog? How about a shar pei? You really will be opening a pandora box if you get vets in the show ring . Not that I necessarily think that Is a bad thing but you can not single out German shepherds without saying that the whole show and purebred dog industry will be massively effected if you got vets in to the ring judging for health .

Talk to the bank . You could borrow pretty easily with that type of equity . Get a building extension expert in . It's amazing what they can do with limited space .

Age would probably be the biggest factor . I don't think it's fair to rehome an older dog who has lived with me their whole life . Younger dogs tend to be adaptable and more rehomeable as well . I also would be reluctant to rehome a dog with chronic health problems . I would worry It wouldn't get managed correctly in a new home . Bond and personality would also come in to it . If I had two dogs of similar age and health but I particularly loved one I know who I would pick . You do bond closer to certain dogs . I have a female cairn terrier who is 10 years old who I love but don't feel particularly close to . She is very independent and aloof and those type of dogs seem to not agree with me . I like the sort of dog whose whole body wags in excitement when the family comes home . I like a sort of dog who likes to come up to you and rest his head on your lap due to love and closeness . The only time she particularly seeks me out is for dinner time lol . My other cairn who is a boy and slightly older is just the opposite . Wants cuddles and is such a happy go lucky little boy . Not particularly bright though lol . And my lab puppy is just adorable . If I was faced with needing to rehome one I would rehome ( or send back to the breeder ) our lab puppy . He is young, gorgeous and adaptable . My cranky old female cairn deserves to remain in her home for the rest of her days . Even if I already feel I am building a closer bond with my lab .

Yes from my history lesson they were described as a short haired Skye terrier which got the sky terrier breeders and fanciers frothing at the mouth so then became ' cairn terriers' named after the rocky stone mounds scattered in the Scottish highlands that they flushed vermin from .

Yeah but deer hounds would have sheltered by the same fire as a cairn terrier . Yet deer hounds are taller than any grey wolves that would have lived in the same natural environment . Yet deer hounds and cairn terriers coat texture is pretty much identical . Nah cairn were bred for hunting small vermin and deer hounds for hunting large prey . And size was manipulated by humans by selective breeding . Nothing natural about that .

Ultimately I think what they meant was that the selective breeding happened over many hundreds perhaps thousands years instead for example the Australian terrier that has happened within the last 150 years . However the cairn terrier is in existence due to man . Man needed a small hardy canine to keep vermin down . They might not of started the breeding with stud books and a particular ' type' in mind but the breeding was managed by keeping pups in particular litters that did the job they needed the best and generation after generation created cairn terriers . Then more selective breeding created of shoots like west highland terrier, Sky terrier, border terrier and Scottish terrier . Which came about by modern breeding practices that was more concerned with colours, coat length and conformation .. But the first sentence ' cairn terriers are not a man made breed 'irks me ' cairn terriers are a landrace breed' is much better even though the extreme dwarfism makes me think they probably don't fit in to that category either .

Considering the dwarfism in cairn terriers from the original canine ( grey wolves ) in environment it's obvious that human intervention is much more intense than other landrace dogs mentioned ..

Thanks espinay2 that makes heaps more sense . Perhaps the editor of this site can use that description in relation to the cairn terrier because in that context it does make sense . Perhaps a better description would be that man and the natural landscape of the environment created the breed . I would say that with all early dog breeds this would be the case though . Yet there is no escaping the fact that domestication of dogs was strongly guided by humans . I guess though the question is what makes a breed ?

I have read elsewhere that cairn are a ' natural looking ' meaning they are no frills , they are as rough and tough looking as the rugged highlands they originate in . I often joke how scary a cairn would look if they were the size of a German shepherd . Big and solid beast with cheeky eyes lol . Nevertheless a dog that Is Very suitable to its climate was still created by man to be like that .its just practical .

Most breeds were bred for function way before looks ? I don't get your point? The other breed I own is Labradors who originally came from St. John's dog breed in Newfoundland . The dog had a otter type tail good for swimming, webbed paws good for swimming , double cost that repels icy cold water . Great retrieving skills for the fishermen in Newfoundland . Sure they were refined in England later and renamed Labradors but they existed because they were selectively bred by ' man ' to have these attributes to help him in harsh conditions . There is nothing natural about it unless you think humans need to selective breed is a natural human instinct . Sight hounds often come from hot climates so have thinner coats, scent hounds have supreme sense of smell to track with . All manipulated by human breeding . Breeds are not just about appearances .

Considering my cairns do everything possible to not get their paws wet on a cold frosty morning then I and pretty comfortable saying there is nothing 'wild' about them lol . No doubt there is some breeds of dogs less ' interfered' by humans , the traditional sled dogs the Inuit people use for example are very similar in some ways in both looks and even temperament ( very hierarchy driven ) to grey wolves . Certainly are not ' pets ' but even still they are domesticated . You could not get a grey wolf and hook it up to a sled and expect it to submit to men .

All puppies are rambunctious.you do occasionally get a More quite sedate puppy in a litter but even then they will get the zooomies and go through the ' I want to eat and chew everything ' stage which will include your child . Perhaps an older Caviliar King Charles Spaniel puppy , a puppy that has not worked out to be a suitable show dog from a reputable breeder , might be a better choice . Probably a decent wait for a suitable pup to come along but at least training would have started and cavvies are known for their gentle natures .

There is a fantastic dog documentary . Gives a great overview of the great special relationship between dogs and humans . Covers domestication, intelligence and how how dogs are vastly different to their common ancestor grey wolves and how human selection of traits have genetically made them this' way . A dingo is much different to a grey wolf . Certainly humans have made them that way . It's called ' the secret life of dogs ' on SBS catch up and free to watch .

This is what us exactly written in the dogz online history of the cairn terrier . The Cairn is not a man made breed: he evolved naturally over hundreds of years in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. His ancestors were kept to hunt and kill vermin. Wach Scottish Laird had his own "cullach de madaidhean"(pack of dogs) and crofters had their own Madah or house dog. In the early 20th century, there was much discussion and disagreement about the name for the breed, but eventually "Cairn Terrier" was agreed. In 1911, a Standard of points for the Cairn Terrier was drawn up, and this was a basis for the present-day Standard by which Cairns are judged.

Yeah but sky terriers and cairn terriers have the same ancestors . Sky terriers was also bred for the same function , to hunt small vermin . It was only in the last 150 years ago that different small Scottish terriers started to be defined in to types . Supposedly ( going by info on dogz online ) this ancestor naturally evolved and was not man made . Which considering the size compared to a grey wolf is ridiculous because selective breeding must of been involved to dwarf them plus tame them . Whoever wrote that information needs a science lesson in selective breeding and natural evolution .

Yes ruralpug, that exactly where I read it . Not sure who wrote that . It's nothing something I have ever read elsewhere . Most history I have read describes them as a very old ancient breed, one of the very early Great Britain breeds , most of the rough coated small scotttish terriers have a common ancestor with the cairn said to look the closest to it ( including west highland , Scottish, and border ) Yet since all breeds , certainly in Britain anyway, came from different types of grey wolves then certainly a lot of intervention by the desires of humans resulted in the scruffy, sweet, tough little dog . Unless there is little miniature wolf packs running around Scotland I am unaware of lol .