Two Cairn Puppies

Question

The Boys   We recently purchased two Cairn male puppies after having rescued two other dogs throughout our life...one a Cairn. I wanted the "puppy experience" and boy are we getting it! They are great but I want to make sure we are doing right by them. They are totally crate trained, mostly potty trained, good walkers, sit/down/up commands, still working on recall, etc. They are 4 months old and I have a few questions. One-We believe in e-collars for certain situations. When can we introduce a bark collar to a Cairn..although stubborn, they are very sensitive and won't forget. I don't want to scare them or impact them forever. Two- what is the best way to introduce them to other dogs? Three- One is very alpha, the other is not. The alpha likes to chew on every piece of furniture, rugs, molding on the wall, etc. They don't have free reign of the house...just the kitchen/laundry room and TV room at night with us. For the most part, we have puppy proofed the areas but Hank can find that "one" thing that we forgot!! Chew toys, new toys are available, but he likes our stuff:) Four- any other tips are appreciated!! Thank you so much for your time.
Melissa

Answer
Hi Melissa
I have quite a few clients who have Cairn siblings and it's always fun. One thing I can tell you is when you get siblings of a litter they tend to focus more on each other than you. That can be good and bad if you don't do serious training but it sounds like you understand that.
I am such a firm believer in e-collars for terriers I see no need to explain that to you. What I would encourage you to look into is a remote control operated one for your "Destructor" so you can reinforce the no chew rule.
Sounds to me like you have it all under control!!!
Start grooming them now- I hope you can find someone to pluck them for you or you learn to do it yourself. It makes such a huge differs and Cairns are really easy to do it to. You must start the brushing and combing them immediately. You can see tools on my website.
Thanks for visiting AllExpert- hope this a seers some of your concerns