Cairns fighting

Question
I just read the question from someone else on this site that seems to have the same problem i am having with the aggresive attacks of one of her Cairns.
I have 2 male Cairns that are littermates and are 5 mos. old. I got them at 11 wks. I had one male and one female originally and within a wk. the female attacked the male on 3 occasions. The attacks all involved the female biting and locking her jaw to the point i had to pry her jaws loose to free him. After the 3rd time, I took her back to the person I got them from & exchanged her for another male. The breeder said she had never had any problems of aggression with any of her dogs & felt that it was just a problem of some sort with this particular female. She did admit that she had never sold 2 to anyone though.
My 2 males were fine for approx. 6 wks. then as they were chasing & playing one day the one that had been the object of the earlier attacks by the female suddenly attacked the other one in the same way. Same jaw lock to the point i had to pry his jaws loose and got bit in the process. This happened 2 more times within a wk. These attacks are very vicious & usually draw blood or at the very least some serious bruising. And also leaves the underdog cowering and afraid of the other for a few days.
Now i have to monitor them constantly and barely let them play together for fear this will happen again. At this point anytime i feel they are getting too agressive I distract them with going outside, a toy, or just a very firm command of NO, all of which have been working to a point, but if i am not fast enough or close enough to stop it I have no doubt that it will happen again. I cannot leave them alone together for more than just a few minutes.
I love them both and dont want to have to make the choice to give one of them up, but I am not sure what else to do.
Do you have any input on what may be causing this and any suggestions on what i can do about it?
Is this jaw locking a trait in the Cairns?


Answer
Tina -

What a terrible situation for you. You have certainly had a lot of the fun of having puppies taken away by these fights.  I'm so sorry.

Cairns are often quite scrappy, so fights are not uncommon. This breed has retained quite a bit of the characteristics that were bred into them certuries ago (unlike westies who have become more refind house pets).

In my experience, they don't tend to lock jaws, but my jack russell does, so I know exactly what you are describing.  For safety's sake, let me recommend that you put immediately harnesses and 6 ft leashes on both of them while you work out what to do. This permits you to get ahold of them without getting in the middle of a problem. If a fight should occur, grab one leash, pull it taught and tie it somewhere. Get ahold of the other leash and pull it taught in the other direction.  Try to stay calm and keep a steady pull on the leash, Within a few seconds, one of the dogs will try for a better hold and you will be able to pull the dog out of the fight right away.  If you're not alone, you can have the other person pulling constantly in the opposite direction instead of tying it up.

The other thing I recommend is trying to see what sets them off. It's likely to be a toy or treat. That means all toys come off the floor - all the time unless you are specifically playing with the dog, and that should be done one at a time.

I also recommend that you read though this training regimen for tips about adjusting their attitudes....

http://cairnrescue.com/docs/NILIF.pdf

I also recommend obedience classes for both of them. This is much less about training them to behave than about learning to understand dogs and their motivations.

Finally, I would not be surprised if you end up rehoming one of them, unfortunately.  I would ask that you consider breed rescue as a best option for your kid of, God forbid, you come to this decision. They are best suited to understanding the issues of the breed, rehabilitating the behaviors, and offer the most thorough screening of adoptive homes.

-Beth