Capone, my sweet Cairn terrier

Question
I recently adopted a Cairn Terrier who was the runt of the pack & was adopted at 3 months old. He is now 9 months old. Though I have semi-successfully trained Capone, he still hides in a certain room of the house to go potty. After the fact he will tell me by barking and jumping on me. How do I correct this issue?
He also has very destructive behavior. He chews, claws, digs & tears everything up in the house-including my couch! Today he got ahold of a used paint brush that had some leftover paint on it which resulted in him having diarrhea. I'm starting to worry about his safety. I also have a 6 year old Border Collie who keeps him company and is very calm and sweet. I love this puppy and give him positive reinforcement but he still dumps over the garbage, chews up my books and tears up the floor-even when I'm home. Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening? I'm a very calm person, I give him lots of attention. I don't give him as much exercise as he probably needs--do you think it would help this problem to get a treadmill & walk him more? I live in Northern Minnesota so it gets really cold out sometimes to walk him as much as I'd like. Any information would be really appreciated. I watch the Dog Whisperer religiously but somehow haven't learned how to train either myself or Capone how to behave more balanced!  Please help!

Answer
Kelsey -

Thank you for adopting your little man, but it sounds like you have your hands full.

First off, I would recommend crating him when you're not home.  I also strongly recommend an obedience class, and I think you would find this article helpful:

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

You may want to use something like a kong toy to entertain him. I often take one, stuff it with leftover pasta, plug the ends with peanut butter and then freeze it. That will keep him busy for a couple of hours in his crate when you're not home.

There is also a wonderful online group you may wish to join called Cairn Rescue Mentoring. While it is based around a specific rescue group, it is a wonderful source of advice about all the ins and outs of being a cairn's momma.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/CairnRescueMentoring/

PLEASE stop watching the Dog Whisperer. The professional dog training world wishes he would be taken off the air.  Many of the things he advises are not safe for regular people to do, and are not based around the positive, proactive techniques that are proven to work best.  Watch Good Dog U on Animal Planet instead !

http://www.urbandawgs.com/divided_profession.html

http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ1006-ESQ100_20-21.FINAL.rev_1

I am certain that you will get a handle on your little man in no time.

-Beth