Rescued 2 yr old male Cairn Terrier

Question
Hello
My mom recently rescued a 2 yr old male cairn terrier. He has spent most of his life outdoors. My mom is having a hard time housebreaking him. We take him for long walks, but he only pees during the walks.  We have been finding feces here and there in the house but he does manage to go when put outside. Her dog also seems to have an extremely healthy libido and tries to mount any dog (or object) that he comes in contact with. My mom is older and she is afraid she has gotten herself into something she can't handle. She is willing to spend the time and money to train him. He has really brought new joy into her life. Do you have any suggestions?


Answer
Anne -

As someone who fosters rescue cairns, I had to smile at your description. These are classic behaviors - and not even so much of a rescue cairn, as of a cairn of that age in general.

The first thing to remember is that he is in his terrible teenaged years.  This is the worst he is ever likely to act - and that's a good thing.

Housebreaking - If she's having trouble with urine too, I put a link below for belly bands.  If it's just the defecating, I recommend that she use a crate any time she is not going to be immediately with him - work, shopping, naps.  Then, immediately upon arriving home you take him out to potty.  I'm not a big fan of treating for all behaviors, but this is one that it's worth giving a tiny bit of a very high value treat for success in pooping outside (think a pencil eraser sized piece of cheese).

The mounting behavior very likely has nothing to do with libido (unless he's not neutered - in which case that needs to be done right away).  Mounting is a common dog dominance behavior, and he's trying to show all the other dogs that he's not afraid of them.  Now, this does not mean it is a behavior we wish to have be OK.  Here's what I would suggest.

1.  Training him to a very reliable "sit" and then treat.

2.  Once he is trained to that, you can quickly tug him, get his attention back into her, have him sit, and then treat.  In fact at that point I would give a few treats one right after another (remember to make them very small and of something very very high value, but still healthy).  We call that a "jackpot".

3.  Only do this when he attempts to mount. You need to let him retain all the other forms of doggie communication like butt sniffing, etc.

It won't take long before he learns that he can get treated instead of mounting.  You have replaced a negative behavior with one that is good.

I also ***strongly*** recommend locating a terrier-savvy trainer and going through a series of basic obedience classes at the very least.  This is as much for the people as it is for the dogs.  We as people have to be trained to understand what motivates our dogs.

Lastly, I also put a link below to an article that takes a serious look at the cairn temperament, but puts it in an amusing message.

-Beth


Toto - The Other Side of the Story
http://www.cairnrescue.com/general/index.htm#toto

Belly Band
http://www.decotogs.com/