2 Cairn Terriers

Question
I own 2 Cairn terriers. I got one as a rescue dog about a year and a half ago. He is about 5 years old and very submissive and wouldn't hurt a fly. We found out 3 months ago that he is nearly blind now due to a genetic disease, PRA. Our groomer (she's also a breeder) then gave us a retired showdog of hers as a "seeing eye dog" for him as a gift. She said that this dog needed a new home because she didn't like the big Bouvier de Flanders in their house (but loved the male Cairns), and she'd be perfect since she was an 8 year old female. She really likes the female she gave to us, and gave her to us with very good intentions. She wasn't trying to "pawn her off" on us as it would be easy to read it that way.

We've had her for about 2 months now and just last week my neighbor brought her 2 collies over to our house. I wasn't very comfortable with it, but let them in anyhow. She said she wasn't staying long. But in that time they were there, when I wasn't looking, my 2 Cairns started fighting. From what I can piece together, the female had attacked the blind male and I could not her her to let go of him. It was horrifying and he was bleeding. He now has bite marks on his head and neck, but they're healing fine. He doesn't seem upset.

I don't know what to do or what to make of it. My friend said that all 4 dogs had been looking at a bone together before it started. I finally got her off of him and she was trying to bite me so I crated her for a few hours and she kept whining. He seemed happy immediately.

Then I tried to let her out of her crate hours later and he hid behind me while she charged at him again twice chomping her teeth very hard, so I crated her again until the next morning. I had to go to work, so I kept them separated all day because I was afraid he'd get hurt. She didn't seem to want to let up.

If you have advice for me, please let me know. I don't want to return her to my groomer because I feel like I'm giving up and she really is a sweet dog. But I don't want my blind dog to have a harder time than he already is. And I'm not sure what happened. She kept lungeing at him for a few days (we always stopped her) but has stopped now.

I've been thinking about it and the one idea I had was that maybe she's trying to assert her place in the pack. She needs to be on top and we maybe were confusing her by sometimes letting her be the alpha and sometimes him. So my husband and I have been always making it a point to make her the alpha by feeding her first, letting her out the door first, etc. She's been fine since then it seems. But I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do. Any other thoughts?


Answer
Hi Sarah;
Sorry, but I don't buy the "good intentions".
she got tired of the dog and pawned her off on you.
This dog was not trained properly or she would not be that aggressive.
Honey, I don't want to make you feel bad, bu\ecause there is nothing wrong with the way you are. I am one of those like you too.
Sounds like you are a big soft heart where it comes to animals.
People like us are easy to take advantage of, because we are like dogs. We are trusting, and can't say no to a pair of big eyes set in a furry face, sooooo adorable.LOL
I want every dog I see.
My husband and children say I am the world's biggest patsy for an animal. My husband says I am a reincarnated dog.
I would give the dog back to the groomer, and let her find a home for her, where she will be the only dog, or someone has the time to re-train her to get along with other dogs.
I have had 2 dogs go blind. The first one was a little, uh, Purebred Curbstone Setter.LOL
I don't like the word "mutt".
He was short legged, and had soft curly hair, and he was my little teddy bear. His name was Little Britches.
He was only 10 inches at the shoulders, but he thought he could whip King Kong.LOL So I names him that because he was too big for his britches.
I was his seeing eye person.
He knew everything in the house and their back yard, and we didn't move anything.
When we went out, I put the leash on him, and he would press against my leg. I would stop when there was a step up or down, and step with the leg he was pressed against, so he could tell where to go.
We went like that for two years before he died at 15-1/2 oh old age. It kept him going for a longer life with very little changed.
The second was our English setter, and we sill had Little Britches and hios dad and mom when we got her. We lost her at 13 years to old age. When she went blind, she wouldn't let me or our other dogs help her. We had lost all of the other four to old age, and had 3 more rescues we had kept.
She helped Little Britches, and knew the routine we had, but she was not having any of it. She was little Miss Independent. she used her sense of smell to maneuver.
If you want to keep this dog, DON'T let her be the alpha, EVER!!!
I never allow any of mine to be the alpha.
I am the alpha, and they are the children.
When they are in a pack in the wild, an alpha is necessary.
The pack is a family, just like human families. They have the same sort of structure humans need.
Family, parents ( alpha male and female), children, ( the pups, and older siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc that are in charge when the parents ar not at home, ( beta males and females).
Allowing one dog to be the alpha is like letting one child boss all the others. That is just asking for fights.
I don't allow ANY fighting.
I don't use crates, for ANYTHIG!!! HATE those things.
I use time out. I chew their little butts out good, and really give then a tongue lashing, and tell them they have to go to time out. That is a half hour in the smallest bathroom.
No toys, nothing to do but lie on the bathmat and think about their punishment.
They can also hear all the fun stuff they are missing out on.
It isn't cruel or hurtful, but it is APPARENT it is a punishment.
I only use that for fighting, not for small misdeeds.
It only takes a few times, and then when one gets snippy, all I have to do is say, "MAX!!! Do you want to go to time-out?"
And he behaves.
Max, my ittle Lhasa mix is the only one who has ever had to go to time out more than once. He is more hard headed.LOL
Mine all eat at the same time, and if I am giving them snacks, they each get one in turn. They get the second one in the same turn. Whoever is the first to come in when I say "Want a bite?" is the first one fed a bite. They all wait their turn for a bite. If there are several bites they are going to get and one tries to take one out of turn, they don't get the rest of their's. It only takes once or twice for them to learn not to try to cut in. LOL
As long as she thinks she is the alpha, she will feel intitled to "correct the others"
Nip that stuff in the bud right now!!!
YOU and your husband have to be the alpha male and alpha female. You need to establish there is NO help needed from the peanut gallery.
One thing too. I advise you to stop feeding them bones.
Dogs in the wild do NOT eat bones. They eat all the meat off, then they crack them open so they can get the marrow out. They don't EAT the bones. My Veterinarian ( been taking care of my dogs for over 30 years, tops in his field!!) says the most often performed emergency surgery is from bones.
They splinter and get stuck and have to be surgically removed or they go through the intestines, cutting as they go, and that is serious surgery that doesn't always save the dog.
Steak bones are as dangerous as chicken bones or fish bones.
She WAs trying to assert her place in the pack, but if she is allowed to be alpha, she will soon decide to be alpha over you too.
You and your husband have to be mom and dad, and all the dogs have to be the children.
I know by the way you write about your dogs, that youtalk to them all the time, and treat them as family members. If that groomer talked to her dog, then all those little critters understand the language, just from hearing it. The can't verbalize, but they canm get their points across to you.
When I am teaching a dog a new bahavior, I use the same word every time, until I am sure they unsderstand what is wanted of them, then I will talk to them more casually. When I am correcting them for fighting, I say "I won't TOLERATE that"
When they get hold of something they are not supposed to have, or are doing something I don';t want repeated, I say, NO!!! I don't TOLERATE that". and they don't do it any more. They know mommy means business when she says that. that!!!"
It works with the rescues I take in after I have had them a week or so..
The thing is, when I correct one and say that, my dogs get in a huddle wioth them, and they don't do it anymore.LOL
These critters I have now help me with the rescues a lot. They show them what I mean about potty training, anf they let them eat out of their dishes and share everything with them.When I get one that is not used to being around other dogs, but is not aggressive, it only takes mine a couple of days to have them potty trained and eating out of the same food and water bowls.
They really help me socialize them a lot.
Just raise all those kids like you would raise children, and insist they all get along.
i will tolerate growling a little, but I do not tolerate snapping and especially attacking.
Well, too late to make a long story short.LOL
But if you feel I can help in any way, please write anytime.
Charlotte