Hi shm92!

I had two lil' Cairn terriers, Madison and McMurphy. Maddie passed away a few years ago at around 13 yrs old and Murph is still with me, rapidly approaching 17 yrs old. They were both wonderful lil' dogs, one a bit more terrier like then the other though.

I like to say Maddie came out of the box already assembled. I put very lil' effort into housebreaking and general training with her. She was very laid back for a terrier, a professional couch potato. Never had any issues with letting her off leash. She always wanted to be where I was, so I never worried about her taking off. Never dug up the yard. Great with kids. Very gregarious with everybody we met. Never had any issues with her barking. The only thing that would set her off barking was lil' critters, which were fairly non-existent in my lil' suburb.

The only real terrier trait she had was aggression towards other animals and dogs. Now she wouldn't seek out a fight, but she didn't want any other dogs messing with her or getting in her space. She really would have preferred to be an only dog I think, because she really didn't wanna share me with the other dogs. But the extreme of her aggression never resulted in anything more then some missing dog hair. I don't think her intent was ever to really hurt, only to get her message across to be left alone.

Now, Murph was a bit more terrier-like as a puppy. He was somewhat hard to housebreak. He didn't wanna stop playing and running long enough to go out and pee. He'd practically pee on the run, so it was vedy hard to catch him in the act. But eventually we got there and he is very reliable now.

He did dig up the yard, until I got Maddie. And when I say dig, I mean huge trenches. That bad behavior stopped, once he had Maddie as a playmate to help burn off some of that energy. He also was a blur of motion as a puppy. Heck, even at 16+ yrs old now, he has more energy then my two young Collies.

I was a bit more wary of letting him off the leash, because he was sooooo fast, but the reality is, he never tried to run off from me either. A trait that seemed to amaze the vet each year. Apparently most of the terriers he saw, were quite the escape artists.

Murph doesn't have a very good "Come", which is typical of a terrier, but he has a great "Stop". He took off after a Lab, while we were hiking once, and I had a momentary thought that I'd never see him again, if he made it into the woods. But me and my friend yelled out for him to "Stop" and he put on the brakes and waited for us to go pick him up. My friend was totally amazed, because there's no way her Jack Russell would have stopped, while in full pursuit like that.

Murph isn't as much of a lap dog as Maddie was, but he's every bit as gregarious with people and great with kids. Lil' boys really love him, because he can play as long as they can.

I love to take him walking on the leash. He's not a puller and he keeps the same pace as me and can walk as long as you need. He was the best hiking dog ever. He's not much of a barker, so I could take him anywhere without issue.

Anywho, we had some challenges when Murph was a puppy, but once he matured he turned out to be the best lil' dog. I call him my lil' ray of sunshine, cuz he's perpetually happy and his tail is always waggin'.

Generally speaking, Cairns aren't quite as challenging as some of the terriers and can make great lil' companion dogs. They're quite adaptable to different lifestyles. If you're more into fun and play vs a lap dog and don't mind not getting 100% obedience, they may be just the dog for you. If you're serious, anal and don't have a good sense of humor for their antics, they could probably drive you mad.

Here's the link to a really good Cairn forum:

http://www.cairnterrier.org/forum/index.php?showforum=3

Lots of folks with way more Cairn experience then me, if you'd like varying views of the breed.

Edited to add: Oh on the professional life thing, I had a very demanding job when I got Murph, which may have been the cause of some of the issues I had with him as a puppy. Getting a second Cairn was the best decision I ever made. If you're going to just have one Cairn and they're going to be alone all day, I think you should expect to be extremely active with him/her when you're home.

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