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Are Cairn Terriers Hard to Housebreak?
"I'm having difficulty housebreaking my Cairn Terrier puppy. Is this breed difficult to housebreak? Can you help me?" ~Jonella
Hi Jonella. Every puppy is different regardless of what breed you are working with. Don't expect too much with any puppy until it is at least six months old. Starting your puppy off right from the beginning in puppy housebreaking bootcamp will certainly help. A good rule of thumb is to remember that for each accident your puppy has in an unacceptable location, the longer it will take to fully housebreak your pup. This is one reason why it is so important that the main person who will be training the puppy be available to oversee the process as much as possible in the first month.
Cairn Terriers are not any more difficult to housebreak that other dog breeds. Molly, my first Cairn Terrier puppy was harder because she had a different personality than Jack. She's a girl with an attitude who wanted to be alpha dog. BUT just as important it had been 20+ years since I had housebroke a puppy. I had forgotten everything plus the training rules had changed.
I have listed below a number of the articles I have written about housebreaking my Cairn Terriers, Molly May and Happy Jack. Please read them at your convenience, and contact me if you have any questions. In addition, I am positive you will benefit from using my FREE Puppy Housebreaking Chart Template.
Filed under Ask Me a Question | Training Cairn Terriers
Comments
Just to comment on this, we have a Cairn that is now about one year old. And at first I thought he would never stop messing in the house. But we just stuck with it, and every time he went in the house, one of us cleaned it up, while the other immediately took him outside. And just when I thought he would never learn, he stopped going in the house. Sure we still have minor issues, but they are usually our fault and not the dog's. The hardest thing now is trying to get him to stop eating his own poop.
Posted by: Andy | June 4, 2009 01:13 PM
Hi, my husband and I have a 6 month old Cairn named RB. We found that the best way to house break our puppy was to take her out often during the day and put her in a crate during the night. Also if you see your puppy looking for a spot take him/her out right away. As she was getting used to going outside, we started increasing the time intervals between her walks. It took us almost three months, but now she has no problems holding it untill we take her out.
Puppy pads did not work for us. She played with them, slept on them, peed next to them, but refused to use them to go potty.
It is also important to teach your puppy to let you know when he/she needs to go outside. RB used to just sit by the door quitely. We got a set of doggy bells (any pet retailer carries a veriaty of them) and every time we take her out we ring the bells and tell her "OUTSIDE". She is starting to use them slowly but surely.
Good luck with your puppy. It is a lot of work, but it gives you so much more in return.
Posted by: Julia | July 6, 2009 04:33 PM
