As a lover of dogs and dog shows (the Westminster was held just this past week), my association of "cairn" is with the eponymous terriers. I once won a sack of dog food on a pet-oriented radio talk show by knowing what the word "cairn" meant in that dog breed. The word sounds as hard as the Scottish landscape.

It is a splendid Type-2 word and one which I have added to my deskside list thank you EH

EHPK, My neighbour got two of those cute sturdy terriers. They bark to wake up the ghosts of a double host of Scottish warriors.

Love 'em, though I've only met a few. Lively and with a very strong prey instinct (like most terriers), the ones I've seen have always been very social with other dogs - particularly larger dogs.

Not sure I'd like one for myself, as I think the grooming would be a bit much.

I never thought about the name, though I knew what a 'cairn' was. At first I thought maybe it referred to the dogs' appearance, but the actual definition makes much more sense. Terriers are relentless when they think they're onto something.


According to Merriam Webster, the etymology for 'terrier' is
"Middle English terryer, terrer, from Anglo-French (chen) terrer, literally, earth dog, from terre earth, from Latin terra"

One might think that 'terror' would be more apt, but "Earth Dog" makes a lot of sense. The smaller terriers are low to the ground, all terriers love to dig and chase things to ground.

Aren't Airedales terriers too? How many other regions of Scotland have lent their names to dog breeds, and are they all terriers? Did all terriers originate in bonny Scotland?

Yes. Airedales are the largest terriers. They were bred to hunt otters.

Wiki says the terriers were developed in different parts of England; however, there are breeds called "Terriers of Scotland" that are thought to have originated in common stock there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terriers_of_Scotland
(I'd never heard of that phrase "ToS" before.)

Here's a video of a cairn playing with much bigger dogs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL8IRKt4Lsg
That's pretty typical Cairn behavior.

Here's a nice pictorial history of terriers:
http://www.terrierman.com/historypics.htm

Modern terriers may have been bred from German dachshunds (badger dogs). It seems incredible to most people who do not realize that dachshunds were themselves originally bred as hunting dogs.

Some apocryphal 'knowledge' I've picked up about my own terrier (JRT), but I don't know if they're true:
1. JRTs are known to fight with other dogs, including other JRTs. They even warn you not to leave them alone together, no matter how well they seem to get along. However, JRTs are rumored to get along very nicely with beagles.

2. Horses that despise other dogs are often not scared of JRTs (probably because they're so small).

3. JRTS (and probably most terriers) are ratters. They are sometimes used on farms to keep the varmints at bay. My dad has seem them on a few farms near where he hunts.

Terriers are very active and "need something to do," i.e. a problem to solve or something to worry over, to keep them out of trouble.

One of my daughters in a training session with her JRT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg-wX_-bxvE

Very nice sites and video's. Never heard of the Enclosure Movement before. The flip side of that idyllic and well preserved English landscape . I like dogs, but not in town.

I was first introduced to the word after being exposed to the natural art of Andy Goldsworthy:

OAK CAIRN AND FIRECLAY, SITE SPECIFIC INSTALLATION IN FARRIS GALLERY AT MCASD LA JOLLA. PHOTO BY PABLO MASON


SLATE CAIRN
LANGDALE, CUMBRIA
AUGUST 1986

The slate cairn is quite nice, where it is still in its 'natural' context. In fact it looks a bit like your avatar picture. Is Andy Goldsworthy a portraitist as well?

I've always loved Jarry's sketch of Pere Ubu.

Oh, allright, I was sent by Google to Wiki to find pere Ubu who I only knew as Ubu Roi and never saw; but it was quite popular and talked about somewhere 70-80th. Thanks, got the picture.(typo)

And I bet the little beggar wouldn't eat it, right? That always happens when we get something for nothing or buy it in bulk. Terriers are fussy little things. Ours is a Jack Russell and he much prefers cat food or people food to dog food.