64 
H 0 u i e & C at d en \ 
Levick 
A small, hardy fellow, 
keenly alert and game \ 
as a pebble. Courtesy ' 
Mrs. Winans Burnett 
THE NEW-COMER FROM SCOTLAND 
The Cairn Terrier^ Standardized and Coming Into His Own, Brings with Him 
the Best Traditions of His Native Moorlands 
ROBERT S. LEMMON 
H 
A splendid speci¬ 
men of Cairn. 
Courtesy of Mrs. 
Byron Rogers 
E comes from the 
Scottish Isles, from 
rugged hills and heather 
and dark, rocky glens. 
The spirit of his native 
land is strong in him, its 
mark indelibly impressed; 
his very name, in Gaelic, 
means “a pile of rocks". 
As the crofter's working 
terrier he makes his own 
bed in the shelter of some 
great boulder where 
clumps of gorse hide it 
from view. inter and 
summer he may know no 
other roof, yet his own 
marvelous coat keeps him 
warm and cosy. 
The origin of our pres¬ 
ent-day Cairn is a moot 
point. There are those 
who claim to have bred him for fifty years, 
hut his recognition as a standard breed is only 
recent. We know that prior to the adoption of 
Iris present name he was 
known in Skye as “the 
short-haired Skye”, and 
that each district in the 
highlands and islands of 
Scotland had its special 
variety of him. It is not 
surprising, then, that 
tliere are many types of 
Cairns—big dogs and lit¬ 
tle, dogs with Scottish ter¬ 
rier characteristics and 
dogs without, dogs with 
droop ears or pricked, 
short backs or long, 
straight tails or curled, 
black coats or red. But 
whatever his outward 
show, the heart of the 
■Cairn remains un¬ 
changed. It is a heart of 
3 :)ure gold, fearless, warm 
and splendidly devoted 
to mankind. 
The Cairn Terrier 
Club has selected as 
standard the small dog 
with erect ears and sharp 
features, a short-backed, 
debonnair little fellow preserving the best tra¬ 
ditions of his race. Such a dog is small 
enough to burrow under the clumps of bracken 
and heather which often hide his foe the fox’s 
den, or squeeze between the great gray boulders 
on the hillsides. Agility and sure-footedness 
are his, and abounding courage and strength. 
All tins and more is to be found in the Cairn 
which the club has chosen. He is intensely 
loyal to one master, yet friendly to the world 
at large. With children, as with grown-ups, 
he is dependable and honest, while as a watch¬ 
dog he shows powers of discrimination which 
He comes from the 
Scottish Isles, from 
heathery hills and 
ravines, the home of 
his enemy the fox 
Level back 
ideally fit him for the part. Not every breed 
is adaptable to indoor and outdoor, city and 
country life; but the Cairn fills the bill in this 
respect without half trying. 
In view of the diversity in types already 
set forth, a brief summing up of the standard 
which has been established will be of interest. 
Cairns which live up to it in all respects are 
rare in .4merica today—in fact, the breed as a 
whole is only beginning to be recognized and 
appreciated by the public—-but we may confi¬ 
dently look forward to a marked improvement. 
Here, then, are the points to be sought in a 
good specimen: 
A height of not over lO^j" at the shoulder 
and a weight not exceeding 13 pounds. A 
wide, flat skull covered with soft, fluffy hair; 
sharp little jjointed ears, erect and set well 
apart; small, wide-set, very dark eyes with a 
penetrating and very steady look; foreface 
shorter than the skull and well tapered. Nar¬ 
row but deep chest; front legs perfectly 
straight from the shoulder and set on well- 
arched feet protected by thick, soft pads. 
and short body well tucked 
up; powerful hindquar¬ 
ters, and a gay little tail 
that does not curl. The 
Cairn should show rug¬ 
gedness in every line, 
movement and respect, 
should give the impres¬ 
sion that he is a dog who 
knows his good qualitie.3 
and means to live up to 
them. 
Fortunate is the pos¬ 
sessor of one of these lit¬ 
tle moorland dogs, the 
last l)ut by no means the 
least of the working ter¬ 
riers which have been 
sketched in these pages 
from time to time. Truly 
the Cairn is worth-while, 
a distinctive small fellow 
of sterling quality. Let 
us hope that the rapidly 
growing demand for him 
here in .America will 
soon raise ' him to his 
rightful place among the 
seats of the mighty in 
modern dogdom. 
the 
set 
The mark of 
Highlan ds is 
strongly upon them; 
they are Scotch to 
th<' heart 
Ja'\ ick 
