Dogs should be shown in good hard flesh, well muscled and neither too fat or thin.  Should be in full good coat with plenty of head furnishings, be clean, combed, brushed and tidied up on ears, tail, feet and general outline.  Should move freely and easily on a loose lead, should not cringe on being handled, should stand up on their toes and show with marked terrier characteristics.

Clarification.

     A Cairn should not be too heavy in body or in weight.  They are not chunky little dogs and should have a little extra length of loin to be agile.  In feeling behind the rib cage along the sides of the dog, a very slight depression is good in the loin area.  Not that you want to feel the hip bones, but you do want to feel the ribs and you want some leanness through the body.  Cairns are not as heavy boned as the Westie or the Scottie. 

     Full good coat means a two- or three- inch-long coat all over the body-unlike the Westie or Scottie, which have much longer coat on the legs and undercarriage.  The Cairns is not stripped on the back leaving a flowing skirt.  The entire body is stripped, not just the back.  Nor should if be skinned down at the neck or carry an abundance of long, silky, dead furnishings.  This style of grooming should be heavily penalized in the showring.  A coat should be worked entirely with the thumb and forefinger.  Scissor marks should never be seen on the Cairn body.  Scissors may be used around the feet and just at the very top of the ears.

     The fad of blow-drying the Cairn should be discouraged.  This treatment only puffs out the coat and presents a very unnatural appearance for a rugged, sturdy animal.  In order to preserve the Cairns Terrier in its best old-working type, fanciers must resist any temptations to succumb to "current fashion."

     Proper trimming and grooming of the tail is important for adhering to correct Cairn type.  The hair covering the tail should taper from the base to a point at the tip like a Christmas tree or an inverted ice cream cone.  A skinned-down tail is both unsightly and incorrect.

     Judges are encouraged to examine Cairns on a table for eye-level viewing and assessing.  The Standard calls for the dog to be shown on a loose lead.  A loose lead is most important for the natural presentation of a Cairn.  Also, those handling should be on their feet, not squatting and posing their dogs.  Cairns are active, lively dogs, standing and facing the world proudly.

My Comments.

     Muscle tone should be firm.  The Cairn is an active dog and should maintain excellent quality muscle tone without any special exercise regimen.  Normal outdoor activity should keep the Cairn perfectly fit.

     It is very difficult to keep a Cairn in full coat when the cost is allowed to grow to three to four inches in length.  There should be no suggestion of the overgrooming so prevalent in the showring today; however, a two inch minimum on the topline, blending down the body into longer hair will present the proper appearance.

     The shorter coat gives the groomer better opportunity to keep the coat rolling.

     The only scissors that should be put on the Cairn coat, even on feet and ears, should be very fine thinning scissors.

     Another description of the tail shape is that of a inverted carrot.  The tip of the ears and the tip of the tail should be the same height.

Movement:

My Comments

     The Cairn Standard only describes movement in the following terminology, "should move freely and easily on a loose lead."

     I feel that it is important that what I consider to be proper Cairn movement should be described here.

     When the Cairn Terrier moves, forefeet and hindfeet should travel in a direct line.  The forefeet skim the ground, with long strides emerging straight from the point of the withers.

     All four pads should be visible when watching the dog gait, going away.

     In other words when the Cairn is moving at a trot, the front and rear feet strike the ground under the appropriate joint, moving very square and true.  As dogs move faster, there may be some convergence, but this is a characteristic of normal movement and not to be faulted.

     It is also important to understand parallel tracking.  The footprints of a dog that parallel tracks fall wider apart on either side of the center line of travel than those of a dog that single tracks.  Speed and structure influence the degree to which the legs incline inward.

     We have all thrilled to the sight of an elegant animal moving well, whether in the showring or in rough or rocky terrain, doing what it was bred to do.  We need not be technical experts on skeletal structure to appreciate proper movement.  We do have a study animals moving and be able to ascertain true efficient movement, and to breed for that critically important virtue.