Herding Behavior

Do you have any funny stories about herding behavior in your corgis??

I am deaf-- have been since I was three-- and when we got our first corgi, Andy, back in 1989, the only communication device I had to talk on the phone was the TDD (nowadays we have videoconferencing and relay calls and blackberries, thank goodness). What would happen when the phone rang was that Andy's ears would prick backwards-- he would listen to see if my mother answered it, and if it was for ME (TDD tones) she would yell, "KIM! Phone!" and immediately Andy would jump up, start barking like crazy, find me, nip at my heels to get me to MOVE... and continue nipping and barking at my heels as I ran to my room to answer the phone. He would not leave me alone until he saw me pick up the phone and put it on the TDD, then he would saunter off with a "JOB WELL DONE!" attitude. Pretty cute!!! Max didn't "herd" like that, though...

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Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on May 2, 2008 at 12:48pm

They are so smart!

Our indoor cat got out on the patio. Sid herded him back into the house and to the living room (where the cats usually hang out). Good boy!

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Permalink Reply by Ju Lo on May 2, 2008 at 2:04pm

Wow, what an amazing story, Kimberly! Hehe. It never ceases to amaze me how dogs pick up on the intricacies of human lives.

I don't have any fun herding stories for Theo yet. If you run, he'll chase you, run in front of you and bark and try to back you into a position. I've been told this is not herding by some, but it seems like herding to me! He especially does it with children, though thankfully he's never nipped at heels. :)

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Permalink Reply by Niki on May 2, 2008 at 2:15pm

Kirby is completely a herder.. He shows this when the kids ride their bikes or skateboards. He will chase and nip the tires anything to get them going in the direction he wants them to. I also noticed when we go on walks he will walk in front of me and lean towards me to move me in the direction he is interested in. Its pretty cute. I never scold him or anything..I think its his natural instinct and its so cute and quite clever.

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Permalink Reply by Karen & Bailey on May 2, 2008 at 3:39pm

now that i think about it.... bailey does herd me too on our walks.. hmm.. interesting!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy, Curtis and Triley on May 3, 2008 at 4:56pm

One afternoon we were throwing a party and there were about 20 people in the house. Suddenly Triley just started barking and running from one side of the room to the other. I just thought he was "frapping" but then I noticed that everytime he ran by the crowd of people in the house they would move in tighter together, and then on his next pass he would run closer to them and they would move in again. He didn't nip any ankles and wasn't aggressive - and our friends didn't even notice (they just thought they were moving out of Triley's way so he could run). It was quite impressive!

He also tried to herd the other puppies at his puppy class (nipping and all), which didn't go over well with the trainer... Whoops!

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Permalink Reply by Becky S on May 3, 2008 at 8:29pm

I have a couple... when Brody was pretty little (I think about 12 or 13 weeks old) we took him over to some friends. They had a black lab and bischon (adult males) At first he was pretty intimated... they were all outside palying for a while and we were playing cards dowstairs (there was another adult suprevising him outside) pretty soon they all came barrelling into the house down the stairs and Brody "herded" the other two dogs under the table. He would run around bark / nip to keep them under there. I don't think they had any idea what to make of him, so they just sat there nice and quiet.

He also love to play "chase" around the cars the the garrage. He'll peek under the car, around the tires and change direction in order to come up behind you and bark to get you to change direction.