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Permalink Reply by Boo Buchheit on June 5, 2009 at 9:25am

Every dog is different but in my experience my Corgis are inclined to sleep when I'm gone. I would be careful putting too much treats in with him (I assume he will be crated) as with no potty break it could cause barking if he needed to go out. A safe chewy treat without stuffing might be better.

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Permalink Reply by Ray on June 5, 2009 at 10:58am

Actually, I'm planning on fencing up a exercise pen where there's an area for doing their business and sleeping. I heard that Corgi's don't like to contaminate their sleeping area so setting up a potty area directly opposite their crate would incline them to potty there. I don't think a puppy of around 4 months can handle 6 hours without incident just yet.

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Permalink Reply by Alice on June 5, 2009 at 12:56pm

You'll have to learn by trial and error but here's what our experience was. We started off leaving Finnigan in an exercise pen in the kitchen while we were at work and he would always pee all over and get himself and his toys filthy. He was never calm in the pen either. He wouldn't take treats and I know while we were away he would jump at the side of the pen because we'd come home to find it on the other side of kitchen with a trail of pee from under it. The idea was to give him more room to move around but it wasn't working out for us or him. Finn was used to sleeping in his crate at night and would go all night without any accidents or rowdy behavior so we started leaving him crated while we were gone and it turned out to be much better. He was calm and relaxed. He'd just lay down and sleep and he was more than willing to take a treat in his crate which shows he was more at ease there. We've had him since he was 8 weeks old and now at 9 months he still loves his crate. Finn is a bit of a barker but the odd thing is, when he's in his crate he will not bark. Perhaps he barks out of fear when he hears a noise and since he feels safe in his crate he doesn't feel the need to bark, who know. Anyway, that's how it worked for us but it's true, every dog is different. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Kyle, Megan and Loki on June 6, 2009 at 8:16am

My dog never barks when he is alone, or at least not that people have complained, only ever barks during play (usually not loudly) and when he wants to play/feels ignored. So you may not have a problem with the alone thing.

AS for exercize pens, when we used to partition our kitchen, he was more vocal (as he could see you but not reach you) but cleanish, we taught him to pee on a ugodog dog potty, which is a boon as he has never marked inside off of it, and can go pee while we are at work, he will go from anywhere in the apartment back to it and pee. He was never crate trained, and at 5 months we are quite comfortable leaving him with reign of the apartment during work and at night. When we are not home we just close the bedroom bathroom and office doors (for the sake of our laundry and my guitars mostly, not that he has ever chewed my guitars.or patch cables but if he did it would be quite the horrid expenditure)

When in the kitchen fenced off Loki would also get covered in his own poop. and he hates baths. we took a gamble by giving him the living room at one point, and he responded by only going poo outside (with 1 or 2 accidents and a GI infection asside) . Strange that the dog has sort of a give and take relationship with us but it worked.

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Permalink Reply by Lou Ann Lemaster on June 6, 2009 at 10:45am

You could get this Kong dispenser. I found this on Ebay, and it is a good price, even to send it to Thailand if the sellers would. Here are two of them:

http://cgi.ebay.com/KONG-TIME-kongtime-Automated-Dog-Toy-Dispenser-...

http://cgi.ebay.com/KONG-TIME-Auto-Toy-Dispenser-Doggie-Daycare-in-...

Of course, be sure to change the amount you feed your dog if you use this. Don't want a fat corgi!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on June 6, 2009 at 11:15am

Hello Ray, and congratulations!
I also believe our dogs primarily sleep while we are gone. And Sidney only barks if a stranger is near his home, canine or human.

6-7 hours should be easily manageable. Sidney is alone 5-7 hours on weekdays and has even managed some 10-hours days when we have taken day trips. Like the others have said, trial and error. You'll find something that works. Research other "busy" toys that you can buy to keep a good variety onhand.

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Permalink Reply by Chase's World on June 18, 2009 at 2:34am

When I bought Chase's crate, I wanted to give him plenty of room to lie down fully stretched out in "superman" position. I hated the idea of him staying in a crate while I was away during the day so I thought it would be kind to give him a bigger crate than recommended.

It took me months to figure out the extra room was stressing him out. He would get bored and lonely and destroy anything inside or within two feet of the crate. I left my camera set up one day to record him for the first 20 minutes after I left. I was heartbroken at how clearly stressed out he was. It seemed to be stress more than boredom.

When I switched him to a crate his size, his destroying behaviors stopped. I never would have believed it, but I suppose they recommend the crate sizes they do for a reason.

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on June 19, 2009 at 1:18pm

We bought Al puppy an adult-sized crate. I made an adjustable plywood back wall to reduce it to puppy-sized. As he grew, we gradually moved it backwards.
Our dogs only bark at the door, when visitors arrive or the cat wants to be let in. They do NOT do this when they're crated -- when crated, they wouldn't even bark when I came home. When Al was an adult, after a neighborhood burglary, we started leaving the crate doors open, so they'd bark at intruders. No problems, no unnecessary barking, but corgi-proof the house before you try this. Take special care that all food, garbage is inaccessible; cut bottoms off food bags to preclude suffocation if the dog gets it (we came home once to find our first, Siri, with a potato chip bag stuck over her head).

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