Corgi is "half-barking" under things in the house.

In the last few days, our corgi Pickles, has been crawling under things (couch, TV stand, bed), and just "half-barking". Usually in the past when she's done this, it's because there's a toy that's gotten stuck that she needs us to get for her. However lately, nothing is there, but she's under there anyway making a bunch of little odd quiet bark noises.

We have no idea what her behavior is about, and we're a little worried. She's otherwise fine, and will play with her toys, eat, go out, all the usual stuff, but then every once in a while she'll go right back to her odd behavior.

Do you think she's just trying to get our attention? Does any one have any idea why Pickles might be acting like this?

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated :) Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Tauna and Kota on May 9, 2010 at 10:27pm

Are the furniture items she has crawled under near a wall? Turd kind of does that sort of thing when there is a toy too... He also does it when he hears a mouse or something in the wall near/behind said furniture. He has actually caught one and almost another. I usually hear dogs make the half growl/barking noise when they think something is where it's not supposed to be... aka the mouse, a person, a balloon, something they are not quite familiar with... Maybe she thinks the ball is under there and it's really not... Our newest member sometimes thinks a ball is under the couch and kinda half growl/barks coz he thinks it's under there, he can't quite crawl under the furniture though... good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Julia on May 10, 2010 at 2:44am

I wouldn't "worry". Corgis do a lot of quirky things. Chasing invisible things, or things that are just in their memories, are par for the course. Lilli does this "half bark" thing over sounds, or "half sounds", meaning things we don't really hear. Since she is super-hyper-sensitive to fireworks and thunderstorms, sound that are reminiscent of them set her off. That would be any sound on the TV that resembles the whistle of the take-off of a rocket, the thump-thump of a heart beat, or any number of other things that I would not recognize as one of her tip-offs at first. It could be the sound on a commercial, or song, or TV theme, or whatever. After she has gone off on it, we realize what the trigger was.

So, just as there is not really a thunderstorm or firework, something similar is triggering the same type of response. There may no longer be anything under your furniture, but something is reminding her of the experience, and calling out a similar response. Think of it as an entertaining mind exercise on your part, to solve the mystery of the corgi's brain-link.

Of course, my favorite belief is that they are really barking away monsters. There really is something out there that we can't see, and they are barking them away, protecting us. When we say to them "What are you barking at? There's nothing out there," they are proud of themselves, because they barked away the monsters. Well, why not?

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Permalink Reply by Beauty and the Beast on May 10, 2010 at 10:11am

Shiro will do that when he's scared, like when I take out a vacuum cleaner or when someone is outside our door. Try to notice what happens around you when she does that.

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Permalink Reply by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on May 10, 2010 at 12:55pm

Baxter just started doing the same thing. He will bark when his ball rolls under the couch and then continue to half-bark, growl under the couch for no reason when we've removed it. I'm not sure why he does it, I just correct/remind him, "Hey your toy is over here now!" and he usually stops.