General Corgi Temperament and Learning Potential
First, to be clear, I am not saying my dog is smarter than any other dog, or at least not smarter than any other corgi, but I really do wonder if dogs really are as smart as it seems. I was very sick this weekend and a neighbor, a wonderful neighbor, offered to take Sully out. Sully almost never asks to go out but I assumed she needed to go out when it was not time to eat and she met me face to face while I as lying down. She didn't make a sound just watched me hopefully. I told her that Dotty was going to take her out and she went to the door and sat there until she came. I know she has a fairly good vocabulary. When I ask her to bring me my shoes and she can't find them she goes right to them if I say "It's on your bed, under the table,"etc. Are they just really good a picking up on cues? If chimps can be taught to communicate in sign language I guess corgis are no different. Actually I use verbal and American Sign Language signs and Sully responds to either/or/both and many dog breeds are rated even higher on the intelligence scale. Blows my mind. Maybe corgis are just more eager to please. Seems odd to me that they are not more popular as pets.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Judith Andre on
-
They are getting clear too popular here in Lincoln NE. Many are coming from a pet store :-( So many people are stopping us and saying their next dog is going to be a Corgi and I've started telling them more of the negatives hoping they'll think seriously about what it takes to be a good Corgi parent.
-
Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
-
"I really do wonder if dogs really are as smart as it seems" Dogs are really smarter than it seems, as well as animals in general. You can teach dogs words and phrases and signs, but any dog that you have formed a strong bond with will get most of the communication non verbally and often in mental pictures from what you are thinking. The amount of her understanding you is directly related to the bond she has formed. If you have not read "Through a Dog's Eyes" by Jennifer Arnold, or "Dogs Who Know When Their Owners Come Home" (which speaks of other animals as well) written by Rupert Sheldrake, I think you would really enjoy them. Hope you feel better soon.
-
Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on
-
Sorry you've been under the weather. Hope you're feeling better.
I'm convinced that some dogs understand enough English to make out what's said in simple conversations. Some breeds seem better at it than others. Or maybe it's just that some individuals appear to be better, no matter what the breed.
Ruby the Corgi Pup is kinda scary. Forthwith, she learned to open the sliding door to get inside from the west deck, something I've tried to teach Cassie to do for years. Then the weird part is she somehow taught Cassie to do it, or maybe it's just that Cassie figured it out on her own by watching Ruby push it open. They now can get out of any sliding door that's not locked.
-
Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
-
Hope you are feeling better! I think dogs frequently are very intuitive than people realize but this varies from dog to dog. Some are just very sensitive and some are not just like people. Corgis may be more sensitive because they were bred for centuries to work closely with humans. My Sparty was a real mind reader, that is for sure! Enjoy!
-
Permalink Reply by Holly on
-
Thanks for all the feedback and kind words. I am finally feeling well again. Great in fact. After the past few Hellish days I feel like I could move mountains! This weekend Sully and I are going to visit my daughter who just bought a farm (in a good way!) close by. We will see how well Sully deals with being a guest in my daughter's dog's territory. I imagine she will be distracted by the tractors, cats, ducks, chickens and various wildlife, but I know she still does exhibit some minor resource guarding of special toys, treats and her favorite people. I will have to monitor that and keep things separate, but I hope Sully is more relaxed than in the past. I am not an expert in managing guarding behaviors. My daughter and son-in-law's relaxed attitude about it all helps at least.
When the bigger, yellow lab gets in her face Sully growls softly, but her warnings are lost on the sweet, goofy Remy. They typically do well outside where Sully seems to see Remy as a coach to follow around. I have been working for months on touching Sully all over while she is eating and removing her stuffed toys, treats, and food from her and returning it with an extra treat. She used to yelp painfully when I gently bumped her back or behind while she was eating and she looked panicked if I took something away. Now she waits happily as she knows I will always return the item, and an additional treat as well. Again, I did this with EXPERT advice, and she was never aggressive toward me, but I could always literally take something from her mouth. Not sure if she will be less compliant this weekend when Remy's larger treats and toys compare to Sully's smaller, less exotic treats. Time will tell. It is very important to me that our pets get along as we spend a lot of time visiting and having family sleepovers. One daughter has cats and the other daughter has everything including a dog. Time will tell!
-
Permalink Reply by Beth on
-
My Jack has an incredible vocabulary and picks up things said in normal conversation.
Maddie.... um, not so much. She has learned just about every word that has anything to do with her getting food. And not much else.
-
Permalink Reply by Linda on
-
LOL....Beth, I think our dogs are related. Max knows my every mood and has a good vocabulary and hand signals. I have always tried to add a hand signal to a command in training. Katie on the other hand only understands food oriented things...carrot, treat, dinner, breakfast.....and the only hand signal she knows is at bedtime when I point towards the other room for her to go to her crate...because she knows she will get a biscuit for going into her crate.
-
-
@ Beth and Linda, which one of the two dogs you mention did you get first?
-
-
Anna, I had Jack from puppyhood which is definitely a part of that equation. I do realize that.
Maddie came to us as a retired show dog at the age of 4, so I realize we did not have as much one-on-one time in the crucial early months.
However, the breeder did tell me that while Maddie was sweet and steady (she is), she had seldom been quite so frustrated with working with a dog, because of her lack of focus (she handles most of her dogs herself and they are house dogs). Maddie is a very kind dog, not a mean bone in her body and she is 100% reliable with kids. You can do anything with her. But she is very distractible. She is the only dog I have ever had who doesn't learn to follow pointing; she watches your hand like a cat would. This may be from learning to follow bait in the ring? If anything moves in her field of vision, her eye is on it and you have lost her attention. :-)
That said, we did go through CGC and TDI training. We also did a little Rally. Her leash work is superb. She came to me trained to go out in front for shows, but she picked up on heeling just by watching Jack and once she understood it, she takes to it naturally. Speed changes, direction changes, etc. Vocabulary, on the other hand, is not her strong suit. Much of what she has learned, she has learned from watching Jack. She probably would have been a different dog if she were an "only" dog because I don't think she is dumb. But she is such a follower personality that she relies a lot on the other dog in the house.
-
-
We got Max first at the age of 5. He was adopted as a puppy from the breeder to a family with 2 young boys. The couple split, the husband got custody of both the boys and Max. He remarried and the new wife didn't like Max...I doubt if it was the dog but more of something that was a reminder of the other wife. He is gentle and loves kids, learns fast. Anyway the husband returned him to the breeder per contract and was sick over it. We keep in contact with him and let him and the boys know how Max is doing. Max has his CGC and his TDI certification. I only had to take him thru beginners obedience class and then he went right into the other training. He was the only 1 of 2 that got his CGC on the first try and the only one in his TDI class that got his certification on the first try.
Our story with Katie is much like Beth's. We were so impressed with Max that we asked the breeder if she was retiring any of her dogs. She had Katie who was due for her 2nd litter in 4 years (that's all she breeds her females) and she would be looking for a new home for her after the puppies were old enough. So Katie came to us at 4....totally different personality....definitely one that has lived with other dogs and did not get as much attention as a single dog in a pet home. She is sweet, a huge love bug but in the 6 years we've had her I've yet to teach her to sit. She stands like a champ which has to be her showdog training. Like Maddie she will follow my hand but has no concept of the what the hand signal means. You never hand her a treat, you will lose a finger...that I chalk up to living with a pack and the training for the show ring where they see/smell the treat but don't often get it. Age the age of 10 she is only beginning to understand the concept of playing with a toy in a game such as fetch. But she is sweet, loves to be with people..total velcro dog and is very good with kids. She did have kids around at the breeder's.
Max was thrilled when we brought her home...he went with us to pick her up....but when he attempted to make friends after we got home she put him in his place. Funny because Max is a large boned fluffy and outweighs her by 10 lbs. He gave her a wide berth after that tho they never had a fight and walk fine together on the leash but she just never would play with him like he was use to with the neighborhood dogs at his other home. His best bud there was a pittie. Only over the last year do I find them sleeping close together, I think maybe time and the fact that they are both seniors now has them feeling closer. But she always worried if I took him out without her and had to check him out completely when I would bring him home. She does the same thing with the cats. Last time I had both of them at the vets for their annual the doc took Max into the back to use the other scale to weigh him she had a fit, she kept trying to go thru the door and had to completely check in all over when he came back. I often wondered if that is a result of having had 2 litters.
Max and Katie are cousins....their mothers were sisters.
-
-
Here's another funny thing with Maddie. She came to us clearly having had lots of tennis balls tossed her way. She loves a game. She was one of the owner's primary house dogs--- went with them on the boat, went to meet and greets and nursing homes, etc.
But if you throw a ball, she will only chase it if she can see it the entire time. If she takes her eye off it, she has no concept that it continued traveling in the direction it was already headed. She comes back to us, barking.
When our current cat was a kitten, she would sometimes disappear under the couch. Maddie would lay down at the spot she went under and watch for her to come out. Except... the cat would come out the back of the couch and be wandering around the living room, while Maddie would be waiting at the spot the cat disappeared.
To this day, years later, when Maddie is looking for the cat she will only look in spots a dog would go, mostly ground level or maybe the couch. Maddie will do laps of the house, looking for the cat (counting heads, I guess, in herding dog fashion, because she doesn't actually LIKE the cat), while the cat sits in her cat tree, watching in amusement.
To be fair, she started having seizures very late in life, so we do think she might have some sort of benign tumor. And those can grow slowly over years, so that might be part of her not really seeming to think things through.
-
-
Thank you Beth and Linda for all the details. I will offer my own story, which I find dovetails nicely with yours. What I am wanting to highlight is that in animals, as well as in people, there is a range and this range applies to intuition, intelligence, sociability separately. These attributes do not necessarily correlate.
When I was expecting my third child, I had two dogs, one an outstanding Alaskan Malamute male. I decided to buy a female puppy to eventually breed with him, as he was by now close to 7 yrs. old. I got this puppy at 8 wks and the baby was born a couple of months later. For the next three months, she was well cared for, but got very little time with me, although we had other children and a busy household, so socialization continued in spades. She was a very smart dog and highly independent, even for a Malamute. She became a breed Champion, got a CDX, as well as advanced working titles. She would only work for food, not a fun dog to work with from an ego prospective. She was bonded to my male Malamute and bonded strongly to the baby, who she raised and looked after as if it was one of her puppies. It was only when the male died ( and we had other dogs as well by then) at age 13+ that she slowly became "my dog".
I have had many animals of various species and find that the "being in tune with you" part is strictly tied to how much the animal has bonded with you. Some animals are more intuitive than others, so here the range factor applies. I don't find this tied to age in any way. An animal can bond or not regardless of age, unlike socialization where there is a window of sorts. Intelligence is also a separate factor. Part of that is innate and part of it comes from how one is raised, same for pets as for kids.... again we see a wide range. And then there is personality, this they are born with, although environment can modify it somewhat.
I have a highly intelligent 9 yr. old cat who is completely anti-social but has bonded strongly with me. We call him the invisible cat because it is rare that anyone will even get a glimpse of him. He is extremely intuitive, so much so that when we need to travel and take him with us across Country, I have trained myself to keep a blank mind because, if I even allow myself to think we'll be traveling with him, he's GONE! He was extremely fearful as a 6 wk.old kitten, while his brother loved everyone from the same age on.
I've had many rescues, of different breeds and ages, some have bonded strongly with me some not. In my experience it takes them about a year's time to "read my mind" when they do bond. Why do some bond with you and some not? This I don't know. I had one I bonded with in the time it took me to pick her up and drive home ( 1 hour). She was a stud fee puppy I had planned to sell since I had a litter of my own then. By the time I got home I knew she was not going anywhere! She became my "heart dog" and I tear up thinking of her now. Some of it is sheer Magic....
Dissecting behavioral elements is always a tall order in my opinion because there are so many moving parts to the picture, but it's also great fun if you are so inclined.... We draw parallels from our own functioning and that has its limitations. I don't think we can ever fully understand animals, just get good glimpses into their way of being. I do know for sure that what we do know and understand about them is so much less than who they truly are.
Rescue Store
Stay Connected
FDA Recall
Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall
Groups
We support...
Badge
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang.
Powered by
