Hyper-corgi owners: I need experiential advice!

It seems like the more activity I do with Pooka, the more she wants to do! She gets very whiney and anxious and even more (if that's possible) obsessed with fetch. This has been especially bad during the holidays when we are constantly having visitors or getting to go to other's houses where she can play with dogs. New people means fresh people to play fetch with.

We were at my in-laws house and a small boy was visiting who actually liked playing with her (she's normally too excited and it scares them off) though he didn't like her barking at him. By the end when we were trying to leave, she wouldn't listen to us as long as that boy had her attention (though I think he had a ball)

I've seen this other times if I start taking her on more frequent walks, she gets like this.

Anyways, after we get home and she's had a good sleep, she's ultra crazy. Definitely not a good citizen. It's all I can do to give her a new cowhoof to last a few hours. I wanted to get advice from other corgi owners who had excitable dogs and how they handle this behavior of going from a high-stress time to a down-key time and how to help the pup make the transition. I usually just try training more often to mentally tire her and reinforce patience.

That or tell her to "shut uup!" =P

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on December 31, 2009 at 12:33pm

She is so adorable it has to be hard to say no! My Sparty was like that as a youngster. I finally trained him by never playing if he initiated the game and when I was done I said "all done, go play". It was hard at first but eventually he understood and was less of a pest. However, he learned to try out visitors, drop the ball down the stairs to chase, and to drop a ball in front of my grandson (still crawling at that time) so he would push it forward. The high energy corgis really need long walks and regular training and play sessions. The more mellow ones like Izzy are easier but not quite as interesting!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Beth on December 31, 2009 at 3:04pm

Fetch really brings out the prey drive in many dogs and some can get very wound up.

One thing to do is mix training in with play so that Pooka stays partly focused on you and does not get totally focused on the tennis ball. Try having her do a "down" or a trick right before you throw the ball. You can work up to having her do a sit-stay, then throw the ball and don't let her go til you say "OK!" and release. If she runs after it anyway you need to be QUICk and either give a firm Ah-ah or if necessary get her, bring her back where she started, and no game til she stays.

A nice walk after play with a bunch of "sits" and "downs" mixed in along the way to refocus her on you could also settle her down a bit.

You could also try giving her a short (few minute) time-out in crate or pen when play time is over to settle her if she is so wound she won't even focus on you, then progress to the command-based stuff that Bev and Kerry recommend.

Good luck with Pooka!