Is Piper playing a game or is this something else?

Hey guys! Piper's been doing something weird lately, though I'm sure it's completely "normal" for a corgi to do this given the breed. It will either happen when I get up to correct her from chewing the carpet/blinds or randomly. When I walk towards her, she will go into (what looks like) a play bow and then lurch towards my feet, nip the air, and bark/soft growl. I'll stop walking, and she will continue. I'll start walking, and she will continue. For whatever reason, she's doing this to me and not my fiance (hehe, we're recently engaged!!). But she will mouth/nip/bite both of us. We could be reaching down to put her collar on or give her a pat, and she will get her mouth on us. We've tried to yelp and walk away, we've tried putting her in a time out. Nothing really seems to work.

Any suggestions would be great!

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Permalink Reply by Juno on June 5, 2012 at 7:36pm

hm...let me try and take a stab at this..at least in terms of the mouthing for both of you. Initially, I tried "yelping" also at Juno but i realized that he could care less. What I ended up doing was when I offered him treats, I'd hold it with my index finger & thumb(not as close to the tip of the finger) & give it to him...that way his teeth will somehow have skin ccontact w/ me. Anytime i felt his teeth touch even if not superhard, I said OUCH and pulled my hand ALONG with the treat back out and away. Do not give him the treat until you feel his teeth pressure/contact have improved. I repeatedly did this until he learned to take the treat from my fingers gently which was either no skin contact at all, he avoided it or it was a simple contact with no pressure what so ever. It's gotten to the point now where if he tries to bite my hand or nip my hand(in a playful manner or not)...although it may end up in his mouth, he puts little to no pressure. I also play with his mouth/teeth from time to time(as adviced) which is just "brushing" his teeth with my fingers and once they're comfortable will let you put your hand in their mouth. Juno still has times where he'll have skin contact w/ pressure and since yelping didn''t work for me, I just say ouch, walk away making a "ssss" noise like it really hurt in addition to rubbing/looking at the area where he put pressure on. He seems to care a bit more this way than yelping.

Hope this was of some help? i'm still a newb & learning :)

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Permalink Reply by Chris, Kadi & Brodie on June 5, 2012 at 9:33pm

This is the herding dog coming out. Piper is trying to herd you into doing what she wants. You need to work on being the alpha with her. If the yelping doesn't work, then you need to give her a firm 'no' in a stern, almost growly voice. With Kadi, we cheated. Our Boston Terrier took care of it for us. She still 'forgets' sometimes, but as soon as we tell her 'no' she gets all ashamed and does the "I'm sorry, I'm still just a baby and I forgot and I'm cute and you love me" look. (She'll be a year in less than a month, so she's going to have to try a new line soon!)