Ok, is it just because she is a puppy, or should I seek a behavioralist???
Okay, so, i want to throw this out there for everyone. I have had maggie for 5 months now and she is a great dog, really. But I don't know if it is just her being a puppy, a corgi, or both, or if there is something wrong in her behavior. When she gets worn out, which it take tooons of activities and excersize to do, she behaves well. However, without that, or before we give her lots of exercise, she barks and barks and barks. Plus, she tends to start to try and play with us...she has her adult teeth now and all though it isn't as often, she still will bite at our hands or elbows and try to play with us rough. We never taught her that that was okay. we did the yelp thing, the walk away thing, and the submitting on the side thing. It does not seem to have had a full effect. Like I said, she is a great dog. The biting thing is not all the time, every now and then, but she does bark excessively. Do any of you own very vocal corgi's? We went to a basic obedience class and the trainer said that maggie was not aggressive, just very energetic and needed to get lots and lots of play time in order to behave well and listen. Do you think this is true? or should I look into it? She is fantastic around kids and other people...she loves to play with other dogs but isn't the best with small ones, i dont know, it just seems to be with my boyfriend and I that she thinks she can bark, bark, bark and bite.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jeff, Karen, Violet and Magnus on
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Ours are both 2 - I think what helped us is that Violet and Magnus have each other to play with - and they do often. Their favorite game of the moment is chase each other up and down the stairs. They also get a walk every morning. They have never really been biters, but I swear Magnus' bark could shatter glass. His bark is extremely high-pitched, much more than his sisters. I read somewhere for the barking, don't yell at them. They think you are joining in the barking fun. You are supposed to use hand signals to get them to stop. It hasn't worked for us - but I admit we aren't consistent with it either.
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Permalink Reply by Ann on
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Our female corgi, CoCo (14 months) does the biting thing 1.) when she is excited (e.g., we return home) and 2.) when she wants to play (but not as much now as when she was younger). She only does it with people in her family/"pack". She will not do it with other people/visitors. I work with someone who also has a corgi (female/12 months), who does the same thing. CoCo isn't trying to bite to hurt, rather to say..."play with me or I'm so excited and happy to see you." We typically sit on the floor once we come through the door and get her to sit by us to be scratched, which dials her down and/or redirect her with a toy or something we have brought in the door. We don't try to pet her until she stops jumping around and comes to us to be pet (be calm and don't talk too much after initial greeting). I have to admit when she was a puppy that we tried scolding with "no bite", but this didn't really work for us. However, I'm sure we weren't consistent. She barks at anything outside that she believes has entered her "kingdom" mostly to alert us. She also barks and/or "talks" when really excited. She used to bark to get us to play with her, but not so much anymore. I believe this is due to us getting another corgi to join our pack. Now, she spends most of her time playing with him and watching the rest of us...Steve calls it "CoCo surveillance." She believes it's her job to keep track of the goings on in her kingdom.
I agree with the the other posts that 1.) exercise, 2.) obedience classes, 3.) getting older, and 4.) assigning her a job e.g., getting the paper, hiding treats, agility and/or making her obedience training formal (change collar and/or leash and run through a series of commands -- so she knows it's time to work). We just finished our third obedience class. She has matured and pays much more attention to her handler with each class. Bottomline: I don't think that you should give up yet.
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Permalink Reply by Gary Tallon on
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Ann,
At 5-6 months your baby is still a ball of energy and is just playing. My Ginger was like that till she was 1 1/2. She is almost 8 now but still has her "Corgi attitude." I would not equate this type of behavior as "biting" in the traditional sense. They don't have hands so the do alot with their mouths.
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Permalink Reply by Paddy and Karley the Corgies on
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Congradulations on surviving puppyhood. Now you get to deal with adolesence and awkward teenager behavior...My Paddy was the same exact way. I thought I was never going to gain control over him. Hang in there, Maggie sounds like a healthy normal corgi. The barking, biting and behavior to gain your attention will subside, I promise. Keep enforcing the training techniques you learned. I actually took two additional classes just to help me reinforce good behavior (lets face it, training is for the owners not the dog, and I needed all the help I could get). If you haven't already, you might want to sign up for a few more classes. Paddy is almost 3-years old now and pretty mellow, doesn't bark for attention and plays very well with others. By-the-way, Maggie is beautiful!
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Permalink Reply by Sylvia on
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From experience, all I can tell you is that she should grow out of the barking. Oliver was a barker at that age. He would sit at my feet and bark, and bark, and bark. Sometimes he would be in the other room just barking. I heard somewhere that Corgi's like to hear themselves speak. Maybe that explains it, maybe not. Either way he just about drove me crazy! I would take him outside to play with my older dog Jake and he would bark and bark at Jake. A couple of times I found myself going out by myself in the afternoons just for some peace and quiet!
The good news is, he is just over a year old and he doesn't bark like that anymore! He is such a good little boy, it was like a switch turned on. One day we were struggling to house train and to curb his barking, and it seemed like the next he was house trained and barked for reasons instead of randomly. Bliss!
With the nipping, we had that problem with my older dog Jake. When we got him from the humane society he chewed and nipped constantly. We would lay on the couch with blankets over our arms just so he couldn't get to them. It took a few weeks but the effects have lasted. We rough house with him and he will "mouth play" by trying to catch our hands with his mouth. But as soon as he gets too rough we tell him "gentle" and stop immediately. Also, when we are rough housing with him and we are finished we will tell him "enough." I know some trainers tell you not to rough house, but with no other dogs in the house (it was before we got Oliver) it seemed Jake needed it. Either way, it seems to have worked. He doesn't nip or chew ever. He is extremely gentle, even with children, and though he still loves to rough house with us, he knows that there is a time and place.
Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Jeanette on
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I didn't read through all the comments, but I do have one regarding the biting. Make sure when you play with Maggie that you don't put your hands around her mouth, even in play. Also when she meets other people, ask them not to play with her in that manner. They naturally want to go after the hands that way. So many people think it's so cute to kind of pat them on the sides of their mouth and that promotes biting.
Good luck...I'm sure Maggie is just a typical puppy!
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