Hello,

I have a 3 year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. His name is Loki...I'm wondering if I should regret naming him that...Let me begin by saying he is not neutered and he has a touch of aggression, but I am not even sure what kind of aggression it is. He is not aggressive towards other dogs or other people...quite the contrary. He LOVES people. He is the friendliest dog when it comes to meeting strangers. The one and only person he has ever shown aggression in a violent way is to my husband.

When we first got him, my husband was working a job where he traveled. He would be gone all week and only be home on the weekends. We were living in an apartment at the time, and my sister lived with us, and her boyfriend was over often. To me, i think the issues started with the fact that my husband was not home all the time and he was never able to establish dominance with Loki, so he had no idea who was in his pack or who was the leader.

About a year ago, we bought a house so it was just me, my husband and Loki. My husband got a job in town and was home every night. This is when some of the trouble with Loki began. It was pretty obvious that Loki thought he was in charge, so my husband wanted nipped that in the bud right away.

Loki never got aggressive until you tried disciplining him. Some examples: If we would tell him to leave a room, he wouldn't listen. If you tried picking him up or pushing him out of the room, he would get aggressive. He bit my husband. Broke the skin...wasn't a warning, just lashed out and bit his hand. And that wasn't the only time, there were other instances where when you would try establishing dominance, he would get aggressive, showing teeth, growling, snapping or biting...etc.

We worked with him for the past year and he has gotten very good. He knows who the pack leader is now, we haven't had any issues with biting in this past year. When we are home, Loki knows who is in charge. He listens very well. He does have some jealousy towards our cat and sometimes even us...he wants to be the cream in our oreo...

Well, there was a incident that happened a few nights ago and I lost my trust in him again...But I am wondering if this is something that would be fixed if we got him neutered. 

We were over at my moms house for the football game and we brought Loki with. My mom has two older female sheepdogs. They are both spade. We were about to leave and my husband noticed that Loki may have tinkled on the floor. He got something to clean it up, and as he was cleaning it up, Loki deliberately lifted his leg and started peeing on my husbands shoe. When my husband tried to stop him, he lashed out and bit him again...the first time in about a year...This incident made me think its a testosterone issue that might be helped if he is neutered (we have been meaning to neuter him, but its so expensive and we cannot afford it right now) 

I am really frustrated by this because I was just starting to feel ok and trust him...I am 7 months pregnant and now worried about how Loki will be with the baby....At home, he is really good...but why did he do that at my moms? Is it because he thought he was the big man on campus around the female dogs and he still has his parts? I am desperate...I dont have money to afford any trainer at the moment...I love Loki, I dont want to have to get rid of him...but I worry about when the baby comes. I dont want him lashing out on the baby or something.

Has anyone ever experienced this kind of aggression with their corgi? Like I said, he is NOT aggressive with other dogs or other people...I have seen him with kids and he is fine. We have taken him to the dog park and he was a perfect angel. He even has improved with getting aggressive when you try to discipline him...the only problem was that night at my moms and I am just confused. I am hoping its something that can be solved for the most part by neutering him....but I am not sure.

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I'm not an expert...so take this with a grain of salt. I think you need to find a behavioral trainer who is not of the Cesar Milan school. Get a referral from a good veterinarian. Hire the person to help figure out the issue, listen to what he or she says, and do as advised.

See...the problem with the theory that you can train a dog by establishing "pack dominance" is this: the analogy only goes so far. Human families and tribes are not the same as dog packs. Humans are great apes; dogs are canids. Humans are not dogs and dogs are not humans. Humans are not even very closely related to dogs. Similarities in behavior are coincidental or the result of evolutionary adaptations that happen to fit similar hunting and social conditions...but "similar" is not "the same." Humans do not live in dog packs. Dogs adapt (within reason) to human social units, but a dog pack is not a human social unit. Thus trying to imitate and apply canine pack behavior to animals living within a human social unit runs a certain risk of failure.

Not everyone buys what TV-star trainers say, hook, line and sinker. It may be that by trying to apply the Cesar Milan approach, you have erred in some way that elicits a negative reaction. You need to find out what that error is and see if it can be corrected.

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