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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on July 17, 2009 at 10:02am

Have you tried the water bottle? How about a can of pennys? Make sure you get in 45 mins of walking time, may be you can change up the schedule a bit, a tired corgi is a well behave corgi, nothing can substitute good old fashion walking :)

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Permalink Reply by Ollie and Dinah on July 17, 2009 at 10:33am

The can of pennys disgruntled him a bit at first, but it didn't bothered him asfter a week or so. The water bottle never worked - he loves it. Loves taking a bath, too. Crazy dog.

I did give him a 45-50 minute walk yesterday though (normally we do about 30 min) - we were going over my grandmother's house, and I wanted him to behave...tried to tire him out a bit. It didn't work at all - he was jumping all over my aunt and nipping at anything that moved. Granted, there was a lot of stimulation there; so he may have behaved differently had we not traveled.

I just wish he realized that he doesn't ever go in the crate while he's being good! Seems simple, right?! Sigh.

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on July 17, 2009 at 11:35am

Sparty liked the water bottle too. Pennies in a can might not work well in an apartment because of the noise. I really would not crate as punishment because you need him to go in there when your at work and be happy about it. I think when training a dog (as with a small child) you have to let go of our desire to punish. What you really want to do is change the behavior! Try to increase the walks or jogs because a half hour potty walk is not enough for a young corgi. If there are times when you can anticipate that he will bark just leash him and attach him to yourself. He can walk around the house with you and if he barks a LITTLE jerk will redirect him. Training classes are great also training simple tricks give him mental stimulation. I used the loud high pitched squeal to break Sparty from nipping and it worked well. No play for a little while after using the teeth. Just so you know I am no expert, I have also had success throwing a magazine ( not at) by them when barking gets out of hand. Ha Ha, it works especially with the doberman who joined us with some bad habits. If I pick up a magazine all the dogs come over to see what I am going to do with it. Personally, the leashing in the house is my best behavior modifier.
Ps....Ollie is a real cutie!

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Permalink Reply by Ollie and Dinah on July 17, 2009 at 2:02pm

Haha - I threw a pillow at him once! It totally missed - he looked at me like,"oh, is that the best you can do?". He can roll over, shake, and does a down and a sit - we go through these just about every day to keep his brain working. the real problematic times are when we want to sit down and relax, like watch a movie. He just can't handle that for some reason.

Whenever we play with him, he opens his mouth and kinda rubs his teeth on our hands - it's really weird...it's like he KNOWS that he's not supposed to bute or hands, but it's as if his teeth need to be ON something at all times.

His cuteness lets him get away with more than it should. Haha

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Permalink Reply by Beth on July 17, 2009 at 2:57pm

I just want to tell you that at that age, Jack was so high energy! He had a long walk or two every day, but still if he was awake (which was most of the time) he needed to play. And play. And play. In his case he matured into a medium-energy adult, but as a teenager he was bouncing off the walls and nothing tired him out.

A couple suggestions: maybe try to engage him in some higher energy play periods. It can be hard when you are in an apartment, but if you can get a chuck-it tennis ball, or a frisbee, or take him swimming, or something else to physically exhaust him (just be mindful of summer temperatures to avoid overheating).

Teach him some games. My dog likes to play soccer. I got a ball called "holy roller" which is a medium sized rubber mesh ball, so it's quiet. If you have a long hallway or something, try kicking it past him and let him play goalie.

Maybe teach him (if he does not already know) the names of some of his toys, and if he's pestering you, send him on a mission to find those toys.

Set aside a portion of his kibble and put it in a soft rubber food ball (one with an opening that the kibble falls out of) to chases around.

As for the jumping and nipping: is it at all possible for you to baby-gate off sections of your apartment? Then you can hang out with him in one area, and if he jumps and nips IMMEDIATELY get up and leave the room, leaving him on one side of the gate and you on another. Ignore him completely, wait about 5 minutes, then go back in. The reason this method works better than removing the dog is because in his mind, when he jumps and nips YOU leave HIM; he gets the point immediately that his behavior is literally driving you away.

Also, try teaching him "shush". Praise him when he shushes on command. There's some good instructions on line as to how to do that.

The last thing to remember is this: if at any time he is lying quietly, being good, occasionally praise him for that, and then go and get his favorite toy and start playing. He will learn that being quiet gets him attention. In Jack's case, we noticed he rarely barked at me but would bark at my husband whenever Shawn sat down at night. When we examined the situation, we realized that Shawn would normally ignore the dog in the evening unless the dog started barking at him. So, unintentionally he was encouraging that behavior. I was the official "trainer" so I was much more likely to go and engage the dog when he was minding his own business, so he did not do so much attention-seeking behavior with me.

Good luck! Jack was a barking energetic lunatic at that age, and he did get past it. But during that first year, it was very hard to watch tv or do anything in the evening, as most of our time was spent keeping the dog busy.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on July 17, 2009 at 3:50pm

Have you attempted looking at him when he begins to bark and standing up and turing your back on him even going so far as leaving the room? Everyone in the room should attempt this treatment. He is getting positive reinforcement and attention by acting out. Attempt the ignore treatment...it may or may not work!!

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