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Comment by Kari & Jackson on December 31, 2009 at 10:40am

Hi everyone! Wow, thanks so much for so many responses. Your guys' insight is suuuuper helpful. Because while I can read a puppy book, I think we can all agree that Corgi's are a little special haha.

I'll go ahead and answer some of your questions and comments here...

Jane - thank you for the compliments! I have already seen a big improvement in one day with a stern "NO!" followed with ignoring the pup. I am also trying to make sure I am consistently replacing with a toy when he tries to bite... so hopefully he will both learn that it is wrong when it does happen, and we can mostly avoid it and hopefully Jackson will outgrow it a little.
As far as jumping, he's only launched of the bed, couch a couple of times. It has been under my supervision and both items are about a foot off the ground. I very much want him to experience his own mistakes in some areas, but I will be careful!

Buddy, etc - More good advice! He has some dental chews and bully sticks that he really likes in between mealtime. I was waiting to not give him those right off the bat (we had another deworming, etc) because I didn't know how it would affect his diet, but he's totally fine now and he LOVES them. Definitely helps him biting less.

John - Very good ideas! Luckily I am the one raising this pup solely, but if I every need to board or overnight him on a friend, I will take advantage on the list system. This blog is also to help me remember what works and what doesn't!

Cheryl - I will definitely invest in the steps when Jackson is fully housebroken. At this point I do not want him wandering on and off furniture until he can't pee on it. Haha. So I'm pretty observant and prefer lifting him on and off for now.

Shannon - Thanks so much for the great notes! I'll be reading your words closely. I'm sure this guy I've got is like no other exactly. I just hope a lot of these puppy problems are just a phase.

Mary - What great advice! That would be perfect to admonish but outside of the crate for us. I think I might already be seeing some progress with ignoring and "NO!s" In general he seems much more calmer even when he gets feisty so hopefully it will stay that way for us.

Beth! - Your Jack is succch a gorgeous dog :) I do need to invest in some gates still. Even when I ignore him after a bite, he barks relentlessly. I'll listen to it for a while, but I live in an apartment with other roommates and sometimes it's hard to listen to because I'm not the only one hearing it.
And as far as the pee pads are concerned, I have mine out in the open outside of his crate. He actually hasn't had an accident in his crate yet - and I'd like to keep it that way. I notice he usually uses the pads to get his scent going, so hopefully that will be able to translate outside. I'm confident in it!!

Thanks again everyone for all the feedback! Keep it coming!!! :)

Oh, and happy New Years!

Comment by Beth on December 31, 2009 at 7:05am

Oh, and I wanted to add a mild caution: several posters here have had trouble getting their pups to stop using the pee-pads later on when they got older. It seems they can work too well, and since they absorb, having a wet pee pad there is no discouragement for the puppy. With newspapers, there is still a puddle so a confined pup will try to hold it to avoid that as he gets older. With the pee pads, many of them don't mind so you end up with a pup who will continue to use the pads well after the age when he should be able to hold it while you are gone. Just a thought!

Comment by Beth on December 31, 2009 at 7:04am

Glad to hear things are going well!

For the biting, it helps to have baby gates up. When he nips, say "ah-ah" and if he doesn't stop, just stand up and turn your back. If that does not help (some pups will just jump on you and keep biting, or the back-turning is not enough of a message) step over the gate and leave the room for a minute or two.

The yelping does work, from my understanding, with many puppies. When Jack was a puppy though it just got him more excited.

Comment by Mary on December 31, 2009 at 1:56am

I can give you advice on the biting! Nibbler was horrible about it and scolding her did not work...in fact she usually thinks it's a game. If she did bite we'd simply say "no" and then lead her to a puppy proofed bathroom and left her there for about 2 minutes. This was really effective for us and it also helped reinforce that "no" equals "bad".

Comment by Lilo Bandit & Koda's mom Shannon on December 31, 2009 at 1:35am

I have realized from the 5 Corgi's that have been in my life over time... that they are all completely different, yet go through similar stages.
My second Corgi 'Shorty' that was stolen was a dream to train, he would learn anything in just a few tries. With the biting problem I yelped and Shorty got startled and stopped. With my Rowdy it had the complete opposite effect, he got even MORE excited and thought it was a game. It was very VERY frustrating. I actually considered finding him another home when he was about 9-10 weeks old, it was THAT bad!
With the three I have now, they all went through a biting stage, and a barking stage. They still do bark from time to time, but not incessantly. The barking from Rowdy when he was younger almost drove me insane, whereas my Shorty never barked at all.
I agree with the other people who said not to put him in his crate as punishment, this will hinder his training rather than helping. The crate should be a place he likes to go. My Rowdy has a broken foot right now and he actually goes into his crate to sleep at night without me asking him to.
My Rowdy was an absolute nightmare until I brought Gidget home when he was about 3 months old... she literally showed him who was boss and his attitude towards the whole world completely changed within 2 days. She was the best thing I could have ever done to help train Rowdy!
I now love my little rascal Rowdy with all of my heart (and Gidget, and Lilo). I say 'litte'... but he is already 24 lbs! It will all be worth it in the end, I promise!
Good luck... I know your frustrations.... read my blogs!
All of mine are still puppies at almost 7 months, 6.5 months and 5 months and are still works in progress. :)
The only other thing I can suggest is to be mindful of what you allow him to do as a puppy... becasue what may be cute as a small little puppy will not be cute as a 25-30 lb dog. They wont understand why they are not allowed to chew on a shoe or sock when they were allowed as a puppy, etc... this is something my hard headed bf STILL hasnt learned... which has really hindered the training with all of my puppies! :)

Comment by Cheryl Nickel on December 30, 2009 at 7:53pm

Hello Kari! Jackson is a cutie bug....I would seriously discourage jumping off of furniture. When I brought Maggie home I had a couple sets of steps for her to use when getting up on and getting off of the furniture. (Yes, I allow my dogs on my den furniture.) I would take a treat and lead her up the steps, until she did it on her own; which happened very quickly. I would take a treat and lead her down the steps....this happened just as quickly. Maggie very rarely will jump off the furniture unless she is really excited about something. Generally, she will use the steps. Sometimes when getting on the furniture, she will jump up just as often as using the steps. Good luck!!

Comment by John Wolff on December 30, 2009 at 7:13pm

I'd get some rubber-backed nonskid throw-rugs for launching/landing pads at strategic points so he's not always landing on or leaping from the slippery floor.
I'd also start a careful, methodical training plan in a notebook. I'd make a list of every command I want him to learn, basically the dog's vocabulary list, and track your progress together. Make sure everybody in the household is on the same page with this. It's more a process of US training OURSELVES to train the dog. If you know your plan, and work your plan, it'll be a lot easier for Jackson to figure out what it is.
[Examples: My wife and I had different expectations for walking; she wanted the dog at her side but I didn't care if the dog walked ahead. I thought the dog would be smart enough to figure out that the rules are different with the two different people. Not. That's asking way too much. I had trouble with Sit/stay and Wait because I was sloppy about releasing the dog (the crucial part); no wonder the dog learned she could get up as soon as I wasn't paying attention.]

Comment by Buddy & Wynstan on December 30, 2009 at 6:19pm

Be very careful when you socialize him with other dogs. Do not completely trust the owner of the other dog, my cousin said his Australian Cattle Dog was greatly socialized and she attacked my Wynstan, just be extra careful.

As for biting, I would yelp loudly when he bit me, after a pause I would give him a proper chew toy. Rawhides seemed to tire my boy out when gnawing on it and alternatively bit me less. Also, an empty water bottle seems to help too, he seems to let out frustration on it and is a lot happier afterward.

Comment by Jane Christensen on December 30, 2009 at 6:18pm

I forgot...What a cutie he is!!!!!!

Comment by Jane Christensen on December 30, 2009 at 6:17pm

Sounds like you and Jackson are doing great! Some of these things take awhile and you are acknowledging the things that need work! The biting does work the best if yelp, say"owe" "ahah" or "no" and turn away and ignore. Jackson will be trying this due to his breed and teething so make sure he has plenty of chew toys!

The jumping...is he getting on stuff by himself? My thought is if he can't jump up then he can't jump down but it does seem they do learn how to get up on things fast! Do not lift her up if you think she will try jumping off as you don't want her to get hurt!
Barking...I'm not a good one to comment as I have a barker that I am having trouble breaking!

The rest sounds so normal! Enjoy and I'm glad you are working on the training now!

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