On Weds night, we had gone to bed as normal, and Archie and the cat have free roam of the house at night time, apart from the bedrooms, as we close the doors when we go to bed.

As usual there was thudding and thumping as they spent the first hour or two romping through the house chasing each other.

At about 2am, I could hear Archie making a very low barking noise, almost under his breath, not loud enough to wake anyone or disturb us at all.

I opened the bedroom door to see what all the fuss was about, (usually it is a fox in the garden).  I called him and he came running up the stairs, " arooooing" and then ran back down the stairs, along the hallway and into the kitchen.  At this odd behaviour I woke my husband, who came down to investigate, to find the back door wide open, the gate wide open and our car gone, then we noticed that the keys had gone from the cupboard door.

Obviously from that point on, we had Police and Scene of Crime people in and out, who Archie welcomed like they were his best long lost friends, and every single one of them without fail has referred to him as "The Worst Guard Dog in the World".

Is there any way to make him more aware of stranger danger?

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What an experience.  Glad no one was hurt.  I have the same question.  Tama doesn't bark or alert me in any way when strangers open our gate, and walk in.  He only barks at the mailman, whom he adores (sigh).  Tama has been called "not guard dog material" by many.

I think it's just kind of an innate thing... Waffle is an excellent watch dog--I didn't teach him to be that way, he just is. -shrug- I'm sorry your car got stolen.  Lock your doors!  I learned the hard way too; someone took a bunch of my stuff from my car when I left it unlocked.  Fortunately, I got it all back because they caught the perp.  Were your house keys on that keyring too?  You may want to be on super high alert or request police guarding until you can change your locks.  I hope you can get your car back soon!  

All the doors were locked, this was some clever thief, and we lost our car, more worried to think that someone got in, than we are about the car, things can be replaced......people and loved ones cannot! x

The car was found within 20 minutes of it being stolen and was written off after it hit a parked car, luckily no one was hurt, but we wont be able to afford to replace the car anytime soon x

" There are no strangers, only friends we have not met."  With that attitude, he will live a long and happy life, even if you are out one car...!!!  Great story, hope you have insurance :-)

Wow, sorry to hear about your troubles, so glad no one was hurt!!!!!  Hope they are able to catch the thieves!!!

Our doorbell rang at midnight last night and that creeped me out big time.  Lance (cardi) came rushing down from my daughters room, and Tucker (pem) up off the couch, barking.  I immediately went and locked the back door,  Lance, is our guard dog, although, Tucker did bark too, he settled down much faster than Lance.  Tucker went back to his spot on the couch where he had been sleeping, but did not go back to sleep. Lance was ready and waiting, if we walked by the front door he was by our side, wondering what was up. It took awhile for the me and the girls to fall asleep, since we were already up and now not tired at all!

My husband, heard the doorbell, but this morning he tells me he thought it was me ringing the bell, to get the dogs downstairs, lol???  Umm, I don't ring the doorbell at midnight or any time of the day to gather the dogs ever!!!!  Gotta love him.  :)

Oh dear!  How scary, so sorry this happened.

Honestly, dogs are either good guard dogs, or they aren't.  You can't really train them.  Jack would have had a fit.  He would have barked so loudly and fiercely that no one would have gotten past the gate.   Knock on wood, but we have had several instances of neighbor's houses having small things stolen from the yard, but not ours and I think it's because of Jack.   Maddie is more of a follower and she'll sometimes bark, but not always and not very convincingly.  

The other morning I heard Jack barking deeply and muttering and cussing under his breath.  I went down and there was an orange cat in the neighbor's yard.  I let Jack onto the fenced deck, he barked twice, the cat ran, and he turned around and came right back inside, "Job done!"    This was not a trained behavior.  He'll even bark ferociously if he sees people/dogs he knows walking by the house.

Like Rachael said, it's sort of an innate thing.  Sometimes a dog can pick up the behavior from another dog, but there's no guarantee of that happening.  Yuki has been an alert dog since he was around 8 months old.  If he hears voices outside at night (from people walking by or the neighbors coming home) then he'll bark.  If he hears a suspicious noise (even if it's just Ellie moving in her crate) then he'll bark. If he hears a car door or alarm, he'll bark. And he'll bark if anyone is at or near our door, even if it's just us trying to get back in after coming home from the store.

Ellie has picked up some of this behavior, too.  She'll bark, but only if someone is knocking on our door or jiggling the handle.  She doesn't care about other noises.

I am so sorry for what happened.  That's very scary!  I had to smile at your comments though..:-)   Seanna has certain barks that she does, and I know what is serious and what isn't.  Most is just her "alert" bark, the one that says something is amiss.  Then she has her "come here now, this is serious" bark.  She'd lick to death anyone that actually came in though.  I don't think corgis are dispositioned to be guard dogs, more of just the "that wasn't there yesterday" sort of thing.  My german shepherd mix however, would literally eat anyone who entered my house un-invited.  Of that, I have no doubt.  Best guard dog ever.  I don't have any recommendations for you--but I'm glad no one was hurt!

I am so glad you are all OK!! I am afraid my corgis would invite everyone in and help them with the silver...until we added the grand dog (doberman) she will raise the roof. Corgis make great watch dogs because they happily watch everything!

That is certainly scary.  We refer to our boys as the Corgi Alert System.  They bark if someone comes near the backyard, if the garage door opens or if the doorbell rings.  But if anyone came in, they would probably ask for pats.  Check with the local police, there may also be a victim's fund to assist you in replacing the car.

Sorry for the experience, but great story. Our girls would do the same: a bit of grumble, than "petme!"

Glad everyone is OK. Our "wild child, crazy tri" Tenby is a wonderful guard and watch dog.  He is the neighborhood watch poster child. You couldn't get past him with a T-bone steak in your hand.  I think he would bite (ankles) if they didn't keep their distance. Now Chepstow is the other side of the coin,  pet me and the house is yours.

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