Does anyone else have a dog who intentionally loses things?

I think ours is training us. He "loses" his ball all the time (under the couch, under our cedar chest, under the tv stand, and anything else he can just squeeze it under), make a half-hearted attempt to get it, and then barks until someone gets it back out for him. We've tried ignoring him or giving one of the other 3 balls he has sitting within 2 feet of him, but he wants THAT ball.. ya know, the one that 10 seconds after you get it for him will be right back under the couch.. Because even though you threw it across the room for him to fetch, he brought it right back to that same spot so he could lose it again. At first we thought it may have been an accident. Until it happened a few more times and we caught on to his game. (He also enjoys dropping it between the rungs of the coffee table, but that's so he can climb through them to get it himself) Anybody else have a dog who does this? Or any other kind of weird corgi games?

Views: 2025

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

You have just described the routine in our house, LOL

How old is yours? Lulu is 9.5 months

Glad we're not the only ones lol He'll be 6 months next week!

That's a game more common with cats (who do this all the time), but some dogs figure out it's fun to make their human fetch things.

My first corgi, Sparty, used to do things like that all the time. He was very smart and social. When we refused to throw his ball anymore he would try the shoving it under things so we had to get it for him or he would drop it down the stairs so he could race after it. He was incredibly fun but really needed positive, consistent training to keep him from taking over. Enjoy!

Lol Stairs would definitely keep him busy! He keeps himself occupied quite occupied often by kicking it for himself to chase around the house, whilst carrying another toy of choice in his mouth (can't have just one!) 

HA!  Blaidd definitely is not the only corgi to play this game.  Our Abbey, does the same exact thing.  Nothing distracts her when she wants to play this game. Abbey is 14. months old.

Oh yes, Wally won't get his toy or ball if it's touching the broom, or a box.

Even if it's close to the cat he will bark for me to get it.   So we threw away his smaller toys that could fit under the sofa and TV unit so I don't have to bend down as much now to see what he's barking at.

Haha we just fixed our problem yesterday by raising the futon that he couldn't get under and blocking off all other holes temporarily with a bunch of stuff until we can find a good permanent fix :)

Ha ha! Cassie does this all the time. It's some sort of dog game...or, possibly, assertion of the Queen of the Universe's almighty authority over the lowly human.

Over time, she's taken to responding to the command "GIT it!" sort of like the old Ger-shep, who had begun search-&-rescue training, would respond to "FIND." If you ask her to "GIT it" or "GIT that thing," she will try to track it down (sometimes she genuinely has lost it) and will try to dig it out of wherever it's gone. When she first came to the Funny Farm, she wouldn't go behind an open door -- and of course, Ball would often roll between a door and a wall. Now she'll move the door so she can walk in behind it to get the "lost" Ball. She also will retrieve it, now, from the newspaper-collection basket, which is a stretch for her.

If she really can't get it out from under a piece of furniture, she'll stand there and bark as annoyingly as possible until the human gets up and retrieves it.

I've wondered if anyone has ever tried to train a corgi as a search dog. This behavior is part of the basis that trainers work off of to train some dogs for search work.

oscar does the same he has a orange pig and if we say where is pig he will go find him out of all his toys!! and I have said to people before they would make good sniffer/search dogs I think

That is hilarious! Cassie also has names for several of her large retinue of courtiers....uhm, Costco lifetime supply of toys. There's a stuffed jack -- like the little metal jacks we used to play with when we were girls (well, some of us who grew up in the Dark Ages did): The Thing. There's Ball, of course. And there are two stuffed vultures, one is red and one is pink -- she seems to differentiate between Red Vulture and Pink Vulture. And she definitely knows the difference between the Bluebird of Happiness, the Pinkbird of Joy, and the Redbird of Delight.

And yup. She has every bit as much drive as the Gershep that was bred for search & rescue. I think probably "drive" is a function of herding dogs, although other breeds are used as search dogs, too. I never had a retriever, though, that was as obsessive about Balls as these animals, or that was smart enough to figure out how to find one. Those two characteristics are the traits you play on to make a game out of finding things and, by extension, people.

The other interesting thing is...when she's trying to get you to throw the elusive ball, she will perceive when you can't see it. She brings it over to me and THROWS it at me when I'm sitting in a wooden rocking chair. Of course, the darn thing rolls under the chair out of the line of sight. I usually have a computer on my lap (back: can't sit in front of a desk anymore so have to work out of a rocker), and if I can't see it or reach it, I do NOT wanna put the computer on the table and get up to find the darned ball. When she perceives that I can't see it, she will actually try to show me where it is, by making little charges at it and yipping.  Sometimes it lands out of my reach, she will pick it up and bring it closer. And -- this gets weirder -- she seems to understand the difference between the phrases "I can't reach it" and "where is it?"

Anyone who thinks dogs can't understand English has never lived with a corgi. :-D

Our Corgi, Fortie does the same thing! So funny. Sometimes he barks and cries as if something is stuck and when we look, there's nothing there! Also, if we get his bone or toy out and throw it over the other side of the room, he brings it back and loses it again! So naughty LOL

RSS

Rescue Store

Stay Connected

 

FDA Recall

Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall

We support...

Badge

Loading…

© 2024   Created by Sam Tsang.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report a boo boo  |  Terms of Service