A couple of questions from a new corgi owner

Hello everyone!

I decided to join this community after adopting a 7 months old pembroke who was rescued along with around 15other dogs from a breeder who kept tons of dogs in a truck all the time and traveled the country to breed them and sell the pups...

She is my first dog and I am absolutely in love with her! Despite the fact that I am still struggling with potty training and she is still very skittish of the city and all its noises and movements. Getting better though!

I have 2 unrelated things I need help with:

- My dog bites her tail (yes, she has one) and legs A LOT. I am very concerned about it... My vet has told me to wait it out for now as it may be a bad habit, but I am afraid it might be allergies? What can I do to help? Fleas and other parasites as pretty much ruled out, she does not scratch elsewhere, has a flea collar and was treated against fleas at her foster home.

- She is afraid of children. She will back up and look scared when they come to pet her, and once she attempted to take a chomp at a kid who came up to her before I could warn. How can I help her get over this issue? She is not going to coexist with small kids, at least not anytime soon, but there are lots of kids at the park and I don't want her to be a safety hazard...

Thanks in advance for your help!

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Permalink Reply by Lottie on January 5, 2015 at 10:22am

Thank you all so much for your advice. Sun is a raw fed dog, so it can't be grain allergies. Thinking it might be chicken I am taking out the protein from her diet for a few weeks to see if that could be it. It seems to have gotten better, but not sure if it's the lack of chicken or her getting used to her life here and staying busy.

As for children, she is doing much better. I do a lot of her training sessions near the kid's park and she ignores them now, I still don't let them near though.

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Permalink Reply by Katlyn Drexler on January 20, 2015 at 11:17am

My Corgi Bruce was having alot of digestive issues so I talked to our trainer on what dog food she recommended. She told me alot of dogs have a chicken allergy so I put Bruce on Natural Balance limited ingredient diet lamb and rice. Apparently lamb is the easiest protein to digest for dogs. It has fixed his digestive issues within a few days.

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Permalink Reply by Holly on January 22, 2015 at 11:21am

Flea collars do tend to irritate. They are so concentrated and they encircle the neck all the way around. Is it possible to get something she can take in pill form or something you can apply to her back once a month rather than wearing the flea collar around her neck. You can probably order something online, but you may need a prescription. My vet also suggested that flea collars are not as effective in preventing fleas and ticks as other, monthly treatments. Not sure what is available where you live. I am 100 percent sure that no one is suggesting you don't treat her to avoid fleas and ticks, but rather to find an alternative to the flea collar if possible. I'm glad she is adjusting so well. She was lucky to find you and you were lucky to find her!

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Permalink Reply by Lottie on January 23, 2015 at 1:32pm

Little update on Sun! She's adapted so well. She still gets into trouble sometimes, as teens tend to do, with the occasional chewing of furniture or peeing in the house. ;)

Her scratching issues seem to have totally disapeared, I've been putting chicken back in her diet for the last few days, if the scratching comes back I'll know for SURE it's chicken. If not then I'll blame it on maybe previous flea infestations before I got her or just dry, unhealthy skin.

She is still a little shy around kids but is doing much better. A group of little girls at the park LOVE her now, whenever I go there and they are there they come towards her and sit in a circle to give her treats. I've taught them to hold out their hand for her to sniff and speak slowly, since they know she has issues now they are so good with her! And Sun is pretty comfortable with them.