Neurotic Corgi?
Does your corgi shake all over, as if terrified (or half freezing to death), for no discernible reason? And, as part of the shake-fest, does the dog bark irrationally (from a human point of view)?
Cassie the Corgi ended up in the dog pound under a sign that stated, as her humans' reason for relinquishing her to whatever Fate brought, "Barks."
Imagine that. A dog who barks.
Well, Cassie does bark. She barks conversationally. She barks in response to other dogs barking. She barks when she hears the engine of a car cruising past the Funny Farm. She especially barks when she hears the MailPerson's truck. Sometimes she especially barks for no reason that Ruby nor Human can figure out.
Ruby the Corgi Pup (now the adult corgi) never barks for no good reason, by the way.
When I pick Cassie up during a barkfest by way of quieting her down (she will stop barking if she's in my arms), nine times out of ten I find she's shaking. All over her little doggy body. Even her ears are shivering.
So...what IS that? Is she scared? (She doesn't appear to be, but not being a Dog, the human has a hard time reading the canine mind.) Is she excited? Is she experiencing some unknown medical issue?
She doesn't seem to be frightened. In my experience (admittedly limited mostly to large, blood-curdling German shepherds), a frightened dog is a dangerous dog...because it will bite. Cassie shows no inclination whatsoever to bite, growl, stare angrily, or otherwise evince either aggressiveness or defensiveness.
So, what is the emotion (word choice???) she's experiencing when she's barking/shaking?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on
-
It doesn't seem to be. I don't think she's having seizures. It seems to be more habit than anything.
Back the the long-ago day, my mother had a Chihuahua that yapped all the time and that would shiver whenever it got excited. Cassie's behavior is more like that than like a medical event...except the threshold for "excited" seems to be a lot lower for Cassie than it was for the Chihuahua.
She really barks a lot. You probably wouldn't notice the shaking unless you picked her up. And...who knows? Maybe she doesn't shake unless she's picked up??? When I lift her off the floor and talk to her soothingly, she immediately stops barking, but she's still very engaged in whatever it is she's yapping about.
-
Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on
-
Ellie will sometimes shake when she gets really worked up about something. For example, she had her first close encounter with a few cows over the summer and she was shaking like a leaf the whole time. Ooooh, she wanted me to drop that leash so badly so she could go chase them, haha!
To me, it sounds like Cassie is either nervous or just overly excited. I mention nervous only because you said that she barks at so many things. My Yuki does that, as well, and I was told by more than one trainer that his barking and tea-kettle-like whining is a sign of nervousness. He views every little sound outside as a potential intruder into his territory and feels the need to sound the alarms. Obviously neither of my dogs are miserable, but it is interesting that one barks and shakes out of excitement and the other does it out of a sort of nervousness.
-
-
Interestingly, she VERY rarely whines. Ruby the Pup will whine, although not in a stressed way. For example, she'll make a funny little whining noise when she notices I'm awake first thing in the morning, by way of turning me out of the sack.
Surely something must cause Cassie to be so barky. Come to think of it...y'know, she doesn't bark when we're out walking around. I've taken her up to goats and horses, and she doesn't bark or seem to get especially excited about them. She loves children and wants nothing more than to kiss them and love them up. Same with cats(!). She doesn't seem to be especially disturbed by dogs, either.
Right now the two of them are having their morning frolic around the house. Cassie is running around barking; Ruby is just running around. Just now the impression one gets is that she's barking by way of "talking" to Ruby. She just barged up to the bed and barked at me, as if to say "And that goes for you, too!"
That's odd, isn't it? She only barks when she's in the house... I wonder if it's a variant of protectiveness. Could she be hyperalert to noises that might suggest intruders? She doesn't always seem to be alarmed. Sometimes she just seems to be conversing.
-
Permalink Reply by Beth on
-
Jack is SUCH a barker. He alarm barks, talks, play-barks, lets us know if anything is out of place, and so on.
When we board him, they comment on how quiet he is. Never barks, even when the other dogs bark! He also almost never barks on walks, the exception being if something is very out of place within a block or so of the house (new people moved into a long-vacant house, for instance. Or a car parked on a hill where no one ever parks).
Apparently he only barks at home. I would not describe him as a fearful dog, but he IS hyper-vigilant about protecting his territory.
-
-
Hmm... That's interesting, too!
When Cassie first took up residence here, she didn't bark much at all. I thought maybe her former humans had made up some sort of story as an excuse for leaving her at the Humane Society. It was several weeks -- maybe more like two or three months -- before she began barking in the style you describe.
Maybe it's a social thing Maybe the dog has to feel fully "at home" before this aspect of its personality appears?
-
Permalink Reply by Ivy on
-
My Ein is a major Barker as well. I think it is her way to communicate - and if I acknowledge her issue (e.g. go look out the door, check the room, etc.) then she tends to calm down. I think it is part of the farm/guard dog genes - which may be why it shows up more in the house.
-
Permalink Reply by Beverly Butler Redford & Tucker on
-
Interesting-I would agree that dogs are smarter than people. They keep their mouths shut (at least on the barking side) until they are comfortable in their situation. My guess is because of the hierarchy of multiple dog households or a household where they are new, they wait to see where they are in the hierarchy until they bark.
Couldn't say anything about the shaking. Intense emotion?
Rescue Store
Stay Connected
FDA Recall
Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall
Groups
We support...
Badge
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang.
Powered by
