What do you do with your corgi at home??
This really sounds like a stupid question... but what do you do with your corgi at home?? Our baby Bandit is almost 4 months old and he's now super playful and energetic. We feel bad that he's home alone in his crate all day, so we make every effort to play with him whenever we are home. If time permits, my boyfriend walks him for about 15 minutes during lunch, and we always walk him every night for about 30 minutes after we come home. We also play with him and train him for about 2 - 3 hours total. The thing is, he would whine whenever we put him in the crate because we don't want him wandering around unsupervised when we are eating or doing things around the apartment. I feel bad because it feels like we are not paying enough attention to him or playing enough with him.
He has so many toys such as plushies, squeakies, balls, the Busy Buddy interactive toys, rope toys, nylabone, hooves and bones to chew on. We have been rotating them so he doesnt get bored. We also have a cat that he likes to chase after. He learned to play fetch recently so we are doing that alot. We chase him and he FRAPS around the apartment. The only thing that he hasn't done yet is going to the dog park because he hasn't gotten all the shots yet.
So here are my questions - Is there anything else we can do/play with him? Is 2 - 3 hours of play time and training time enough? Any suggestions are welcome!! Thanks in advanced!
He has so many toys such as plushies, squeakies, balls, the Busy Buddy interactive toys, rope toys, nylabone, hooves and bones to chew on. We have been rotating them so he doesnt get bored. We also have a cat that he likes to chase after. He learned to play fetch recently so we are doing that alot. We chase him and he FRAPS around the apartment. The only thing that he hasn't done yet is going to the dog park because he hasn't gotten all the shots yet.
So here are my questions - Is there anything else we can do/play with him? Is 2 - 3 hours of play time and training time enough? Any suggestions are welcome!! Thanks in advanced!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mikko (& Danielle too) on
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I think it sounds like you guys are doing a super job as corgi parents!! Bandit is a lucky pup. :) I find that the more attention we give Mikko, the more he wants, and if I could spend all day playing with him, he would love that. He is almost 8 months old now and part of training has included teaching him when he needs to be quiet or just spend some time in his crate. Don't feel bad for crating your pup when you're busy around the house, it's actually better for him - you're protecting him from himself at this stage, it's amazing what they can get into!! :) I feel bad for crating Mikko at times too, especially he whines because you know they love to just be with you! But your pup will learn to adapt and accept it as part of his routine. Especially if he gets plenty of exercise, love and attention, and time outside of the crate, he will do just fine.
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Permalink Reply by Nicola Porter on
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Actually it kind of makes sense to me. When you have babies you put them in the swing or playpen for some quiet time or for you to get things done.
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Permalink Reply by Cindi on
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Sounds like you're spending good, quality time with him. Don't sweat him whining in the crate. Remember, if you get him out while he's whining or crying, the behavior will continue. Only remove him when he's quiet. You're over analyzing this, promise.
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Permalink Reply by Ju Lo on
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If you and your boyfriend are gone all day (so around 8 + hours?), and you put Bandit in a crate during meal times and other times....that's a lot of time to spend in a crate. He's probably whining because after spending all day alone he doesn't want to be separated from you. Is there a reason you don't trust him around the house when you're home? Maybe you should work with him on it. He would probably sit right by your side while you ate. Are you walking him in the mornings too? One 30 minute walk probably isn't enough for Bandit if he's couped up all day.
It sounds like you're doing a good job of playing with him at home. Theo loves to play fetch. Does he have any kind of a chew? Like rawhide, bully sticks, or antlers? I use antler chews and Theo spends a good hour or so every evening chewing on one.
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Permalink Reply by Christine on
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Ya, we are gone about 8 hours during the work days, so i do agree that he spends a lot of time in the crate. I know 30-min is not enough, and we do try to walk him in the morning and during lunch. We definitely do that during weekends, but it's not always possible during the weekdays.
We dont trust him around the apartment because of a number of reasons. He's not completely house train yet, so we dont want him walking around and going potty where we can't see it. (He pooped once behind the TV stand and it was gross and hard to clean......) He's living up to his name as a Bandit and would steal things from my cat, from the drawers, and from whatever is on the floor, and then hide them somewhere else or in his crate. He would even climb up to the coffee table and steal his own treats. We keep training him not to do it, but he keeps doing it.. we will keep trying, but i almost accept the fact that he's just a bandit. =) And finally, my boyfriend's brother is also living in the apartment, so we dont want him to mess up his stuff. We are getting some baby gates soon so we can limit his access to only the living room where we can see him. Hopefully, that would give him more time with us.
He has a whole bunch of chewies! He has the compressed rawhides, regular hoof and barbeque favored ones, and some processed bones. I dont remember what they are called. No bully sticks though cuz we dont want him to poke himself in the throat. And we havent seen any antlers yet in our local pet store. He also chews on the nylabone, "chilly bone" for teething, and he has two kongs. He has lots of things to chew on, but surprisingly he's not much of a chewer and would get bored after about 30 minutes max. Maybe that will change when he gets his adult teeth?
Do you have any ideas for challenging games?? Maybe that can help with the boredom. He's pretty smart... i tried rolling and wrapping a treat in an old sock, hid a treat in a flattie (plush toy without the stuffing), he figured it out in 10 minutes. I put treats in the busy buddy toys, he learned to unscrew, open, or roll the treats out in 20 minutes. I want to keep him engaged but i am running out of ideas...
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Christine, I agree with everyone else, it sounds like you know what you're doing. :) Baby gates are a great idea for limit Bandit. Theo had to earn his way into certain areas of the house before we gave him full access. And he certainly does sound like he's living up to his name! Hehe. He sounds adorable. :)
If he has toys and he has chews, then he should be good. If he's more interested in interacting with you, you could try playing some tug with him if you have rope toys. Theo loves that when he was smaller. Also, if you sit down and swing a toy around your body, Bandit might like to chase it. Theo likes anything he can chase, i.e. fetching a ball, a runaway toy, or even just my hand if I move it over the floor in front of him. I'm sure if Bandit gets any kind of one on one time with you he'll be happy. :D
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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FWIW, we've had corgis for maybe 12 years now, and they've always been locked in their crates when we weren't home. Recently, there was a daytime burglary in the neighborhood, so we experimented with leaving them uncrated while we're gone, because they bark at visitors/intruders only when they're not in their crates. So far, no problems. Our youngest is 2+ years. They probably sleep most of the time anyway, but at least they can get up and roam about if they want to.
Of course, you need to learn how to throw the tennis balls while typing, reading, doing yoga, sleeping, cooking, fixing plumbing, etc.
If you do this, try to corgi-proof your house (kindly restrain your laughter). Our dogs aren't chewers, so we're not worried about electrical cords, but make sure you keep all food bags and waste out of your reachable wastebaskets, etc. (once we came home to find our panicked first dog with her head stuck in a potato chip bag; luckily she could still breathe).
This was a main reason we got another corgi. Gwynnie seems happier now that she has a conspecific to kill repeatedly in various creative ways. Maybe some dogs are happier by themselves, but these two seem to get along well and enjoy each other's company. Two corgis are less than twice as much work as one.
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Permalink Reply by Little Bear on
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you sound exactly like i used to be. i mean EXACTLY haha! when i first got bear is was nothing but walks and playing and fetch and treats and tricks and EVERYTHING. i felt so guilty leaving him alone for 8 hours while i worked.
i was so focused on him i didn't have time for anything else: no social life (i couldn't bear to leave him or have someone distract me from him), no getting online, no cleaning, no cooking, just HIM. we played all the time and i refused to do anything that wouldn't permit me to be near him/play with him constantly. as a result, he's 17 months old and spoiled rotten. he still has behavioral issues from before, but we're working through those. he still has just about every toy you can find at petco (lol i'm still not perfect) but he's so much better behaved.
i just decided to do my own thing, play fetch with him or whatever but let him be his own guy. if he wanted to nap, he could. if he wanted to chase his butt he could (lol!). now we're a million times better. my vet told me that corgis have no sense of time... they don't even know how long you're gone for. and then in a blink you're home.
if you over play with them, then they win. that's what they'll always expect. quite frankly i can't even begin to explain to you how much happier bear is these days. he just does his own thing. i lived in an apartment too (no yard, UGH!!! i feel you about the dog parks).
a few things we still do and he LOOOOVES:
-laser pointers. your corgi will be worn out SO quick. its bear's favorite toy in the WORLD. if he even sees it he starts frapping. trust me, its the greatest thing i've ever found. look at my videos, he's HILARIOUS.
-bubbles. they have bacon and bar-b-que flavored ones. chasing fun!
-teach him tricks! bear LOVES any extra opportunity to get food. classic corgi!
-do you have any smaller tupperware containers? this is one of my all time favorites... stick some of his treats in there and fill it up with water and freeze it. i actually timed how long he played with it once. 17 minutes. he was OUT by the time he was done.
-hide and seek. either have him find you or even treats. the treats part is funny cause they can find anything. it just takes them some time.
-i don't use rawhide but i LOVE things like buddy sticks or pig's ears.
-this website has been a saving grace: http://www.busybuddytoys.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/toys/busy... . They're like kong balls but a little more interesting. bear prefers these to kong balls now. crunch up some treats and put some kong stuffing on it and freeze it. it is pure joy. and it takes FOREVER for him to finish with it. i used to give them to bear when i went on my break and came home to let him pee. i set up a video camera once. took him 30-45 minutes to finish with it and he just konked out.
try and google games you can play with your dog. this is where i got a lot of this stuff.
i really hope this helps. keep us up to date and good luck!
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Oh my goodness, we do sound a lot alike!!! ya, it's the guilt trip. Corgis are soo good at that! =D
Well, thanks for everyone for comments and recommendations. I do have a pretty positive update. We are going to get the baby gates tomorrow. Before getting the gates, we made a temporary divider using boxes because we wanted to see how Bandit would behave. He turned out to be SO MUCH more mellow than i thought he would be. I was so impressed. Before, we had to keep him very occupied for 2 -3 hours - playing with him, training, chew toys, the whole nine yard. We wanted to get him all tired before putting him away so we could do our things, but he would keep whining and barking. Now, we still do the same thing, but it's on OUR schedule now. We will play with him a bit, then go cook or whatever, and he will just chill with me in the kitchen, waiting for something to drop. =). After dinner, when we sit on the couch and watch tv, he would come to cuddle with us for a bit, or we chase him around the coffee table, but for the rest of the time, he either plays with his own toys or just chills right by us. We realized that he really just wanted to be with us. It doesn't matter if we are playing with him or not, he just wants to be next to us. When we put him away to sleep, he would still whine, but just for a few seconds, or longer if the cat is having a conversation with him (the cat meows, he whines or barks, the cat replies, he replies too.. it can go on for a couple of minutes. heheh).
I think both Bandit and us are happier. We feel like we finally get to enjoy him rather than feeling like doing a chore when we tried doing so many things with him. Besides giving him a little more freedom within the gated area, i think he's also getting old enough to understand our routines. He now expects and enjoys his daily walk after we get home. He sits right by the door and would get so happy when he sees us putting our sneakers on. He doesnt whine as much when we put him away. He definitely still barks when we come home though and his body shakes with excitement because we are finally home!! or...he just wants to go bathroom so badly. =)
So thanks again, everyone. You have been a great help! I will keep you guys updated!
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Oh I am so glad it's working out for you and Bandit! It sounds like you're both much happier with the situation. :) Once he gets used to the new schedule, he probably won't cry as much when you crate him. Theo is always happy to go to bed in his crate because after a night of playing he's usually pretty pooped. Hehe. I hope Bandit continues to do well!
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i am SOOOO happy to hear everything! and you're absolutely right, i couldn't have put it better myself... they don't care if its a fun game to play or even just being your warm, breathing comfort blanket... just being able to belong to you (and stealing those random food scraps LOL) is all they need!
its funny that you say he was a "chore"... that's what i used to call my ever-present, never ending, guilt-trippable entertainment of bear. that's hilarious!!! that was how i used to describe him!!!!!!!!!!!!
i'm so glad you guys are doing so great! i was talking to my dad about when i used to have that apartment (NO YARD, THE WORST!!!) and how he used to come home from work and i was there with bear literally coveting his backyard cause i felt so bad that he couldn't run around and just (what i thought) "be a dog". haha! poor grandpa... corgis are a lifeforce all themselves... bandit is lucky to have such loving parents!!!
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Permalink Reply by Brodey's Mom on
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One of the games I play is "Where's the Brodey?" I usually have a blanket wrapped around me when I sit and watch TV. Sometimes (like during commercials) I stand up and throw it over Brodey and shout "Where's the Brodey?". He gets all excited and barks and wanders around with the blanket over him. Some times he bumps into walls or me. Then he gets free and I say, "There's the Brodey!" He is so excited. When he wants to play, he starts tugging on my blanket. It so cute. It's nice to know that he is telling me he wants to play. Mostly, he just lays around the house and chews on bones.
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