And here I thought he had finally settled down....
Jack is my high-energy Corgi. He was born in April of 2007, which means he's going on 4.
He's always been hard to tire out. Take him on a two-hour hike and he'll power nap for half an hour and then start getting tennis balls.
I had thought, for much of this year, that he had finally settled down. And then the cold weather arrived. Turns out that he was just lazy because of a very long, very hot summer. Now he's back to his old self. Sit down to watch a movie and he'll push his ball closer and closer to your feet, saying "Grrr, grrr, grr" the whole time. He would play for hours if we caved in to his every request.
Maddie is always happy to just hang out until someone decides to initiate activity, but not Jack. Always on the go.
Anyone else have Corgis approaching middle-age that still act like puppies with their energy level?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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How about a 12 year old that will suddenly turn up with the tennis ball! If he can not get us to play anymore he will push it with his front foot and dash for it. Before Sparty's knee injury he used to drop it down the stairs over and over. Some of them just never tire out I guess.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Jack will hold a tennis ball in his mouth and push around a larger ball with his nose. He'll also push the larger ball into a corner, up the wall, and flip it over his back to chase it.
If we are up and about and paying attention to him, he'll grab a ball and run or bark or otherwise engage us, but he knows that if we are busy he needs to push it right up to our hand or foot to get us to throw it. He will push it closer and closer, til it's finally touching the chosen person, as if to say "Good god, how can you be so lazy? It's right THERE!"
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Permalink Reply by Priscilla, CARLY, and Frankie on
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I have to say im not very encouraged after reading your post.. lol I have a 11 month old that is a mess!! we were so excitied about getting a corgi because my son has a male thats three and he a wonderful obedient layed back temperament .. well we get her, and shes anything but layed back and i am worn out most of the time trying to keep her exercised so she wont be so hyper!
i just had her spayed ten days ago and im hoping that helps but if not, its gonna be a rough ride... she has been through two 6 week cgc classes with me and we failed both~
i wish i could find a trainer that would work with me alone that didnt cost an arm and a leg.
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If it makes you feel better, Jack has learned to some extent how to channel his own energy. The best thing we did was teach him the names of his toys and to go get them. If he's really being a pain, I'll tell him to go get his bone and he'll go lay down for fifteen minutes and chew on it.
I didn't take Jack for CGC until he was over a year and a half old because I knew he wasn't ready yet.
For many smart dogs, using up mental energy can be more important than using up physical energy. Still, it can be exhausting dealing with a high-energy dog.
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Beth what kind of bones does he chew? i have tried the bully stick she eats them in no time and raw hides she throws up ...
so you think i should go again this Jan to the CGC and try again? She'll be a yr in Jan and it starts up again around that time.
Today i lost it , and we had a horrible episode!. I was so upset with myself ...Of course what it boils down to is, i was all stressed out over my in-laws being very ill and going into nursing home. Carly wouldnt do what i ask of her and the worse she acted up . I finally had to leave the house and go see a movie.
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Hi Priscilla. We have trouble finding bones that work. We were using sterilized marrow bones, but after having three of them splinter I have sworn off them. I let them keep the ones they have that didn't splinter. I'm giving them deer antlers for Christmas and I'll see how that goes.
Teaching Jack the names of his toys was a godsend, because it gave me a way to focus his toy drive. If you think you would like some advice on how to do this, feel free to send me a private message.It can be easy to get frustrated with a young energetic dog! They have more energy than we do, and I am very sorry to hear about your inlaws.
Honestly if it were me, I'd give a six-month break to let her grow up before doing CGC again, or you'll just get more frustrated (and so will she). Remind yourself she's a baby, and give her time to mature and get a longer attention span.
Jack hates repetitive training. What you want your goal to be is to make it fun for both of you. Find some games she really enjoys to occupy her. Jack loves playing "soccer" up and down the hallway, where I am the kicker and he is the goalie and I try to get a five-inch ball past him. He'll hold one ball in his mouth and push the bigger one with his nose and have a grand time. I watched what toys he liked and made up games based on that. He also likes shredding cardboard boxes (plain brown ones that didn't have any chemicals in them; I avoid ones that held electronics or leather in case they were treated to resist moisture). Those big plastic drink cups that you get as souvenirs, or plain water bottles are also fun but I use them sparingly because of concerns about the chemicals in plastic.
Practice a modified version of Nothing in Life is Free, but keep it FUN. Ask her to wait when you put down her food dish. Make her do a sit or a down before you throw a ball. Ask her to give her paw before you take her on a walk.
Practice your stays. Make her stay for 1 second, then 2, then 3, then 1 again. Work up to 10 or 15 seconds. Sometimes reward her after 10 seconds, sometimes after 2. Make her sit or down while you walk around her. Mix in tricks with formal training. Use her energy to your advantage; she's probably eager to learn but mix it up a lot so she does not get bored and doesn't outthink you.
Try different toys if you can. A cheap soccer ball to push around is fun for many Corgis, or a Chuck-it ball thrower. Make her sit before you throw it, but only make her stay for a second or maybe two if she is very excited. Tell her GOOD girl and throw the ball or a frisbee.
Do off-leash work with her in a safe place. Do heeling exercises where you change speed and direction often. By "often" I mean every three or four steps. Make her keep at heel. Do quick turns in, do about turns where you pivot and end up going the opposite way. Jog a little, then walk slow, then walk normal or fast. You may need to lure her with a treat to keep her focus. As she improves, ask her to sit every time you stop. Walk, stop, sit, walk, stop, sit. After a few days she should auto-sit (if she doesn't already).
If you think you ever might want to do agility or something, teach her to work off your right side as well as your left.
Make EVERY training exercise a game. That's where her energy level is. Keep it very upbeat and very happy. When I started going to more advanced classes, I noticed I was always the one throwing the biggest praise party for my dogs, and I also noticed that my dogs were generally the most eager by far to perform, or at least try to. They think training is the best game in the world, and it makes them happy to learn. Keep it short, keep it quick, change it up often, and keep it very upbeat.
Her energy level might not change much, but she will learn how to channel it and she will learn it's so much more fun to work for you than against you, and she'll think you are the best thing in the world.
Good luck!
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thanks Beth your awesome!! wish i had all your knowledge but i know ill learn as i go. id love to learn how you taught her the names of her toys so i sent you a friend request.
she does sit when i stop while on walks and im already praticing the NILIF, so far i think its actually helping.. ive been so unbeleiveably frustrated trying to get her to walk on a loose lease with out pulling, i have done the stop and turn many times but maybe not enough, so ill pratice that more often..i use do use treats and i have to have so much patience becasue she has full speed ahead for the first ten minutes no kidding! my back actully hurts most times when im done, so ive had to start using two leashes and tie them around my waist.. pretty sad huh
i would love to do agility with her but i feel like she must learn to listen to me and not be so distratred before i take to into that.
As for her chasing her toys she wont let fo and want me to tug w war with her so ive had to stop that as well.. teahing her to drop it has not worked yet, oh and she wont give me her paw at all..
she has a problem with me touching her feet ? weird i know.. my girl is special hahahathanks for the headsup to wait on classes for six months, i have to say thats a relief.. becausse a much as i love to spending time with her, im not sure she will benfit again right now.
your help is much appreciated..
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I teach "heel" before I teach walking on a loose leash. My two are different: For Jack, I took him down the basement as a puppy and took a handful of small treats. I started out holding the treat above his nose and keeping him in position, and then treating him after one or two steps of walking at heel (no leash at all).
After he was walking the few steps reliably, I added the "heel" command. I would hold the treat, walk off smartly and say "heel" and then say "Good boy!" after a couple steps and treat.I would then move to saying "heel" and walking off and immediately showing the treat (still using it as a lure, but switching from showing the treat first and then saying "heel" to saying "heel" first and then showing the treat.
When he seemed to have the idea, I'd pocket the treats, say "heel" and walk off, and if he walked with me for one or two steps I'd praise and treat. A marker word like "Yes" would be very helpful to use too. Say "Yes!" as you treat.
I gradually added more steps. We were inside, so no distractions. Once he was reliably walking at heel and getting treated at random intervals, I clipped on a leash and let him drag it and went back to the beginning with the treat as a lure. Then I faded the lure, and only when he was reliably heeling dragging the leash did I pick up the other end of it. Then once again we went back to using the treat as a lure and worked our way up.
Once we were outside, I would only ask for "heel" after he was tired, and went back to using the treat as a lure and only for a few steps. Gradually I faded the lure but would still reward after only a few steps.
Maddie did not pull nearly as much because she was an adult when I got her and had lots of leash work, but she didn't heel. She is too excited by treats and I can't lure her, but I do show her I have some in my pocket. I would wait til I caught her walking more or less in heel position and say "Good girl!" and pop a treat in her mouth. After doing this quite a bit she started getting the idea that walking at heel position might get her treats, and when she started offering it I then added the command "heel". Because of how she was trained, she'll also heel to the words "good girl" on a walk, which is a bit odd but works for us.
After you get short heels down is when you want to do the direction changes, while the dog is already at heel. It keeps heel work from being dull.
For "leave it" or "drop it", use her tug-drive as an advantage. Hide some treats on your person and get her really involved in tug. Wave a treat in front of her nose, and as soon as she drops the toy say "Drop it" or "leave it" and a big, big good girl and give the treat. Do this a few times and then proceed to say "drop it" immediately before producing the treat (so you'd say "drop it" and instantly wave the treat in front of her nose) and again, big praise and "good girl."
When you think she's getting the hang of it, try saying "drop it" and I'll bet she does. Don't bring out the treat this time until she drops it, and when she does make sure you sing her praises and pop five or six treats in her mouth in quick succession, and/or run off to the treat cupboard for a bigger, special treat. If she doesn't drop it it just means you've moved too fast; back up to an earlier stage.
If she's more toy motivated than food motivated, you can do the same thing by swapping out a more favored toy for a less-favored toy, using the same method (first lure then command, second step command then lure, third step command and treat as reward instead of lure).
If she pulls that much on a walk, try tiring her out a bit beforehand if possible. Honestly Jack can be a bit of a puller too, and if he's really wound I'll sometimes walk very fast or even jog a bit with him when we first go out til the edge wears off.
I'll message you about naming the toys another day.
Good luck!
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Oh, and the other thing on walks is this: any time she just happens to be walking on a loose leash, say a bright and cheery "Good girl!" to her and pop a treat in her mouth.
If she does it seldom, then reward it every time. As she starts offering it more (and she will, because it will get her treats), switch to random reward: sometimes tell her she's good and treat for walking nicely for 2 steps, sometimes for walking nicely for 8 steps, and sometimes just say "Good" and no treat at all.
It is way easier to reward a good behavior than try to extinguish a bad one. For a lot of dogs "Don't pull" is a really hard concept to get. If you think you are trying to trai "don't pull" you may never get there, because to extinguish a behavior by correction you need to correct it EVERY time it happens and most of us just don't have the time when we are trying to potty our dog quick on our way out the door to work or something. Pulling is self-rewarding, so if your goal is to teach "don't pull" you will have a difficult time.
Teaching a dog TO do something is much easier. Why? Because you just have to reward them when they do it, and you don't have to reward them every time either. So instead of teaching her not to pull, think of it as teaching her to enjoy walking on a loose leash.
And remember it will take a long time to build the behavior. Be happy with small steps, and you'll be surprised how soon she'll start walking next to you and looking up at your face to see if you are pleased with her.
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thanks so much for these tips, i am so glad ive met you and do appreciate you writing all this down for me..
im sure something will work....
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oh ya i think im going to look into the deer antlers ill have to go look online , i have before but ill do it again
thanks for everything Merry Christmas to you and your fur kids
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