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Permalink Reply by Julia on February 4, 2009 at 11:53pm

Liliput has found a lot of her own jobs, since she is in charge of the house and all its contents and inhabitants. She is good at fetching people at dinner time. When she is sent to wake me at dinner time she comes charging in, sometimes pausing to look back at the person who sent her to make sure she is doing the right thing. Then she moves on to the kids' rooms. She can be sent outside to retrieve her toys (nice in frigid weather.) She keeps track of the old, senile dog, watches him when he is outside, brings him back when we tell her to, or he goes too far.

But the best for her is agility classes. We don't intend to compete, but the classes keep her active, and in her place. Yes, little girl, you must listen to ME! She may be in charge of everything, but agility has kept her attentive and obedient. Can't stress that enough.

Your pup is too little for agility, but focus on obedience work to set the groundwork for later, when she becomes the way-too-smart dog that she will be. Heel is great, and sit/stay is essential. Fetch and GIVE IT BACK, find the hidden toys, tell mommy where she parked the car (just kidding), or even tricks, that you can learn from books. If you can't afford a class try a book by Patricia McConnell. Find an off-leash dog park.

If you want her to have the best possible life, then make sure that her "job" is a matter of 1) burning off energy,both physical and mental, and 2) keeping her attentive to your commands and obedient to your wishes.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on February 5, 2009 at 7:52pm

Thanks for the ideas and help!

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Permalink Reply by Susan on February 6, 2009 at 12:04am

A job can be anything at all, even the simplest task...one of Annie's jobs is to find her red ball when we go outside, carry it with her while we walk around the house. She's done it since she was a puppy and it's a regular thing that she knows is expected of her...her job. Or going out to get the mail, "chasing" and barking at airplanes (which Annie has also decided is her job!!)...just little tasks that she can do with us or for us...that get her a "good girl" in the end...

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Permalink Reply by Chloe's parent Liz on February 7, 2009 at 11:20pm

Chloe's job each morning is to wake me up. My husband wakes up first, puts her out to do her business, feeds her, then tells her to wake up Mamma.

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Permalink Reply by Bonny on February 8, 2009 at 12:49am

I have a small backpack for the dogs to wear...that is a job! Any structured activity can be considered a job as long as you are giving the directions and your dog is following. Even going for a walk is an opportunity to encourage a "follower" state of mind from your dog. Throughout the day, you basically have them work for food and affection.

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Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on February 8, 2009 at 12:53am

Making sure I get out for long walks at least three times a week is Sidney's main job. Soon we will get him into agility training classes, and that will be a new job for him. One job he seems to enjoy (a bit too much) is to "herd" our indoor cats back into the house on the occasions when they sneak outside. He also is good to let us know when one of his doggie brothers is outside and wants in. When we are away, he seems to take it upon himself to keep an eye on the neighborhood from his upstairs balcony. He makes himself comfortable and surveys his domain, keeping vigilant watch out for strange cats and the dreaded UPS man.

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Permalink Reply by Lauren + Winston on February 8, 2009 at 2:05pm

How funny.. I never realized that it was a job for a dog to do but Winston will bark when Samson wants back in... Sam usually "knocks" on the door and Winston will immediately run to us and bark and look at the door like, "Hey! Sam wants back in! Get up and let him in!" It's pretty funny. :D

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Permalink Reply by Kelly on February 8, 2009 at 6:15pm

hehe, I actually blogged about this here...but yeah, they need a job :) Gibsons is to be guard dog to me and our house!

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Permalink Reply by Laura on February 10, 2009 at 1:42pm

I think most of our corgis jobs are innate. You'll figure out the funny things corgis do especially if you have more than one animal in the house. Geordi's job is to enforce the house rules. He knows the cats aren't allowed on the counters or to eat our dinner leftovers. Geordi will bark to let us know someone is breaking the rules. He'll also bark if someone is stuck somewhere or wants to go in or outside. Corgis do well in households with animals that they can boss around, you could try this with his toys. Maybe start a ritual where he has to collect his toys and put them in a box somewhere. He'll get in the habit and enjoy the routine!

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Permalink Reply by Ann B., Scout and Summer on February 11, 2009 at 2:30pm

Scout's "jobs" are mostly self-created, but are so funny! He does circles around anything that has a motor: ie, vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, and he does circles at the fence when we leave in the car. I think he is herding us away! He was very afraid of airplanes (we get some low fliers from Air Guard base) when he was a puppy. Then he started to "chase" them when they fly over the house! Now he will hear them coming, even when he is in the house. I say "airplane", and he runs outside to chase them away, barking all the time! My husband says he is very successful, we have never had one land in the yard! Other "jobs": he has to go with me to "get the mail" every afternoon; this is his favorite job, since he gets fed right after! Scout also likes to "take a shower" with me or my husband--he doesn't actually JOIN us, but "guards" us, lying on the bathmat. I think jobs are very important to corgis; they like to keep busy!

Obedience training is very important! And here are some good books, recommended by our trainer: "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor; "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson; and "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna Milani, DVM.

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on February 20, 2009 at 12:57am

A couple of times my horrible old Windows machine has gotten so full of viruses or cooties that I just had to wipe the hard drive and reinstall. I HATE that tedious job, so I let Gwynnie & Al do that. They like the Mac better, too, but dogs are realists, they do what needs to be done.

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Permalink Reply by Patti on February 20, 2009 at 8:47am

My dogs will do anything, and I mean ANYTHING for food! so we've had fun with that. Luna's first job is to let me know when the cat wants inside in the morning - she whines and "talks" at the door - that way I know that the evil cat has returned. Luna loves her first ice cube - it used to be a treat, but Kai, again is in need of gastric bypass surgery, just kidding - so we've switched to ice cubes for rewards. The dogs have many jobs thru the day, but the best and most useful is I taught them to pick up their toys. They play very heartily and there will be toys all over the place, and I'm tired of picking them up, so a "where's the toy" "basket" "drop it" and "leave it" and I now have a clean floor, healthy back, and two very happy corgis.

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