5 Month Old Very Vocal Corgi

[kyleandamor]

Hi!

First time poster here and have used your site to train our two year old Great Pyrenees into the most sweet, loving, well behaved dog we’ve ever owned!

Our 5 month old Corgi on the other hand is still very much a work in progress. 

We’ve noticed she is very vocal and will yip to communicate almost anything. And for you reading this who are thinking of getting a Corgi, know that their yip hits your brain like a hammer. Wonderful dogs though. When she yips at us we’ve mostly followed your advice to not reward it and leave the room and it works. But my Great Pyrenees thinks the yipping is wonderful and rewards it with playful whining, biting, and chase around the house. They also play a game where the Great Pyrenees has a toy or bone and will hold it and whine while the Corgi barks nonstop at her. Because of these interactions, we’ve noticed her vocalizing is getting worse. We think it may be her adolescent testing period haunting us, but not sure. 

Also in relation to this, she’s picked up a habit of memorizing where all the fenced dogs are in our neighborhood and on our daily walk, she provokes them by barking very aggressively and will even get aggressive with me when I physically try and intervene. I’ve tried carrying her past, running past, going around to the other side of the street, but she still gets excited and starts barking to get every dog in the neighborhood riled up. Curiously, we return back on the other side of the street and she’s mostly silent when passing the same dogs, who bark at her. It’s only the initial passing it seems. Like a ritual. Got any ideas?

P.S. Here’s our babies, Riley (the Great Pyrenees) and Astrid (the Corgi)

[Adrienne]

Hi there!

Welcome to the forums!

Hi there!

Riley and Astrid are adorable! They look like great buddies. 

 

Glad to hear your Pry has turned out being so sweet and well-behaved. Kudos to you for a job well-done! These are not the easiest dogs to train. 

 

I hear you about your corgi's barking. This behavior is deeply ingrained in them because of their history as herders who used their voices along with nipping at heels to move stubborn livestock from one area to another in the Welsh countryside. On top of this, they were used as well for sounding the alarm for any stray animals approaching the farm. 

 

In regards to the yipping with your Pry, this can be tricky to tackle. It can be, your corgi has learned that she can "move" your Pry around and "activate her" this way. And your Pry therefore responds to it. 

 

The barking at your Pry having the toy is most likely her way to vent some frustration. "Hey, gimme that toy, gimme, gimme, gimme!" And your Pry "No, it's mine, you see I have in my mouth, you can't have it!" Humor aside, this is how we train dogs to bark on command: we get a toy and show it, wiggling it around and making it extra enticing and then tell the dog they can't have it by hiding behind our back. This often leads to some frustrated barking: "Hey, that's not fair! I want the toy, make it re-appear!"

 

Ideas that come to mind to tackle this barking is to let the dogs out in the yard when they are in the mood for play. Many dogs like to play in the morning and evening. We can therefore entice our dogs to follow us outdoors in the yard to blow off some steam. 

 

Encouraging tugging games may help too. With the mouths occupied, you might hear some muffled growls more than barks. Providing both dogs with a long toy to tug on using a side each may encourage this form of play, although, it can happen that one takes off with the whole thing and the barking starts again 😞

 

And then of course, you can encourage different forms of play, such as putting them in a down/stay and you hiding, See the hide-and-seek game here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/hide-and-seek/

 

Or you can put them in a down/stay and then hide some balls around and release them to go find them.  

 

The barking at dogs behind fences may still be part of this breed's instinctive behavior of trying to send dogs that don't belong to their social group away. If you have memorized where these dogs are too, I would suggest walking your corgi at a distance from the fences as much as possible, finding a distance where she is under threshold. You can read about threshold levels here:

 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

 

When you know she's about to pass an area with a dog, try putting in front of her nose some smelly high-value treats and then tossing them to the ground ahead of you. This to encourage some fun treasures hunt games rather than going on a barking frenzy.  As herders, these dogs may be attracted to movement, so tossing the treats  may work better than just hand feeding them. You need to be fast and have the right momentum in launching a few forward right when you know she is about to acknowledge the presence of dogs. If you are just a bit late, she may be too busy to bark to even notice the treats. Once you have passed the dog, no more tossing treats.

 

This behavior modification method is known as open bar/closed bar. Treats are contingent upon the appearance of dogs. Once dogs are no longer there, treats are gone. You can read about this method here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

 

Now, I hear that you may have tried this before, but it sounds like you haven't tried tossing the treats, and I would just aim to go slowly. For example, start with only the first area you encounter that has a barking dog. Practice going back and forth (please note that neighbors may get annoyed by the repeated barking so try to keep these sessions short) until your dog gets the idea that the treats are contingent upon passing that area upon acknowledging the dog/dogs. Always end the session on a positive note. 

 

As your dog progresses, you can then try to walk up to the next "hot spot" and do the same exercise. As always, aim to keep your dog under threshold by keeping as much as distance as possible. Go back and forth several times as before making sure to make treats contingent upon passing the other dogs. Rinse and repeat and progress a little every day, but be ready to go back a few steps if your dog appears over threshold.  

 

I worked some time ago too with a dog who seemed as well mostly aroused going rather than coming back. I think the walk tired him out and the fact that he had been exposed to lots of stimuli sort of got him "into the mind frame" habituating him somewhat, compared to the full immersion experience of going from a quiet home to a world full of sights and sounds. 

 

Other ideas that come to mind for lowering her threshold: 

 

-Make sure you are on the fence side so that you offer a bit of a visual block and more distance rather than having your dog  so close to the fence. 

 

-Something worth trying is driving him to an area and then walking him back past the dogs. Here you may gain a starting point for behavior modification to take since he may be more under threshold. After practicing with this a lot, you can then try walking the opposite way as always taking baby steps. 

 

-Use walking gear that provides you a good level of control. I like to use front-attachement harnesses such as the Easy-Walk harness, Walk your dog with love harness, the Sensible harness or Freedom harness. 

 

-Walk your corgi alone. If you take your Pry as well on walks, there may be chances both dogs will "gang up" and start barking at other dogs and this can lead to trouble.  Also, behavior modification requires that you are able to focus on one dog only and scan the environment as much as possible. 

 

Other tips:

 

-Find a way to reduce the sound of your dog's ID tags. Many dogs come rushing towards the fence when they hear them. There are Tag silencers for dogs or you can use a rubber band around them to prevent them from making noise. 

 

-Avoid touching your dog when she's is such an aroused state as this can lead to a redirected bite. 

 

Since you mention your dog is redirecting towards you in an aggressive manner a disclaimer is needed here. Behavior modification comes with risks. For safety and correct implementation of behavior modification please have a dog behavior professional using force-free methods guide you through the process. Some moderate to severe cases may require calming aids and veterinarian prescribed medications. 

 

I hope this helps!

Please let me know if you have any other questions and feel free to provide updates. 

Best,

Adrienne