Stubborn Puppy!

[Meredith]

I have a 13 week old strong willed pembroke corgi. She is a very smart dog, already potty trained and knows her commands except for maybe the most important one, NO. For the past 2 weeks she has started biting at my legs and my pants, when i tell her no she starts barking at me. I know she does it when she wants to play. How do i let her know that leg biting is not okay without ending up in a fight?

[Jhemphill]

Our Corgi did this when we first got him and I read that this was because they are herders and nip at the lovestock's heels to get them to do what the Corgi wants. When our Corgi did this we would stop where we were and tell him no bite. Corgi's are strong willed and will take advantage of any situation that you will let them. We have learned that our Corgi hates to be ignored. When we play fetch with our Corgi and he will not bring the fetch toy all the way back to us, we tell him to bring it and turn our back on him, he immediately graps the toy and brings it right to you and set it down. Corgi's love to please so be consisitant and your puppy will learn that nipping is not a behavior that you will tolerate. You want to break her of this habit, because it may not hurt much now but when she is bigger with adult teeth it will hurt.

[Michael Romanos]

Hi Meredith
It's a puppy, Corgi herding thing and I suspect she will gradually wean herself off of nipping as you and your family gently but firmly remind her that her actions are unwelcome. What I would do is when she gets into a nipping frame, pick her up and put her in a quiet room eg a bathroom. Close the door and leave her there for 10 minutes. Do this on each occasion she goes into a nipping phase and she will pick up on the vibes. However, I never discouraged my Taylor from grabbing my hand when he was a pup and a teenager, in his effort to get me to play with him or scratch, pat, massage or fondle. He's one of those Corgis who loves human contact and touching anywhere, anytime.

[Jhemphill]

Our Corgi Maximus also grabs my family's hands when he greets us, we also do not discourage this action because he never bites just hold your hand in his mouth for a moment. We have found that Corgi's display a lot of traits that wolf packs display with the alpha male and female of the pack of being my husband and myself. We also have an American Bulldog that is older than Maximus and female the two of them display pack traits when they interact. I beleive that Corgis are very close to their wolf ancestors in many ways as displayed in their behavior. We really love our Corgi and are always amazed by his intelligence

[Michael Romanos]

Hi Maximus parent
I suppose Corgis are closer to the real thing than a lot of other breeds. It could be that it's because the Pems go back 1000 years and the Cardies upwards of 3000 years (and there has been some inter-Corgi-mingling in days gone by).

Corgis do look for leadership - among themselves and with their human companions. Taylor has his pecking order and my nine year old son is not yet Taylor's equal.

My wife never liked her hands been grabbed so Taylor gave it away but it is simply his method of cleverly using his mouth as we would our hands.

I had one Corgi who use to gently nip the back of my leg when I was going out the door and not taking him with me. I thought it was a great gesture and it usually proffered an apology to him from me.