Our new Cardigan pup doesn't like us!

[jprechel]

We got a 8 week old Cardigan Corgi almost two weeks ago. The first couple of days were great. He had been started on training to use a litter box (we were amazed to watch him gor right over to the box and do his business without any coaxing from us). He was wanted to be near us and loved to lick us.

Now it seems he would rather go lay down in the kitchen while we are in the living room. Instead of licking us sweetly all he does is bite and nip. He does not want to be held at all. And he doesn't really care for affection. Anytime we try to pet him it turns into him trying to bite our hand. Of course I am aware that puppies bite a little but this is just weird.

We were so excited to get our corgi, but now we are getting deppresed about it. Even if he was horribly disobedient it wouldn't bother us as much as his not wanting to bond with us or show us any affection.

Do you have any advice for us? Is this normal? What could we be doing wrong? It has gotten to the point that my wife has brought up the subject of returning him to the breeder. This would make me very sad but I do understand her frustration.

Thanks for any advice you may have.

[Cardiguy]

I am far from an expert in dog training but if you were initially constantly doting on the dog he may have thought you to be lower in rank (I could be all wrong on this due to the pup's age). I would start to use food as a reward to accomplish your goals-hold him and then give him a treat in a period where he doesn't squirm, and only dote on the dog when he does something that you want him to do. When he bites your hand a firm NO and give him something like a nylabone (maybe he is too young for a nylabone) to chew on instead with plenty of praise when he does.

I don't know about using a litter box. I would either use paper or a crate as the foundation for housetraining. How did the breeder categorize this pup in relation to the others? 8 wks is probably the youngest a pup can be taken from its littermates/mom as wks 9-12 really add to the pup's socialization. You have the opportunity now to mold this pup, later might be too late.

I made a lot of mistakes as a first time dog owner by not knowing what to do and wish I knew then what I have subsequently learned.

[corgimom]

Jprechel,

Don't give up on your new dog yet - you have only had him 2 weeks, 8 weeks
is a bit young to be taken from his mother and litter for a corgi, but you
already have him, so that doesn't matter anymore. Give him love and attention, but as Cardiguy says a firm "no" when he bites your hands or
make a loud sound like "Ouch" when he does that. We did that with our puppy and he learned quickly that what he was doing was wrong and then would put his ears back and lick us to tell us he was sorry. Just be consistant
and don't let him get away with it sometimes and then other times discipline
him for it. My Corgi is affectionate, but he prefers to take his naps in his
crate or on the kitchen floor, he doesn't nap close to us and that is fine - it
is what he likes to do.

What is the reason for the litter box? - I know you can do it with dogs, but do
you not have a yard to take him out in? If you have a yard, it might help
to take him outside and teach him to go outdoors and praise him lavishly when
he potties and give him a small treat - this will also help with him getting used
to you as his companion and also your being in charge. Also, buy some
toys that he may like, a small ball or some furry thing and start to play with
him - interacting with him when you can in a positive manner will help develop
a relationship with the both of you - of course, when you play, he will probably try to bite at your hands, but be consistent in teaching him that is
not okay. It will work out, give it time - it won't happen overnight and try
to stay positive with the little guy - he's just 10 weeks old

Corgimom

[jprechel]

Thanks for the advice. THe litter box training was doen by the breeder. She said it was helpful when the pup was younger and it does help if the puppy wakes up in the middle of the night so you don't have to take him outside. I think I may stop incouraging the litter box though as we have started training him to ring a little bell by the back door when he needs to go out. I'm sure he must wonder which method he should use.

We do have many toys for him. And the nyla bones are helpful. He goes through the edible nyla bones very fast. He is very possesive with the toys. He has a small duck that squeaks that he will play with a lot. When we pick it up to play with him he plays with us for a second then takes the duck (or any toy or bone for that matter) and lays down with it several feet away often turning his back to us. And he does put up a fight if you try to take a toy from him when it is in his mouth. I know this is a dominant tendency. I usually just distract him wiht another toy and he will drop the first one.

The breeder did say that he was larger than the other puppies in the litter. at 8 weeks he weighed almost 9 lbs were as the others were 8 lbs. She also said that he would wait for you to go to him rather than come to you.

I also can't get over how much he sleeps. He probably sleeps 15-18 hrs a day!

[Jhemphill]

When we first got Maxi a Pembroke, he was 3 months,he would nip and bite our hands and heels. We would say no bite or Ouch and he learned quickly not to do that. He still at 1 year and 3 months will put your hand in his mouth and hold it there not biting down, this is a little disconcerning for people that do not know him, so we just tell them when they come in, he loves to greet people. Maxi likes to lay on the kitchen floor because he is warm natured and it is cooler than the carpet. He will also lay on the floor and play with his toys or bones by himself. When he wants us to play with him he will bring the toy to us and bark. I was amazed when we first got him how much he slept, but after reading about Corgis when they are little they sleep alot, just like a human baby so I would not worry about this. Maxi sleeps alot when he is bored. I do not think that you have anything to worry about, your Corgi is very young. Like Cardiguy and Corgimom said you have to be consistant with him. I have also read that Corgis will take over if given the chance. Corgis are great dogs, they are very different in there behavior from most domesticated dogs and have many primative wolf like instincts. We have a 3 months old wolfdog (Maylay), she and Maxi act very similar. I am sure with consistancy and love your Corgi will love and bond with you. Remember he is still a baby.

[corgimom]

JPrechel,

I know you can train dogs to use a litter box, but personally, I don't know anyone that has done this. Are you keeping him in a large crate at night with
the litter box inside it or in a gated off room with the litter box? I know
puppyhood can be hard on us, but really, if he has to get up in the night to
go outside, you must be willing to also - as his bladder matures, he will hold
it all night. When we got our Corgi at 11 weeks, he weighed 11 pounds, 3 ounces, and was already crate trained by the breeder and slept in his crate
the first night all through the night without a peep and has done that ever
since. You don't put water in his crate at night do you? because they don't
need water during sleeping hours at night and if you do that, and he is
drinking that would explain why he still needs to go out at night.

But yes, our Corgi seems to get warm after playing and loves to lay on the
kitchen floor which is ceramic tile and I am sure feels nice and cool to him.

Corgimom

[Michael Romanos]

I don't think where the puppy is dong his toilet is the problem. And I don't think his shifting to a new environment/away from his mother and sibblings, at eight weeks is a problem. Afterall this age is the most common of all and is a ritual carried out by a majority of the most experienced of breeders.
The breeder is the key to all this because he/she/they know something of the puppy before he departed and they know the pup's parents and grandparents ie background. Maybe the shy nature of the pup is coming out after a kind of honeymoom period. Dogs act in different ways to this. And I agree with someone who said to give the puppy lots of space so that he comes round eventually when he wants to and not have things forced upon him in order for him to react the way he has done so. Play his game or play to his rules and he should bend eventually by gaining the confidence he needs to in order to "come round."
Don't smother him, it will only make him want to 'climb up the wall.'


When my Taylor has something he really really wants and it is not detrimental to him or something we are not in play together over, I let him alone. If he feels ownership protection of whatever it is, so be it. In that way he has satisfaction from a dog's point of view but he would most certainly know if it was an emergency situation whereby I wouldn't stand for any resistence - and that's where the leadership thing comes into it.

Corgi pups at 8 -16 weeks should get a lot of sleeping but intersperced with four feeds daily, toileting, playing and a little bit of training. I always trained my pups from the first week for conformation showing in mind so that at 16 weeks they'd be ready and able for puppy competition. I think up to 18 hours sleep or rest is ok.

[Chip's Mom]

When we first got Chip, he was very bossy (he came from a litter of two) and the breeder said he "tormented" his little sister. I, fortunately, have a 10 year old, female, rottie mix that has adopted him as her own. You should see them play - it's amazing. but anyway he no longer is bossy and is most agreeable in any situation and he no longer plays rough. The only thing is he will not play with other puppies if they play too rough (by Chip's standard anyway)

[corgimom]

Michael,

I know you are not in our area, but I have to disagree with your statement
that 8 weeks is the most common age that reputable breeders let their
Corgis go. I guess in my state,(Wisconsin) I have not found that to be true. I contacted 7 breeders here and they were all members of the Regional Corgi club, bred Corgis for quite some time,(One had been doing it for 25 years), along with showing them also, and not one of them would let their puppies go until 11 to 12 weeks of age. Also, from some websites I have visited(can't remember which ones), it specifically said that the period between 10 to 12 weeks is when puppies learn a lot from their littermates and mother regarding socialization and bite inhibition. Now, I know each breeder will have their own
opinion, but like I said, not one of those breeders felt it was in the best
interest of the puppies to let them be adopted at such an early age.

Also, you are right about the litter box not being an issue here. I am curious
though, if a dog is trained to go in a litter box, will the dog go potty outside?
I am just curious from the standpoint of traveling and visiting other people if
you would always have to have the litter box with you, or will the dog learn
to do both? Do you know?

Linda
Corgimom

[Michael Romanos]

Linda - I'm very pleased that people you contacted don't let their pups go until they are 10-12 weeks old. Excellent. But I don't think it is excessively wrong to let one go at eight weeks and I don't feel that this is going to have serious repercussions. And occasionally, there could be problems associated with the puppy's birth home and environment. so the quicker out of there, the better. But, yes I never got my last two Corgis until they were both past 12 weeks and I couldn't honestly tell you what advantages it had.

Toileting is a training exercise for quite a time. A litter box would be only a little different from say, newspaper. If the puppy is encouraged to going to the toilet on newspaper in the kitchen. Then for a time this is the toilet recepticle. So the big outside world where dogs can toilet in the most convenient places for dogs and are human-approved eg under a tree, under a bush, on a grassy area in a corner etc, is a learnt thing, nothing to do with litter boxes, and the sooner it is exploited, the better for everyone concerned. Mind you, there are dogs raised in apartment blocks with little vegetation ouside, and could be several floors away, where I suppose a litter box would get some useage. Just as long as the pooch also is given many opportunities to toilet in the outside world as part of their daily exercise routine. Adult Corgis - not aged Corgis - don't require toileting any more than three times a day - about the same as an adult human.

[corgimom]

Thanks for clarifying that Michael. I was really wondering if a dog would
adjust to going outside if they always used a litter box in the home. Before
Cody, I was considering getting a "rescue" dog, not a Corgi, but was told
that the dog would not go potty outside while on "a leash", Since we did
not have a fenced in yard, I knew this would not work for me. Obviously, the
dog was always let loose in his previous owners back yard to go potty and the rescue group said he had been returned once already because he refused
to go potty while on a leash no matter how long you walked him. Some dogs
just can't break habits can they?

linda

[jprechel]

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions. I think we are geting over the hump with our corgi. I guess what we thought was excessive sleep really wasn't. We are working on the biting and nipping issue and are making a little progess. Our main problem now is a puppy "rampage" that always starts between 8 pm and 9 pm. Our puppy, Ace, behaves quite well throughout the day and plays hard but also sweetly. But at that 8-9 time frame he goes crazy and gets downright mean. Anything we do to try to calm him down fails. Ultimately we have to put him in his crate for a time out. I have read that some people think you should never punish your dog by putting him in his crate, but some say it is O.K. Is this another corgi puppy trait? I guess it is just like having a baby throw a tantrum.