Jumping - over protective or being sensible?

[corgimom]

I choose to be more cautious, I want good health and longevity for Cody

[Fluffypants]

I err on the side of caution as well. I have taught Jackie to use the stoll from my dressing table to get on/off the bed. I had read so much about the dangers of young corgis jumping off things, I decided to take this precautionary measure. Plus, my bed is really high!

[glencorgi]

While I agree one can work themselves into lather over worrying about things like jumping and not give our corgis a chance just to be dogs; I don't think this is the case which began this thread. Corgis ARE tough little working dogs - they had to be or the Welsh farmers would have never developed them as a breed to do the work they did. However, our concrete jungles, two story dwellings, pillow top queen size mattresses and box springs, etc, etc, and so on do NOT have much in common with the terrain of either Pembrokeshire or Cardiganshire.

Poster wrote:
I think Corgi who are past the puppy stage are quite capable of jumping within reason without fear of injury. A Corgi, like any dog, can get injured through the most innocent of actions and there are Corgis who are not structured as well as they might be - they have brittleness probably as the result of a sub-standard diet.

Key words in the first sentence WITHIN REASON and a puppy jumping repeatedly off the height of the bed we now have is NOT within reason. Nor is it reasonable to have my senior (12 years plus) corgis jump up and down off of it without some type of assistance. The bed we had before was less than 24 inches and that they could handle it with no problem. I know the structural "faults" of my dogs - I have conformation background, but that knowledge is not the reason for the precautions I take today with them. Nor have they ever been on substandard diets. Even the most generic type grocery store brand is likely a more balanced diet in composition than what scraps the early corgis were fed on Welsh farmsteads. Also a factor - what are they landing on - carpet with good padding? hardwoods? concrete? tile?

Life is risk by definition and anyone of us could throw our back out just getting up out of our chair when we leave the computer. I am more than aware of how well corgis excel in agility, but I don't need to watch one run a course to prove just how good Corgis are at jumping on and jumping off of obstacles. All I have to do is set a corgi up on anything to witness that. I believe I shall choose to take the advice Breeders and exhibitors who have been involved in the agility sport from its infancy here and have two or three generations of advanced titled corgis when it comes to age appropriate jumping activities over a relative novice's perceptions of what is okay.

Cheryl, EXCELLENT, BRILLIANT post .

Debbie

[corgimom]

Cheryl,

I also thought your post was very informative...thank you

[Michael Romanos]

Glencorgi - I think I mentioned "past puppy stage." Perhaps you overlooked it. Might be all the jumping up and down you're doing.

[glencorgi]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

Glencorgi - I think I mentioned "past puppy stage." Perhaps you overlooked it. Might be all the jumping up and down you're doing.

No jumping around here, from me at least. But yikes I believe this is the first time you've ever bothered to qualify or hinted at an age limit! Maybe you are learning afterall?

The corgis in question in the thread were/are puppies though. You chose to call their owners over anxious and overprotective and being responsible for not allowing their puppies to develop to their full potential. By including "past puppy stage" are you issuing something resembling a retraction here?

Debbie

[Checkers]

Now we must clarify at what age is a puppy past "puppy stage". According to your post you feel anything

from six months to old age

. In my opinion... and in the opinion of most veterinarians I have talked with the puppy stage is not over until at LEAST one year of age. At six months the bones and particuraly the joints in the puppy are still developing. There is still some debate going now if that stage lasts even longer, going closer to 18 months instead. Now... I don't think a dog over a year old would be in danger running some small jumps in agility... but I wouldn't allow a dog of ANY age to jump 10-12 feet into a shallow creek. Heck, I wouldn't do that myself! That's worse than holding the dog above your head and dropping it! Insane.... but that's just my opinion.

-Cheryl

[Michael Romanos]

When I said a Corgi jumped from a bridge - it was of course no prompting of mine. He slipped. It proves little but it does infer that a Corgi can fall from a considerable height, on his feet -like a cat - and come out unscathed. Not as delicate as some people would think. Another Corgi I had was tearing along a hill and jumped from a bank onto a sealed path, not realising that the bank ws about seven feet higher than the path. He wasn't hurt either after landing on his feet. Lucky, I guess. But Corgis are sturdier than some people give them credit for.

No, Glencorgi, I have only said in the past that it is ok for pups over six months to climb up and down stairs which doesn't mean that they should be jumping much higher than the distance between one stair and another at that age.

[darci]

Micheal I am glad Taylor was ok after the bridge.
I know they are ruff and tumble little dogs, but I did met a lady yesterday at work that has corgi's, her female jumped off their deck and fractured her leg, ( she guessed about 6 feet.)
You just never know.

[corgimom]

Darci


I can easily see how that could happen at 6 feet

[glencorgi]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

No, Glencorgi, I have only said in the past that it is ok for pups over six months to climb up and down stairs which doesn't mean that they should be jumping much higher than the distance between one stair and another at that age.

There is hope!

Cindy, I don't think it was Taylor that jumped from the bridge. I believe it was another one of Michael's corgis. And then there was the other one that lept from the bank of a hill onto the sealed path.

Corgi toughness, let me add this into the equation. Corgis are tough breeds, as I said earlier they had to be in order to do the work they were bred for. However, not many of us live on Welsh farmsteads which would be their natural habitat. What they are encountering in our modern world, a little common sense needs to be called upon in order to ensure puppies are able to grow up as sound as possible and our seniors are accomodated to the limitiations brought on by age. Corgis are also very stoic breeds and we often don't realize they are in pain or are having a medical problem until sometimes it is too late. Cindy coming home yesterday to find Darci in the shape she was in is an excellent example of how stoic corgis can be. Darci's crystals were a condition that had been coming on from sometime, yet she let on no indications that she was having a problem. A past president of the CWCCA and well known Breeder had the same thing happen to her a few years ago. Just because the either of Michael's leaping corgis appeared to shake off their landings as if nothing had happened, doesn't mean they weren't at least sore for a while, even though they may have never let on or that later problems they might have had weren't related to their leaps. Stoic in regards to pain, is a typical corgi way.

Debbie

[darci]

Boy Howdy....
Darci gave us no reason for conern until it was so bad all she do was a few drops of blood.
Stoic A very good way to descibe their nauture Debbie.

[corgimom]

I actually had found that info also on a web site(which I can't recall) about Corgis being stoic in regards to pain.

[bajoiner]

Sassy jumps into our pickup seat with no problem but we lift her out as it is a 4 wheel drive and sits a little higher. We allow her to run and jump outside but I have to agree that we worry about her jumping down more so than up.

And I must add that I actually purchased a chaise lounge chair to sit in front of the big picture window to allow Sassy to be able to see out as she loves to look out and watch the squirrels which she tries to hurry out and get but of course by the time she gets down and out her pet door they are long gone up a tree. She tries her best to catch our squirrels and even tries to catch our birds also.

[Michael Romanos]

I think my point, which I'm certain Debbie would have recognised, is that whilst the kind of leaps and falls that befell my Corgis must have caused some pain and discomfort - and they got plenty of hugs etc from me at the time, the Corgis did not break into pieces or suffer any delayed adverse reaction. Corgis are tough and it's a mark of not knowing one's breed to attempt to keep Corgis in cottonwool though I can appreciate the good intentions. White men can jump - and so can Welsh Corgis.
I have another story that is really funny and terrible at the same time, involving another Corgi of mine - and it seems a little unbelievable. But it once again reaffirms the toughness of Corgis. Maybe I'll save that story for another occasion.