I'm in puppy training hell LOL!

[woogiebear]

Hello, I am woogiebear and I have a 6 month old Pembroke Corgi. (My avitar). My previous dog, MilkDud, was a Corgi mix and I lost him to heart failure in November after 15 long years. My husband could not stand to see me greiving so and bought me this little nugget of giggles!

I named him Rotten Snarky Figlet. Yes...there is a reason for such an unusual name however, those that know my fondness for strange names do not question. After all I have 3 fish named Platy, Puss & Eeyore, a gerbil named Riki Tiki Tavi and 3 cats named Woogiebear, Mallowmar and Scat the Witches Cat (Scatty for short).

It has been many MANY years since I have had to train a puppy and I really think I have just forgotten how. He was doing so well in the beginning. We do not like crates and live in a very old house. So we would shut him in the kitchen with bed, toys and food/water during the day while we are at work. It got to where he would actually hold (I call it "potty la caca") during the day and as soon as my husband would come home he would immediatly take him outside to do his business. Sometimes there would be a "tinkle winkle" left but he was getting better at it. You can stop laughing now....I cuss but don't want the dog to respond to cuss words LOL!!

His progress halted and actually reversed itself once my sister and her 2 kids had to come stay with us. Now it seems we are back at square one once again. He does recognize "Wanna go potty outside?" and cocks his head to say "YES Mommy, I do!" However he almost exclusively tinkle winkles outside and then proceeds to potty la caca inside. I am sure this will be able to rectify itself once the additional house guests leave. At least I hope so.

He is also a chomper. He chews on EVERYTHING. Wall, furniture, clothing, toys, trash, his own potty la caca (ew). I have tried the sprays that taste bad and so far they are not much help. I don't believe in spanking either although I have smacked my own hand with a magazine to get his attention a couple of times. He just looks at me as if to say "Is that something else for me to shred?" How long do these stages last? Is there something different I could be doing?

Hope this wasn't too long, but I am looking forward to talking to other Corgi lovers! Finally find people I have something in common with. There just are not alot of Corgi's here in Houston I guess!

[corgimom]

Hello Woogie Bear,

You do have some interesting names. I have a Pembroke named Cody who
is almost 5 1/2 months and I also have 3 cats - so our situation is very
close. Now, I know you said you don't like crates, but I have been using
this with Cody since I brought him home at 3 months old(The breeder did also)
and he has never whined while being in his crate for sleeping. Also, from
the beginning, I took him out very frequently - like every hour. I found that
sometimes he would "tinkle" a bit, then "poop" and then "tinkle again" before
I could bring him in and he STILL does that first thing in the morning. At
5 months, he is very good at going outside - but I feel the crate was a big,
big help in establishing that - some people may disagree and I think others
will agree. Are you keeping him outside long enough for pee and poop - sometimes they will walk around for a bit before pooping outside.

Mine also did the chewing, but the spray"bitter apple" worked well for me -
Maybe Vinegar in a spray bottle would help?? - I am not sure. I know my vet
specifically told me to put a stop to his wanting to initially eat his own poop
otherwise it can become a very bad habit to break - I did do this, by pulling
him away from his own poop and telling him "leave it". My vet also said that
depending on what you are feeding your Corgi, sometimes the food will not
digest very well and therefore the "poop" will actually smell like the food which
He just ate and will entice them to want to ingest it, so you might look at what he is eating.

However, another thought, my Cody loved to chase my cats all the time(wanting to play) and I knew I had to put a stop to it. Anyway, upon advice
from someone else with two cats and a dog and after reading it on the internet, I decided to try the empty soda can with some change in it. Just
throw in some pennies and tape over the top and when your dog is doing
a behavior that you do not approve of, say "No" loud and firm and "Shake" the
can or drop the can "near him", but not on him. Honestly, this truely worked
in one weekend of use for me and he no longer chases the cats. I did have
to put about 5 cans together and place them in different rooms so I wouldn't
always have to carry one around, but it did work. Maybe this would work
with his "poop eating issue" - whatever you decide, use the can for only 1 thing and not for all different behaviors you are trying to correct. My dog at
5 months no longer chews on anything in the home other than his bones or
his toys - you really have to be consistant with a firm no when you see your
dog doing this and give him something in return that he can have. Good luck.

Corgimom

[woogiebear]

Yes I did take him out quite frequently when I first got him (6 wks old) and his usual habit was 2 tinkles and then a potty la caca. Then as he got older I spaced out his outings a little just so I could get something else done besides taking him outside. It worked at first. Like I said, I believe he was making quite good progress until the additional house guests arrived. I am pretty sure we can get this back on track once they leave as they will be gone the end of next month and the house will be quiet again and just me and my husband will be there.

I do stay out for awhile with him as he is easily distracted by passing cars and such. He goes out first thing in the morning, first thing when we get home and then a couple of times throughout the evening.

When MilkDud was still with us we had a potty issue with him wanting to go everywhere also and instead of a crate, we have an entry foyer (a good deal roomier than a crate) and we put up a baby gate there. It worked fine with MilkDud but somehow Rotten is a magician dog. I may try that again now that he is a little bigger. Perhaps he will not be able to crawl under it again by now.

I think I bought a different brand of spray but I believe I did see that bitter apple up at the store. Maybe I will give that a shot and see if it works any better. I have been discouraging his eating the caca but he likes to hide what he is doing and once I notice he has not been pestering me for attention for a few minutes, I call for him and he comes running. Unfortunatly by that time he has caca breath. ew. I have been feeding him Pedigree puppy food mixed with a high grade dry puppy food I bought at the vet's office. I found a couple of sites that advised adding a little garlic to his food but then I found another site that said garlic was harmful. So I just nixed that idea all together.

That is a good idea with the coke can. I will have to try that one out. I too have a new issue with the cats. Or one cat in particular. Mallowmar used to like to have MilkDud gnaw on his head. Sounds strange I know but MilkDud did not have many teeth and I guess he knew exactly how Mallowmar liked it. Well, along come Rotten and Mallowmar proceeded to put his head in Rotten's mouth wanting him to gnaw on it and instead, well, you know how puppies teeth are, he would end up biting instead of gently gnawing. Now I can separate these two but each of them will yell or fidget to be with the other one but I am worried about Mallowmars head now as he is an older cat and it looks like the freindly biting is leaving not so freindly marks. Much to both of thier demise I have had to force them apart in an effort to stop this behavior. The loud magazine on my leg has been so far successful in stopping this behavior when I see it happening.

So I guess I will try to keep with the magazine on my leg for the cat issue, I will see to getting some bitter apple for the chewing issue and I will try the coke can for the eating yuckies issue.

Thank you so much for your suggestions!

[corgimom]

Woogie Bear,

From what you said it sounds like you let your dog out to go potty without
a leash??? I guess if he is eating his poop, I would leash him when you take
him out and "watch carefullY" As soon as you see it drop from his butt and
he turns around to "snatch" it, then you could pull him away from it and
say "leave it" while throwing or shaking the can. I would continue to do this
until he shows no interest in his own poop. Good luck.

By the way, my 3 cats and Cody live pretty peacefully now - Cody no
longer chases them, but my one cat will taunt him by rolling over on
his back near him. Cody now knows better and will lay down and look
at him like "I am not allowed to come after you". The Soda can was
a lifesaver for me.

[woogiebear]

Oh no...I do use a leash. He is leash trained. He will also not eat it when outside. It is when he does it inside that he thinks it is a buffet.

Your cat sounds mischievous LOL!! I will be sure to give the coke can a try!

[corgimom]

Woogiebear,

Okay, so he sometimes poops inside and then outside also??? I guess you
have some work to do. You can use any soda can - not just Coke - HA -
I should write the Coca Cola company and tell them how handy their cans are!

[mrsjoebob]

Hi Woogiebear,

You might want to reconsider the crate. I have had many dogs and never used the crate until I started showing Corgi's and boy I kick myself for not listening to advice I was given long ago.
A crate is a safe haven for a dog, not a bad place for them to be. They feel it is their space like a den would be. You must make sure the crate is not to large ( a medium one for a corgi) or they will go in it. The problem with the space that you have him in now is that it is large and he feels comfortable in going because he has enough room to get away from it. And most likely one of the reasons that he going in the house again is that he does not feel he has a safe place with the addition of kids. I know when all my grandkids show up sometimes my corgi's find peace in there crates for awhile and the kids know that when the dogs are in the crates they are to be left alone.

When I started crate training I would take the pups out side just before I left for work. I lived close enough I could come home at lunch and let them out again and then again as soon as I got off work. All three of my show dogs were the same age as yours when I got them. After a short while I was able to leave them in the crate until I got home from work and then we would go for a long walk and to let them do their thing. Male corgi's take there sweet time about picking the right spot.
My dogs love their crates which is wonderful as they have a place that is thier own even when we travel.
The eating of poop is just puppies - every puppy we have ever owned no matter what breed from our largest two ST. Bernards to our corgi's have always headed for the horse poop the first chance they got. And o my lord - my two little girl corgi's thought they have to roll in it as well as eat it. But they all seem to get over it. My girls are both a year old now and we don't seem to have that problem any more.

Good luck with the little guy - PS he is cute and my grandaughter 2nd that.

[corgimom]

Woogiebear,

I do agree with the crate thing also - they are wonderful and with the
added people in your home it will give him a safe haven to go to. As for the
poop eating, I specifically remember my vet telling me to put a stop to it
because it can become a bad habit to break. MrsjoeBob is lucky
if her dogs quit doing it, but I would not ignore his behavior if your dog is
eating his feces in front of you. It is called COPROPHAGIA if you want to
look up more info about it - but whatever habits you want to live with is
up to you obviously.

Linda

[Michael Romanos]

Taylor is not into eating poop - his or anyone elses. But whenever he goes near another dogs poop I always say to him something like "oooh, yuk" and he immediately goes away from it In other words, my emphasising the yukkiness of another dogs poop, has effectively relayed to Taylor that this is something that his dad does not want him to ponder over, and maybe trample on by mistake, let along sample.

[woogiebear]

Yes, Corgimom, I bet Coca Cola would just love you! That's ok...I drink Coke so no problem there LOL!!

MrsJoeBob, I will think about the crate thing, although my husband and I really wanted him to have the run of the house, it may be a little big for him. When we were seeing more success, it was before we had the extended house guests and we shut him up in the kitchen.

The kitchen is the smallest room in the house and I think once our houseguests leave we can go back to doing that once more. The room being smaller is not the only plus factor either. It is in the back of the house and is much cooler since we have but one window and it is shaded well with a tree. We are in Houston and it gets hot here! We have one window unit AC too and with the door closed into the rest of the house it would not be too taxing on our electric bill to run that small unit during the day and it should be plenty comfortable for Rotten I think. Plus, his food bowl and water bowl are already located in there and he has something to lay upon and toys in there already. He was doing really well with this arrangement before the guests came. In fact, he was holding his potty almost everyday until my husband came home and would take him for his walk.

With the house guests, it has been madening and her younger child is always causing excitement with Rotten. Not to sound bad or anything but we humans are going crazy as well. I will be glad when they leave as they are not the type of people that know what a schedule is. I think that is part of the problem.

Michael, I will try the yuck or ew with the caca eating situation too. Most of the time I realize what has happened after the fact though as I spend alot of time with Rotten with my face close to him and the caca breath is an instant give away! I have caught him a couple of times and have instantly told him bad dog and took it away from him. There have been times he knows I am going to take it away from him too and so he high tails it away from me, with treasure in mouth, and the chase is on. Once I get it out of his mouth...I replace it with something else he is allowed to chew on.

All in all I think the inside potty thing will get better once we have our house to ourselves again. I will be looking forward to that time as well.

This past weekend we had our house to ourselves as our guests were gone for the weekend and the only time an inside potty took place was overnight and this I think was due to the fact that I do not get up at 6:30 am on the weekends, and he caca'd twice all weekend inside, this is what bothers me. I take him outside, we are out there awhile, he tinkles, sometimes more than once, but within 20 min of coming back in, he caca'd inside.

Maybe my walking area is not large enough? Late in the evenings I only take him in the front yard. It is very small, but he is not a large dog. It is very dark where I live, no outside lights other than those on my house and as I've mentioned before I live in Houston therefore do not go far from my house in the dark alone. My rent house is a good size and in the back there is a two story unit, garages on the bottom and an apartment on top. In the daytime I walk him out behind the garage unit as well. Perhaps I am not giving him a big enough choice to do his business since boys are a little more finiky about where they are gonna unload. Would this be a consideration maybe?

[corgimom]

Woogiebear,

I know when I take my Cody out, he pees almost instantly as soon as I
step off the patio onto the grass; however, with him having to do his
poop, I usually have to walk much further around the yard as he sniffs and
sniffs and then starts doing a circle and then finally does his duty. It
sometimes takes awhile and is usually quite a distance further from the
patio until he finally feels he has found a place that is suitable to him.

Linda

[Jane Austen]

Duchess would walk a long way before she pooped until I started letting her only go to the end of her leash. Then she starts to get serious.
She has gastritis and cannot eat for 24 hours but otherwise the vet is pleased at the her fitness. I met a large corgi at the dog park that was 48 pounds. My Duchess looks tiny next to him.