Corgi Forums

Txcantipper · **obedience -** 02-13-2006, 03:57 PM

Hi , I am looking at getting into obedience and later agility with my newest Pemmie puppy that I just got. She is 8 weeks old is now a good time to start teaching her or should I wait till she is a little older? What should I work on now?

Michael Romanos · 02-13-2006, 06:04 PM

Congrats on your new pup and I am thrilled with the goals you have set for her.

I have never felt the need or urge to formally ie puppy school train, my Corgis in obedience. I've done it at home and from home incorporating all the real important things. I have never been interested in the sport of obedience.
Before I even got my latest Corgi into agility, he knew all the basics of obedience type commands, so that when he went off-lead, it was real easy.
The learning curve for a puppy starts from eight weeks but slowly,slowly.
A Corgi should be able to walk with a leash (I always use a chocker chain) from three months as well as sit and stay. If you're into conformation shows, in NZ you can't enter your pup into these until they are four months old. So I have always trained my Corgis to be up to a reasonable obedience standard by this time ie sit, stay, stand, walk to heel, stand still on a table, allow for inspection and handling by the judge - mouth, feet and body, stand to attention, ears alert, head up. So basically all this is learnt to some extent in a little more than four weeks.

With agility in New Zealand, the minuum age for competing is 18 months but you can start taking your dog for basic (light) agility training from aged 12 months.

It is important for Corgis to be well developed before allowing them to even climb stairs. So a Corgi should not be climbing up and down stairs or do jumping from any height until they are six months old.
Agility requires a fit dog, in no way overweight and one that is well exercised - lots of walking/running. If your Corgi is controllable. bold, physical, intelligent, fit and loves whoever is her handler, then that's all the ingredience for her to be successful at agility. Jumping, going through collapsed tunnels, weaving, going over A frames, onto (scary) seesaws etc will all fit into place.

Besides, females are better than males at agility.

That's all I have to say at present. But I'm sure your subject matter will interest others.

Txcantipper · 02-14-2006, 06:04 AM

Sadie has been home since Sunday and though the house training is coming along VERY slowly... She is smart and bright and a joy to be around

This is my first corgi puppy. I have had two older corgi's and still have one of them. Although Brady refuses to be a house dog now. She is much happier outside.

Sadie has learned that the crate is a nice place to be because the jack russell Terror can't bother her in there if she is tired of playing.

Thanks for the reply

I am looking forward to learning much more and working with Sadie in this until she is older and can do Agility. Oh, and she has already learned where I keep the cookies! lol

glencorgi · 02-17-2006, 08:55 PM

Hi Carrie,

Just wanting to see how Sadie is doing - did she get over her ear infection?
(Read about it on Pem-L).

Debbie

tandemgal · 02-19-2006, 07:31 AM

What is Pem-L???

Carrie looks like we both now have 8 week olds! Chloe was born of Christmas day I'm told. What is Sadie's birthday? Like you this is my first baby puppy - Emma was 4 mts when we got her so this is very new for us too.

Hope her ear is fine - Chloe has an eye infection and is on meds and seems much improved this morning.

glencorgi · 02-20-2006, 02:36 PM

Pem-L is Pembroke-L, one of the yahoo corgi lists.

Debbie

koyuki-corgi · **3month old and what to train ... -** 03-24-2006, 02:11 AM

I bought a pembroke corgi just 3 weeks ago. She is really intelligent and is already toilet trained, learned how to sit, wait, stay, lie down and come. I'm constantly challenged as to what's next. What other appropriate training should I be giving her. She tends to mouth-biting my hands and I also have a tough time getting her to keep still to cut her nails.

Michael Romanos · 05:14 AM

Hi Koyuki
You didn't say how old your Pem Corgi is but I take it she is no more than four months old.

What are the options in Hong Kong for a pedigree dog? There is showing and I would assume obedience. Are there any other organised sports?
Lets take obedience. Corgis can be very good at it at a competitive level. That will keep you and her occupied though obedience is not my cup of tea. A couple of reasons are that it is not such a fun thing and not very physical - though its much more challenging than conformation showing.

Teaching your Corgi to fetch is very good but there's no jumping allowed until the pup is a good six months old. Fetching can lead to catching frizbees in the air and apart from being an organised sport, frizbees are a great recreational activity when you take your Corgi to a park.

My Pem, Taylor gets a lot of enjoyment from eating by tracking - ie sometimes I hide his food in several places - inside or outside - and he tracks the food bowls down, one by one after eating the contents.

Taylor goes regularly to a retirement village and rest home and is loved by a lot of people at this complex.Part of his time there, he is taken around in a wheelchair for easier access for some of the residents and it makes it less tiring for him when he doesn't have to stand up just on his two back legs so often. I say "chair" and he jumps up onto the wheelchair and enjoys been taken around. He was photographed by a Metropolitan newspaper doing this earlier today.

A Corgi pup grabbing your hand to bring your hand down to her level or get you to use your hand to play with her or fondle her, is very normal. As is her not liking you cutting her nails. As soon as she gets to regularly walk in the streets, where her nails will be tended to by the material she walks on, you might only have to clip her nails one more time. Give her lots of praise and treats when she co-operates for these kind of things. Taylor use to hate the hairs around his pads and toes been trimmed. But now my three year old baby is quite at home with it all - thanks partly to a very sharp but less pointy scissors I now use.

darci · 04-30-2006, 10:42 PM

OMG I just saw the "big girl panties" thing.... lol

I saw a coffee mug with that same saying on it, I love it.

Michael Romanos · 04-30-2006, 11:02 PM

Cindy - you're a treasure. Sometimes your comments are off-topic and help destroy a thread's momentum. But that's OK. I was pleased to read my postings again in this thread after so long. And it occurred to me that Koyuki in Hong Kong never did respond to my questions. Maybe she's slipped into the bigger part of China where Corgis are even more rare.

darci · 05-01-2006, 05:35 AM

hmmmm... I am not sure wether to be offended or not michael.
I was unaware that my post were disturbing to this group.

Michael Romanos · 05-01-2006, 08:29 PM

There are occasions where it is better to start a new thread when there is a change of subject matter. That way, for instance, the item title can help to direct viewers to the general nature of the subject. I can be accused of branching off as well - for example, there was one thread when I introduced midstream discussion on obesity problems in humans filtering through to their Corgis.

Chip's Mom · 05-02-2006, 06:34 AM

Hi Darci:

I do the same thing and you do not disturb me. I think the panties thing was in this thread and I also went OMG. LOL. Maybe I should be more conscientious of my posts too?????