<p>Please note: I am not anti crate. I am anti crate doggie dryers! They are known as hot boxes because there are dryers attached and the dog is left in the box to dry (and yes, sometimes fry). Our dogs have a doggie playpen where they go…because they want some alone time. </p>
<p>Our goldens …go on the furniture, grab the cashmere throws for warmth on the sofas…sleep in our room…and in the morning wake my husband up to go out. (Our house can’t have a doggie door) Then they crawl into bed to snuggle.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your new dog! Animals are such great additions to a family. I do agree with the word association with doing their duty. Mine dog will sniff and sniff but once I say “Hurry Up and go” he will do his business. Make sure you always have an extra bag with you. I carry newspaper and since mine is a lab when he squats, I slide the newspaper under him, he goes, I fold up the paper and put it in the bag. My neighbors think it is funny, but it makes picking it up easy. I always have the extra bag because sometimes he goes twice. I have also used the dog wash. Our local Petsmart has one, it’s so nice to have a place to bring him to in the winter. And having someone else do the clean up is a blessing. Usually in the summer we just give him a bath outside. I usually fill up some buckets with water, let them sit in the sun for a bit to get warm and then we put on our bathing suits and have a great time.</p>
<p>I second or third everything dmd77 said. Look for a positive-methods training class, preferably offered by a trainer certified by the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT). You can start right away–the classes should be fun and exciting for both you and the dog, and will get your relationship off on the right foot. It isn’t a matter of asserting dominance–basically what the training class does is set up a way for you to communicate with your dog, and vice versa. </p>
<p>Your new dog might be smelling because his food is low quality, or because he’s stressed and has diarrhea, or because he has a bit of arthritis in his back and has more trouble turning around and cleaning his bottom than many dogs do (I have a corgi myself, and this is a common problem). You should consider switching to a better brand than the one sold by Sam’s Club. There are websites that rate dog foods by their quality–<a href=“http://www.dogfoodadvisor”>www.dogfoodadvisor</a> is one of them. The premium foods seem very expensive, but you don’t need to feed very much. Our corgi, who used to have bowel problems and tummy upsets pretty often, has been thriving on Merrick’s brand food and gets less than a cup of it a day, divided into two helpings. Another advantage of the premium foods are that the dog metabolizes it more efficiently, so less comes out the back end.</p>
<p>Corgis are little pigs and gain weight easily, but obesity increases their tendency to have back problems, so be very careful not to overfeed. Your training class will probably use food treats, so remember to subtract them from the total you feed the dog at other times.</p>
<p>It’s also possible, if your doggie was in a multi-dog facility, that what you’re smelling is just the ammonia stuff used to clean and disinfect the kennels, which seems to soak into the dogs’ coats. My dogs always stink of this stuff when they come home from the boarding kennel. If that’s the problem, the smell will dissipate over a few days.</p>
<p>Re dog washes: most Petcos and Petsmarts have a self-service dog wash. Wonderful thing, especially in the winter, when their driers can blow all that cold water right off the dog.</p>
<p>Me too…we’re still mourning the loss of our beloved corgi 3 years ago. She was our hero - the sweetest thing and such a brave little dog! We got her as a pup and that herding/protective instinct was very tough to discourage, but saved several kids from potentially serious injury! We live in the country and she always alerted us to animals/people in the vacinity by giving a low woof and staring at the door…I don’t know how she would know there was a porcupine or deer in the garden, but somehow she did and was ready to run them off if I’d let her out! Of course, I didn’t but she did stand her ground between a large, angry swan and a little boy at the park, flew over 6 steps to get to the bottom in time to break my nephew’s tumble down my porch steps when he was little, and never let any of the kids go near the road unless I told her it was okay…even when they were older and just wanted to retrieve a ball or frisbee! She never had puppies of her own, but I swear she had a mother’s instincts. </p>
<p>Btw, if you have a yard and want to have fun with her, our corgi loved agility training/exercises - surprising how quickly they can move on those short little legs!</p>
<p>Well we survived our first night! I closed him in the kitchen with a fleece blanket that we had been putting out all day for him to lay on. He whimpered for a minute or two and we heard nothing else all night. I left a small light on and the kitchen radio on low (I was worried all the firecrackers etc. going off after midnight would spook him). No accidents this morning and H already took him out for first morning walk!</p>
<p>Noticed he must have had some gas last night when we were chilling in the living room - Is that normal? </p>
<p>Today a trip to the Petstore for a new leash/collar, better quality food, a brush, a bed and bowls and a fun toy. :)</p>
<p>Abasket - I am so happy for you! What is the dog’s name? Did it already come with a name, or did you name it? Once we rescued a cat that came with a name, but we changed it to something very similar sounding.</p>
<p>He came with the name “Casper”, but I think we are going to change it to “Charlie” in honor of our favorite neighbor at our cottage in Canada who died a couple of years ago - Canada is special to us, so we wanted his name to be in honor of something near our cottage area. :)</p>
<p>And Casper and Charlie aren’t too far apart, so hopefully he’ll go for it!</p>
<p>^^ A dog will go for any name you want to name it - they respond more to the tone of your voice and body language than the actual name anyway but can learn any name - it doesn’t need to be similar. He’ll be responding to ‘Charlie’ in no time.</p>
<ul>
<li>Gas - yes, this isn’t unusual and of course is related to what they eat. My dog hunts my back yard for fallen avocados and eats them (he loves them) which can sometimes cause a bit of gas in him. That’s when you hope he lays on the floor over by the other person rather than you!</li>
</ul>
<p>You can train a dog to LOVE his name in about five minutes.</p>
<p>Get a handful of something yummy, like tiny bits of cheese or chicken or beef (really tiny, less than pea-sized). About twenty pieces or so.</p>
<p>Sit with the dog in a quiet place. I use the bathroom.</p>
<p>Say the dog’s name and then give him a treat.
Wait a second, then do it again.
Keep doing that until you run out of treats.</p>
<p>The next time you do it, do it in a different place. Soon the dog will learn that his name (“that word!”) means something good is coming. Then you can start just giving him a pat on the shoulder sometimes, but not every time. Think Las Vegas rules: what keeps people playing in Las Vegas is that sometimes the rewards are huge, and sometimes they’re not, and you never know which it’s going to be!</p>
<p>Congratulations on the addition to the family, abasket. We have a Corgi and they can be an absolute delight. Our Sadie is 8 and a definite member of the family. She gets 1/2 cup of food (Acana now, Orijen until recently) twice a day (6 a.m. and 5 p.m.). We’ve had her since she was 11 weeks old. We crate trained her and she’s had run of the house since she was about six months old and has never had an accident. You should know that Corgis are neurotic, at least the ones I know are (we have one, inlaws have three). When Sadie was just a puppy, we would laugh when she would growl or bark at animals on the TV. We should have broken her of that habit immediately because she still does it to this day and it makes us crazy. When it’s time to eat, we say “wait” or raise one finger and she knows that means she can’t approach the dish until we tell her “go ahead”. We can go upstairs to get something and come back down and she won’t have touched her food because we didn’t tell her she could. That’s a lot of self-control for a dog that inhales her food in a matter of a few seconds. She is very afraid of storms and absolutely cannot stand it when hot air balloons fly over our neighborhood and this is a popular area for them to fly. She hears them before we can see them and she goes nuts! Her favorite sleeping position is on her back with her tiny short legs sticking straight up toward the sky. We have let her know from day one that we are the bosses. Corgis are very stubborn dogs but, once they know who’s in control, they’re very good about remembering that. Good luck and have fun!</p>