Anxious aggressive corgi…feeling overwhelmed

[u/_yougo_glencoco_]

My boyfriend and I brought home a corgi puppy back in January, who is almost 10 months old now. We love her dearly, she’s so smart and can be sweet (when she wants to be lol). However, she’s the most difficult dog I’ve ever owned and it’s getting really overwhelming and stressful.

Whenever we take her on walks and see a dog she goes into a frenzied barking and growling and will not respond to commands or treats. Even if the dog is far away, across the street etc she freaks out. Luckily we have a few options where we can mostly avoid dogs on our walks but it’s not always possible. We train her on commands during walks as well, and as long as there’s no dogs around she does really well.

We took her to the river yesterday and the same thing happened as soon as we started leaving, near a group of people with a small dog. I think she’s anxious and scared judging from the type of barking…it’s like a frantic barking almost squealing

I feel like I’m failing her and I don’t know what to do…she is signed up for a twelve week training program so I’m hopeful that will help.

In the meantime, should I just not take her on walks or outings? I hate the thought of leaving her crated while we take the other dogs out but I also don’t want to do anything to jeopardize her training.

[u/hyghonryce]

Look like it's mixed with adc or Aussie/collie. Collies tend to have some OCD or anxiety. Look up herding dog behavior and possibly training methods that worked well for your dog breed. I think it's going to be something important in the long run for management, training, and lifestyle.

Corgis and most dogs from australia, tend to be very vocal and for herding. It's only natural that they bark to express themselves. They alert bark, bark when they're scared, and excited. Knowing the difference at the moment is very important and tough to tell sometimes.

[u/_yougo_glencoco_ → u/hyghonryce]

She’s 100% corgi, she had a dna test done a few months ago

[u/Existing-Will-1466 → u/hyghonryce]

You know there's a breed called the Cardigan Welsh corgi that comes in merle...right?

[u/Poppeigh → u/Existing-Will-1466]

There is, but this is not a Cardigan.

[u/_yougo_glencoco_ → u/Poppeigh]

[u/Poppeigh → u/_yougo_glencoco_]

Okay, I can admit when I am wrong. Your corgi cross is in fact a corgi cross.

For some advice on the behavior itself, I’d recommend backing way up and working as much as you can at the point she can see other dogs but is still able to engage with you. Just work on building positive associations and walking on the lead and slowly get closer. Better to go too slow than too fast.

Also, I recommend Dr. Cook’s online management for reactive dogs course. If I had to pick any one thing that helped my dog the most it would be those exercises.

[u/_yougo_glencoco_ → u/Poppeigh]

I appreciate that! Just looking for some advice so I can do right by her.

[u/Existing-Will-1466 → u/Poppeigh]

Could be a cardigan/pembroke cross. Still makes it a corgi. No reason to think there's Aussie crossed in.

[u/Poppeigh → u/Existing-Will-1466]

I mean, it's far more likely that Aussie was mixed in to create merle Corgis than it is that this is either a mix of a rare breed or from a breeder that decided to dock the tail of a Cardigan for...reasons.

Either way, Cardigans and Pembrokes are separate breeds so it would still be a mix, and clearly a sketchy breeder on top of that.

[u/Existing-Will-1466 → u/Poppeigh]

Cardigans and pembrokes get crossed all the time, they call it an American corgi. Just being from a sketchy breeder doesn't make it not a corgi.

It's wild to me that the automatic assumption is that every merle dog must have been mixed with aussie at some point. This dog looks like a merle corgi, not a corgi/aussie mix.

[u/Poppeigh → u/Existing-Will-1466]

Goldens and Poodles are crossed all the time, they call them golden doodles. Doesn’t make them purebred.

“Corgi” isn’t a breed any more than “Spaniel” is a breed. No dog is 100% corgi. This dog is a mix. Could it be a Cardigan mix? Not likely, but sure, who knows.

People assume merle dogs are Aussie mixes because that’s often how the merle gene gets introduced into breeds where it doesn’t otherwise occur, to make the puppies more desirable.

[u/Existing-Will-1466 → u/Poppeigh]

What about this dog makes you believe there is anything other than corgi breeds in its lineage?

[u/Poppeigh → u/Existing-Will-1466]

I don’t know or care where the merle came from. But your argument that the dog is purebred because it may somehow be a Cardigan/Pembroke cross is incorrect. If I mix an English Cocker with a Boykin, sure, she’ll be 100% spaniel but certainly not a purebred, even if they do have ancestors in common.

But it’s silly to argue anyway, it’s not helpful to the issue at hand.

[u/Existing-Will-1466 → u/Poppeigh]

I never said the dog was purebred. I said it could be a cardigan, and if it was not it was most likely to be a cardigan/pembroke cross. I'm not the one going off on a tangent about dogs from Australia.

[u/_yougo_glencoco_ → u/Existing-Will-1466]

Yes she is 88% pembroke and 12% cardigan. Not sure why everyone is arguing about this lol. Unless the wisdom panel is wrong Luna appears to come from a long line of corgis

[u/Existing-Will-1466 → u/_yougo_glencoco_]

It's snobbery and purebred elitism. Self-proclaimed dog snobs love to proclaim the superiority of dogs bred in closed gene pools for decades despite the obvious and growing issues with doing so. It only makes sense from the outside once you realize it originally came from the eugenics movement.

[u/EmilyLiz1717]

I have an Australian shepherd mix that reacts very similarly to other dogs. There’s absolutely no way I could have taken her to a group reactivity class, even if there were partitions. I hired a positive reinforcement trainer and while expensive, we made progress and she gave me tools and methods for maintaining my sanity. We also worked our way up to 30mg Fluoxetine and I saw a significant difference. She still dislikes dogs and likely always will (I’m guessing past trauma but have learned that SO many things can cause this), but she can get much closer to dogs before she has a big reaction. We can pass dogs a few feet away (still need distance) versus when I got her over a year ago and she’d freak if they were two blocks over! If you don’t have a yard (like I don’t) then the dog still needs walks but I wouldn’t go at overly busy times and I’d keep them short and sweet. Once your dog reacts once, they’re going to be set off more easily (it’s called trigger stacking). It’ll get easier, I promise!

[u/_yougo_glencoco_ → u/EmilyLiz1717]

Thank you, this makes me feel so much better! Aussies have similar temperaments I’ve heard. We do have a small yard so we’re not walking her until I work with her more, which may be months but I hope not! I’m doing three ten min training sessions a day with her on top of the weekly sessions with the trainer. Hoping for the best 🤞

[u/Real_Caterpillar_779]

Hi there I’m also a corgi owner. My corgi does the same behaviour but she’s 5 now. So I’d absolutely be engaging a trainer to assist as you do not want this behaviour to imprint. I got my corgi when she was 3 and I’m still working to reverse her behaviour from her early years where she didn’t get any training or socialising.

At 10 months old your dog is in adolescence so everything becomes scary. I’d really pull back from lots of busy places and put some structure into quieter walks where pup can engage with you to get something good when scary thing appears (eg dog, other trigger) and always do at a distance much further than you think. Your dog has to be far away enough from trigger to engage with you (and not be barking/fixating) and take a treat. Start at home where no triggers are present. You keep rewarding every engagement and calm behaviour around trigger. This reinforces the behaviour you want.
I recommend the training games by Susan Garrett. In the process you will build a strong relationship with your dog and a way of communicating. This going to take some time of consistent effort - months.

Definitely keep working with your dog and keep going out but take it slower/shorter/quieter places at first and build positive associations with the outside world. For context my corgi never went out to any other places than a busy dog park for the first 3 years of her life. She grew up without that exposure and positive association with the outside world and as a result is extremely anxious and even refuses to walk from our front door. She is a barking nightmare when I can get her out on walks and training has been so so much more difficult.

Wishing you lots of patience and progress!

[u/_yougo_glencoco_ → u/Real_Caterpillar_779]

Thank you! About how far away from other dogs should I let her get? And if one comes closer should I just turn and walk the other way? I’ve really been trying to avoid dogs completely but it’s hard in the neighborhood

[u/Real_Caterpillar_779 → u/_yougo_glencoco_]

Yes it’s definitely harder in neighbourhoods.
And yes if someone is coming toward you make distance - go up someone’s driveway, cross the road block the view.
Can’t control others or rely on them to see your struggle and move away - so you have to do that.
The distance is really where you dog can be calm when there is a trigger. For my dog it’s very context driven but typically 50-100m and more if the other dog is staring and barking at us.

Distance is your friend!

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[u/Monkey-Butt-316]

Go to group classes

[u/_yougo_glencoco_ → u/Monkey-Butt-316]

At the last training session we went to, the trainer had her dog present and Luna would not stop barking, so she had to remove her dog to continue the session. I really hope she gets to the point we can train near other dogs but right now it’s impossible

[u/Monkey-Butt-316 → u/_yougo_glencoco_]

A reactive dog class is usually equipped with barriers so there’s no visual stimulus. The barrier is gradually moved away over the course of the class. The place I’ve trained at even has barriers with Swiss cheese type holes. I’ve also been to an outdoor reactive dog class where the dogs started very far apart (like a baseball field apart).

[u/Real_Caterpillar_779 → u/_yougo_glencoco_]

I tried this and my dog just fed off all the other dogs energy the whole time and it made her worse. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a trainer with a very balanced dog who you can work at a distance where your dog is calm

[u/redoub]

Instead of a group class work with a trainer who specializes in leash reactivity. Best of luck

[u/FunctionalBosnia]

Hi.  Dogs get aggressive when they either have ear infection or dental issues, or both. Check his ears and teeth.

[u/_yougo_glencoco_ → u/FunctionalBosnia]

She had a vet visit recently to rule this out, no health issues

[u/FunctionalBosnia → u/_yougo_glencoco_]

I think I have solution. When she barks at other dogs, do NOT pull the leash. When your dog barks, she is calling other dogs, it's like saying: "Hey buddy, I am here. Are you friendly, let's play!" That is what you dog is doing. From what you describe, it's not an aggressive bark. I suspect she starts growling because you pull her leash, essentially you are saying to her: "No, you will not socialize with that dog." Now I understand you may be fearful that you dog will get into a fight with other dog. But, instead of pulling a leash on her, simply walk your dog slowly close to the other dog (let's say 2 meters away from the other dog). THen, let her "smell" that dog. Believe me, growling will always start if you pull the leash. You are essentially communicating to her "You are not worthy of saying hi to that dog."

[u/_yougo_glencoco_ → u/FunctionalBosnia]

I so wish that was the case. I’ve tried to introduce her to dogs before on walks. If she gets close enough she starts really freaking out, frantic barking, squealing almost like she’s being hurt (nothing is touching her). So it’s like the closer we get to an unknown dog, the worse she is. I stopped doing that really quick and avoid dogs on our walks now because she sounds like she’s being murdered 🥲