Training a Welsh Pembroke Corgi

May 25, 2009 10:31 AM

The corgi I am adopting on Saturday is already crate-trained, but not house-broken. Leaving her outside while I'm at work is not an option. How should I start training her not to go in the house?

Yesterday, I met a very sweet, 1-year-old Corgi girl who I will be bringing home on Saturday. If I understand correctly, she lived with Amish people who decided not to breed her, and that's how she ended up at the rescue.

Unfortunately for me, she's not house-trained. However, she is crate-trained. Currently, she spends most of the day outside with other dogs in a fenced kennel area, and goes into her crate in the evening.

My ideal future would be that I would walk her in the morning, leave her alone with my 6-year-old cat during the day (I have a 9-5ish job), and then come home and walk her again. Then some quality lazy time on the couch with her and the cat. :)

I'm definitely willing to come home and take her out at lunch time for the first few weeks - I'm guessing that will probably be necessary - but I am hoping that once she is trained, she'll be able to hold it a bit longer.

I haven't had a dog since I was quite young, so I have little idea where to start. I get the impression that training is not something that would come naturally to me, from my interactions with her and the foster mom yesterday, so I'm definitely planning to start a training class as soon as I can.

My question is - what should I do in the meantime to get her house-trained? Where should I start with her, since she's not exactly at square 1? What other things should I start training her to do or not do?

(I have looked at some similar questions, so I'll definitely be picking up some of the books you folk have recommended to others regarding dog training.)

Thanks in advance, and I'll be happy to clarify or further explain, if I can.

posted by rikhei to pets & animals (7 comments total)

I googled "House training an adult dog" and this pdf was the first match. It contains excellent advice.

It is basically what I did with a 1 year old mutt who had pretty bad house training issues. He had been beaten for going inside his former owner's house and really really did not want to go when I was around. So I would take him out constantly but he wouldn't go and then the second my back was turned he was peeing in the house.

Crate trained is a good thing. You will probably have to keep her in the crate when you aren't around, at least at first and come home for lunches. Keep her tethered to you in when you are around and watch for signs that she needs to go outside. Take outside soon after she eats/drinks then praise her and give her a treat when she eliminates outside.

It might take a while for he to be completely house broken. My little guy wasn't reliable for at least a year and even then accidents still happened. Expect that this might be the case with your dog.

At the very least you should be setting up a routine and sticking with it.
posted by ephemerista at 10:53 AM on May 25

I'm a little confused...you say she is crate-trained...does she pee in her crate?

Definitely keep up the crate training. Our Corgi loves her crate! It's definitely "her" space. Dogs, especially herding dogs, like boundaries, and feel more secure in the crate when left alone. My boyfriend let Sunshine have free roam of the apartment once when he went on a run, and she was very distressed when he came back.
posted by radioamy at 12:50 PM on May 25

To my knowledge, she does not pee in her crate. (Sorry for the confusion.)
posted by rikhei at 4:28 PM on May 25

If she does not pee or poo in your crate, you are in good shape. At 1-year, Corgi has the bladder to go (probably) a fairly long time.

The PDF has excellent advice. If the dog is not housebroken because she was never in a house, then it should be fairly easy. Foster dogs, even dogs who spent their first year locked in an airplane crate where they had no choice but to soil themselves, catch on quick.

About that "quality lazy time" - you are bringing home a Corgie. I'm not saying you need to build her up to Extreme Shepherding, but it would be very nice for her if you found a job for her - agility, tracking, anything that uses her brain.

Also - undercoat. You might want to look into a Furminator.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 5:42 PM on May 25

Good luck with your Corgi. I had one for several years and our entire family was terrified of her. She was smarter than us, mean 'n' nasty, played malicious tricks on us, and no one was sad on the day she figured out how to escape from our yard. She was not good with small children, either.

You can begin training her not to jump on furniture, steal socks, or look at you disdainfully.
posted by HotPatatta at 8:53 AM on May 26

if she is crate-trained (part of which meaning she doesn't poop/pee in her crate), then leaving her in the crate should do the trick. if you eventually want to let her roam free in your apartment when you are gone, then you need to begin to house train her as well.
posted by violetk at 10:51 AM on May 26

#1 KEEP UP THE CRATE! this is oen of the best things you can do for your dog and the hard part has been done for you. she'll love her crate and so will you, i promise.

corgis are VERY smart dogs training should be pretty easy if you go about it right. DEF. take that class you mentioned. corgis, like all working dogs, need to be kept busy. if she gets bored she will start making trouble. be prepared to walk run and play alot (seriously playign is now a responsibility for you.) as a former dog trainer i have been over more books on dog care and training than i care to think about, my favorite by far is this one: The Dog Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Troubleshooting Tips, and Advice on Lifetime Maintenance lots of good info, easy read, GREAT illustrations, i read it just for fun sometimes.
posted by swbarrett at 7:24 AM on May 31