Monthly Archives: May 2013
The Moving Chronicles (Part 2)
The dogs continue to think “something’s up.” Their kitchen is quickly becoming a cardboard castle, with boxes stacking up. Yoda follows me around. Even in the 90 + degree heat wave we’re having, he sits on my lap as often as possible (yes, even outdoors) to make sure I don’t go anywhere.
When the movers come, and when we first get to the new house, I’m going to have to close him in his crate, where he feels most safe in the world (aside from on my lap).
In other news, I have been researching invisible fences. The house comes with an invisible fence, which I think might be a better option than putting up chicken wire around the fence of a five-acre lot. It looks like the key to training dogs is to instill in them a sense of fear of the fence–to lead them up to the fence (marked by flags for now) but then lead them away with a sense of urgency or even fear in one’s voice. Since Yoda is afraid of everything, this might not be too hard to do.
The corgis in “feral mode”
The corgis in “civilized mode”
I just wonder… the corgis sometimes go into “feral mode.” When they see an animal or hear a dog getting agitated, they go nuts, sometimes attacking each other or biting on their leashes if they are on a walk, and for a while they stop listening to me. I look in their eyes, and they are in full-on hunter/herder mode. Then, as quickly as it started, they look back at me and become civilized again. But I wonder: if they go into “feral mode” with an invisible fence, is even the threat of a correction from the collar enough to stop their natural instinct?
Has anyone had experience with this? I’ve heard nothing but good things about invisible fences (in terms of keeping dogs confined–not keeping other things out), but I’m skeptical. In any case, I get to try it in about a week!
The Moving Chronicles (Part 1)
For the past few months, my husband and I have been packing up the house in preparation for an upgrade. Moving day is approaching, and–well–the corgis have started to notice.
It started the day I packed up six boxes of kitchenware. I stacked these near the kitchen table, and Yoda knew something was up immediately. When I came back from work, he ran to his crate and looked at me with that “Lassie” look–letting me know he had something to tell me. Well–his crate had all kinds of puke in it (I will spare you a picture). The fact that he threw up in his crate told me just how upset he is about the house being packed up–he goes into his crate (which I leave open for him during the day) when he is afraid or tired. And he has thrown up for less upsetting things before (did I mention Yoda is afraid of everything?).
Since then, Leia has been overjoyed, hiding behind boxes and finding new and exciting sleeping nooks.
Leia finding a cozy sleeping nook among the boxes.
Yoda has been more hesitant. He’s been following me everywhere, and he’s even being clingy with “his friend,” as I call my husband to him. Normally, he is hesitant with my husband, but as the picture below demonstrates, he’s just fine being cuddly (it was such a rare occurrence, I had to snap a poorly-lit picture from my cell phone to capture the moment!).
A rare moment–Yoda cuddling with someone other than me!
Other than that, my biggest challenge as of now is keeping the corgis from eating all the cardboard boxes. I wonder if other dogs like eating cardboard as much as mine. I try to stop them, of course, but I can’t watch them all the time. I snapped this picture while the corgis were innocently sitting on the cardboard boxes, but the temptation must have been too much. As soon as I returned to the kitchen to pack, they had started pulling off chunks of cardboard to eat!
“All quiet for now–but as soon as she puts down her camera and resumes packing, we’re eating this cardboard!”
I’ll be back with more updates soon, as I’m sure the challenges of moving with two dogs will continue to present new opportunities to share!
Happy Mother’s Day!
I had a great time with the corgis this weekend visiting my mom for mother’s day. Wishing all the people-moms and dog-moms a happy mother’s day! Thanks for all you do and have done. We wouldn’t be what we are without our mothers.
Corgi Capers 