Hi All
I am having a problem with my male Cardigan Corgi. He lives with 9 other dogs of differing breeds.(Border Collie, Spaniel, German Spitz and Cardis). At home he is a devil. Great and full of confidence. At Ringcraft he is confident and happy and good on the table.
When we have visitors he barks at first and then when he realises all is ok goes over for fuss.
On a walk he is good as long as things are quiet.
All seems well I hear you saying. A normal little dog, by the way he is 10 months old.
My problems start when we walk and there are people around. He pulls away from everyone as though he is scared stiff. I have tried stopping and holding him on a short lead close to me. He pulls with all his might to get away from the people or person. Once they have passed he is back to normal.
Now the problems are beginning to come out at shows as well.
The last two shows he has all but refused to be gone over on the table. he just backs away from the judge. And now he will not walk in the ring all the way round. He just stops and digs his heels in. Yet at ringcraft he still performs great!!
I am struggling to understand what is happening, why and how I can cure him.
Any help and advice you can give me will be graetly appreciated.
Thanks
Trevor.

Was he very well socialised as a puppy? :)

AS you probably know, this is essential and should be ongoing - but also it is possible to over or under do the socialisation and habituation, which can sometimes make getting things right a bit tricky.

I would not have him on a short lead at all as this may be making him worse. I would not let people fuss him either as if he is upset by it, he may start to growl/snap. Next thing is, he will learn this behaviour gets people to leave him alone, and you are well and truly at the beginning of a slippery slope!

I would tend to use the clicker to solve this, but if you don't use one you must try something else. Can you get people he knows from ringcraft or elsewhere to meet you and to give him tasty titbits in the park (or wherever the problem occurs?) It's best to let him makeup his mind to approach people rather than make him; you want to see him weighing up what to do and them making a good decision. They might need to ignore him at first and throw food on the ground...after he is improved and confident, you can then start to produce tasty food when people appear and stop giving it when they disappear. The idea is to get him associating people with pleasant and enjoyable things and this does work very well.

I have also PM'd you :)

Lindsay
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Hi Lindsay

Thanks for your reply.

We live in West Cumbria.

He lived on a farm in Wales until he came to me. I took him out within 3 days of having him. At ringcraft he is no problem regardless of how many people or dogs go there. Also in a park he is great. It all starts when we hit the footpath where houses are. I walk him on an extendable and give him some slack. People around here are great, they will not fuss without asking first. At the moment I am just asking them to walk closely past him. The fuss will come later (hopefully). I always praise him when he does good.

Trevor.

Sounds OK then - i have replied via PM for trainer who may be able to help or give some advice :)

Lindsay
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