This message is from: Steve McIlree <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Gail--
Monday, April 30, 2007, you wrote: > What is the downside of Corgis? My understanding is that they can be > a handful...or not great with kids (preferring folks with a little > reserve, like the Queen of England :))???? As long as you provide them with a job and keep them busy I believe Corgis have little downside. If you don't give them a job they will come up with one on their own, and you probably won't like it. Oh, let me amend the little downside, they do shed nearly as badly as a Springtime Fjord, and they do it year round. Some people think they are nippy, especially with children, but I believe they are only nippy if their people allow it. People often excuse this behavior because they think it's herding. Believe me, they aren't herding they're just nipping, and if it's made clear that isn't acceptable they will quit. They are very smart big dogs with short legs. Like Fjords, they will question anything that's asked of them if they don't understand the reasons for it. But again like Fjords, they will do whatever you want once you make them understand. Even if that understanding is, "You WILL do it because I SAY SO". Fortunately it seldom comes to that. I have been concentrating Clust's training on herding. For the past year and more I've worked pretty much solely on getting him to sloooow down when moving sheep. Nothing seemed to work. A couple weeks ago I made him slow down at a time that was completely inappropriate. Luckily I realized my error and spent the rest of that practice session getting him to speed up again on that particular move. I ended the session thinking I had maybe recovered the damage, but made no progress. The next time I took him to work sheep I found he had put everything together and finally understood when to go fast and when to go slow. Since then I've worked him several times and he has shown that he DOES finally get it. Sorry for the long-winded story, but it's a good example of the perseverance sometimes needed with these little guys. But I bet most of you have already learned the same lesson from your horses. -- Steve McIlree - Pferd, Skipper & Clust - Omaha, NE/Las Cruces, NM, USA A canter is the cure for every evil. --Benjamin Disraeli(1804-1881) The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
