The Dog Blog

We have a 13 month old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. We got her when she was 9 weeks old and named her Jenny. I have never owned a dog before, so I really had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. And I must say, almost a year later that my life has not been the same and I still have no idea what I've gotten myself into!

We did so much research before we got this dog, I really thought we were ready! We researched breeds and personalities. We visited pet stores to get to know different types of dogs. We played with Dachshunds, Beagles, and Basset Hounds. We knew we wanted a smaller breed because we live in a townhouse. A Golden Retriever would have been a nice fit, but they are just too big. Alex learned about the Corgi's (the Queen's dog!) and did some research on them. They seemed like the perfect fit for us. They're small, they're adorable, they're very smart and easy to train. Sounded perfect! We found a breeder in the area. And the moment we saw her at 5 weeks, we fell in love. She took to Alex and fell asleep in his lap the first time she met him. We went back a few weeks later and picked her up.

She was a bit more wild that day we brought her home. In fact, she was slightly crazy! But we chalked it up to her being a puppy. And she was just so darn cute it didn't matter!

I signed her up for "puppy school". For 8 weeks we went to PetSmart to figure out how to sit, come, stay, and be nice to strangers. The one big thing we didn't learn was how to stop barking. She barks. A lot. Corgi's (come to find out later) are the little dog with the big dog bark. Yeah. Isn't that the truth. Any little noise outside, a car going by, another dog barking, a squirrel sighting in the yard... the bark comes alive. She barks when she needs to go out, she barks when she's bored. She barks when her little toy gets stuck under the couch.

A neighbor told me about this neat contraption called a "bark control device". I immediately ran to PetSmart to pick one up. It's "PetSafe". It emits a noise when the dog barks continuously. And it makes the dog stop barking. I brought it home, set it up and within moments, we had a blessed silence that we hadn't had in months... She hated it! She barked, the little red light came on, she stopped barking. I have no idea what the sound was, but whatever it was, I loved it. Even the site of the little "bark machine" made her stop barking. I thought we had discovered the best invention since the wheel.

Well, after a couple of weeks, our blessed silence turned noisy again. She apparently got used to the noise. Now she looks at it and laughs. And barks.