The one annoying thing about Eddy...

He glues himself to dogs playing fetch. If an interesting-looking (to Eddy) dog is waiting for its owner to throw a ball, Eddy will bark non-stop at this dog until the owner finally throws the ball. Then, he chases the dog to the ball but doesn't try to nab the ball or anything, he just chases the dog to the ball and then runs back to the owner. He does this over and over, it's so annoying! Well, annoying for the owner/other dog because they're just trying to play fetch and this corgi won't stop barking. I don't understand it. He gets fixated on the dog when it's waiting for its owner to throw the ball - but he doesn't actually want the ball, he just wants to chase the dog? And his barking is saying something like, "RUN already! Now Now Now now" it seems, since the barking's directed at the dog not the human.

I've seen other dogs do this, too, and I'm curious as to why this happens. Even another male corgi who goes to this park gets into this game, but a lot of dogs exhibit this performance it seems. Eddy doesn't bark much in general, indoors never and outdoors rarely at birds or cars or something. It's easy to distract him from the dog, but it's soo annoying that it happens allllll the time. And the other owners hate the corgi bark of course, even though barking is generally allowed and tolerated at this park. The corgi bark is just so sharp.. the handful of corgi-owners there work hard at keeping it at bay. Other dogs that I've seen behaving this way do the same thing, chase the dog to the ball but don't show interest in the ball once they get to it.. The fetching-dog never seems to mind Eddy, just the owners get annoyed with the barking. Is this a herding thing? Corgi trait? Personality trait? It happens w/ so many of the dogs at the park that it's not a big deal and it's easy to make him/them stop, but come ON. It's so annoying! How to correct? Other than by luring him away, which doesn't stop it from starting in the first place.

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Comment by Lynne Cerny on July 26, 2010 at 7:18pm
Our neighbors up north usually stop throwing the ball because Bucher is so loud. He doesn't want the ball; he loves to chase the dog following the ball. If they are just throwing a baseball to each other he barks & barks and runs back and forth. Drives us all nuts!! I'm not sure why he likes to follow the ball back and forth but if they drop it he won't pick it up.
Comment by Beth on July 26, 2010 at 7:02pm
I post this video a lot, it seems. :-) Does this help explain his behavior?

Maddie will frequently do this. In her, it's a mix of high herding/prey drive, combined with a soft personality which means that she would not dream of chasing the ball if another dog wants it. When she is kept away from other dogs, she will chase a ball or frisbee like a demon. She adores it, though she does not always remember to pick it up and bring it back! When other dogs are running, she won't barge in on them and she instead chases them and nips at their shoulders, and yes she does sometimes bark.

Jack used to love herding other dogs when he was a puppy, but he does not do it so often any more.

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