The first thing you should teach your dog besides sitting on command is a proper potty routine. This means that you need to get your dog used to take its business outside the living space (both yours and theirs).
This is a complete guide on how to potty train a corgi that will teach you all about this process and how to make it easier for you and your dog when going through this process for the first time.
If you’re a first-time dog or corgi owner, this might be additionally helpful for you as I will go into great depths of explaining how to do this step by step almost without any difficulties along the way.
Keep reading if you’re keen on learning the tips and tricks that I have developed over the decades that I spent training corgis in various fields!
Let’s dive in!
Are Corgis Hard To Potty Train?
Corgis are extremely energetic dogs right from the beginning of their lives, so the fact that they develop habits pretty early on shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Every puppy has different tendencies but the important thing is that in the majority of cases they don’t do the things you want them to do.
This means that they don’t poop, pee, or do anything in the places you want them to. The same goes for eating, running, and sleeping.
Generally speaking, you shouldn’t expect your corgi to know where they should poop or pee, but you should be ready to teach them instead.
There might be a few rare instances where your corgi might take care of their business where you want them to, but these scenarios often require special sprays or diapers that make this job easier, but more on that later.
A clear distinction between puppies that live in apartments and puppies that live in houses with their owners needs to be made because one is much more simple than the other one.
For example, it’s much easier to train your corgi to pee and poop in the back yard where you can easily give them their tread and affirmation that will help them develop a healthy habit than to do that in the apartment.
When your corgi is just a puppy, they can’t hold it for a long time so every time you want them to do their business outside your apartment you have to grab the leash, take them out, and onto a surface where it’s okay for them to poop or pee.
So if you live in a house and you’re reading this – your life will be much easier in comparison with a person that lives in an apartment.
But people that live in the apartment don’t need to worry much. Once your puppy realizes what the rules are they won’t voluntarily poo or pee inside but will rather hold it in for as long as possible until you take them out.
After this stage starts the only way they will make an error is if you don’t take them out at the usual time that they are used to. So the only obligation is yours as an owner.
Another thing that you should pay attention to while your corgi is a puppy is to prevent forming bad habits.
This is maybe the biggest thing that people overlook when they get a new puppy, especially if this is their first dog.
You should never let your dog, especially corgi, bring their own set of rules to the table. This can pose quite a big problem later on in your corgi’s life because it’s quite hard to fix bad habits.
This is the exact reason why you should tend to implement your own rules as early as possible. Some dogs can accept the rules much quicker than others, but some need a little bit of time to get used to things such as potty training or more complex things.
Corgis are quite smart, not only when they fully grow up but as puppies as well. This means that you won’t have to wait around as much for implementing some rules and routine in your dog’s life as you would with some other breeds that are not as smart as corgis.
This is one of the biggest pluses when it comes to your beloved pup – they are fast learners. I’d recommend starting training as young as 3 months.
That is a perfect time period where your puppy will be small enough not to cause any harm if they don’t learn quickly, but they’ll be big enough to have the energy to endure two or three play sessions for learning new tricks and routines.
Read Also: Why Do Corgis Eat Poop? Is It Possible That They’re Hungry?
Learning Process For Potty Training Your Corgi
First and foremost you need to understand what is needed for potty training your corgi. There are slight differences depending on where you live. If you live in the house all of this will be much quicker and easier, but don’t worry – I have some extra tips and tricks for the people who own a corgi inside of an apartment!
House (With Yard)
This is the best possible environment for a dog overall. If you have a yard that your dog is allowed and encouraged to poop and pee in, you won’t have any problems trying to potty train it.
The only thing you need to do is to get some treats and pay close attention to when your dog starts feeling the need to go do its business.
If you see that that is happening three times a day, you should see in what time period that is happening.
For example (and this is how it is in most cases with almost all dogs) is that your puppy, and later your fully grown corgi, will have to go potty after their first meal of the day, in the middle of the day, and once or twice in the evening.
The first one is the easiest. All you need to do is to take your corgi in your yard as soon as they eat and wait for them to poop. Once they finish, be sure to pet them and give them a treat. This will encourage them to do this every morning to make their owner happy and to get an extra treat!
Don’t forget that corgis are a working breed so they love pleasing and being active. This will additionally help you develop good habits in them easily.
The one instance in the middle of the day is the most difficult one to get used to. This might happen around 1 PM or it can happen around 4 PM. The bad thing is that in the beginning, you don’t have a way of knowing when exactly this will happen.
That’s why you have to follow your dog around and keep them in your sight so whenever they show interest in doing their business, you take them outside quickly so they learn to run into the yard the second they get the urge to poop.
A treat is also very desirable in this scenario so maybe you should have a stash of them somewhere in your backyard where your dog can’t reach them so you have one every time they do it correctly. Affirmations and a pet on the head are also quite good as you will show your satisfaction in that way towards something they did.
The evening training is the middle ground. It might be tricky if you don’t see your corgi want to go potty, but in the first few weeks, it’s only needed for you to pay attention to that, after a few weeks your corgi will learn to signal you or they will fully learn to go and “take care of business” by itself.
It goes without saying that treats and praise are also recommended even if you see your dog did it all on their own without you taking them.
Apartment
If you live in an apartment things might get a little bit more difficult. This is because the process of taking your dog out is much more complicated than just opening the door to your backyard and letting your pet roam free without any potential problems.
One thing that helped me while I was living in an apartment with my second corgi is that I was the one that decided when it was time to go out.
If you teach your corgi to wait for you to take them out, it will take more time for them to be potty trained but when you manage to do so, they will hold it for as long as they need until you get them to the park where they can relieve themselves.
This is much better in the long run but can cause some problems in the beginning. For that reason only I personally think that corgi owners who live in apartments have it worse while your puppy is very young. Everything else is quite the same. Give your dog enough time outside so they poop and pee and immediately after give them a treat and praise them.
Another thing that should be implemented which is different than with corgis that live in a house are the two evening trips to the “bathroom”. You need to set the rules that will teach your corgi that once per evening is everything they need so they don’t hold in the pee for marking territories but let it all out instead.
Be very careful about this because if you aren’t you will find yourself in a situation where you’ve just returned from the park nearby with your corgi and they pee on the carpet the second you walk in and let them off of the leash.
To prevent this I suggest you don’t leave the park until your corgi pees twice or even three times (maybe more if needed) in order to make sure that’s all they got in them. After that, it’s safe to return home and not think about if your corgi will start howling to signal you to take them out once more.
Learn More: Are Corgis Trainable? How Long To Train A Corgi?
To Sum Up
It’s quite clear from the article above that the crucial age for potty training is the three to six months of your corgi’s life. If you hop on that train late, you will probably experience some problems, but that’s not impossible to fix.
I personally recommend that you start with potty training as soon as possible so your dog develops a healthy habit right from the get-go. The most important thing is to reward them for a job well done, because if you don’t – your corgi won’t be able to know that you are happy they have done it outside.
This beats the whole purpose of potty training so it’s pointless to do it without it.
My final word of advice is to be patient and understand that puppies are not much smarter than human babies, so treat them like that and recognize when they do something that you’re happy about.
Also, remember to keep a habit going because if you don’t they’ll easily forget about it and they will do it where ever they like, so be disciplined in setting your own set of rules!