We have a 2 year old Corgi called Teeny. In this article I want to share some of our experiences involving our Corgi with kids. You might be thinking about adopting a Corgi and you have children or you are curious about how your Corgi might behave when you come into contact with children. I hope this article that shares our experience will give you some insights that will help you and your Corgi behave well around children.
Are Corgis good with Kids?
Yes Corgis are good with kids if you have socialised them well when they were puppies. Corgis are very independent and can be bossy dogs which is one of the reason people worry about Corgis being around children.
In our experience Corgis are just as loving as other breeds of dogs and they love to play so can be the perfect companion for a child if you make sure you train them well and they know how to behave correctly. Corgis are full of energy and love to run around, a child with lots of energy too and a willingness to play can be your Corgis perfect companion, or mischievous partner in crime! Our Corgi Teeny wasn’t able to spend a lot of time with children when she was a puppy. When she did meet children she loved playing with them but would often play more aggressively like she would with another dog and we tried to encourage her to be more gentle with children.
Some problem you might encounter when Corgis and children are together
I’m going to share a few situations we have experienced with our Corgi teeny when she meets children.
Noisy children
Our Corgi Teeny has very good hearing and will raise her ears and listen carefully to any sound she hears. If she is busy sniffing and exploring outside she might not pay so much attention to children being very loud, but sometimes children will make barking sounds or scream and cry loudly.
In this situation teeny will sometimes bark back as though she is afraid or warning them to keep away. Teeny doesn’t know what’s happening but the sudden loud noise can provoke her. If there are loud children around, especially children who make barking noises, we keep our Corgi as far away from them as possible. This stops the children being able to provoke your Corgi which children sometimes unintentionally and intentionally do by making barking noises or being silly around dogs.
Children on scooters or riding a bike
Where we live there are a lot of young children who play on scooters. Scooter wheels can be very noisy and this sound always attracts teeny’s attention. Teeny will hear the sound and sometimes if the scooter passing her quickly catches her attention she will try to run after it. If the pathway is narrow and we know a scooter is going to go past we make sure the lead is short and divert her attention away from the scooter using a treat or command.
Do Corgis understand what babies are?
Our Corgi teeny does seem to have an awareness that babies are more sensitive than adults. However, sometimes from a distance when a young child is close to the ground we feel like for a moment our Corgi sometimes mistakes the baby for a small dog until they get closer together.
If you are bringing a new born baby into your home and you already have a Corgi, it can be a good idea to introduce some clothes with your babies scent on them to your Corgi before they meet your baby. Familiarising your dog with a babies scent can help them feel more comfortable and less surprised when they first encounter them because scent is really important and a key part of how a dog makes sense of the world around them.
Bringing a Corgi into a home with children in
We don’t have children ourselves but we have had children in our home. Corgis often have a dominant personality which makes them quite assertive. Our Corgi Teeny doesn’t like it when she is suddenly touched unexpectedly.
Young children at home will often pull on a dogs fur, touch them all over and often with too much force. A well trained Corgi might be more willing to accept this behaviour but our Corgi teeny doesn’t like anybody to touch her unexpectedly or on a part of her body where she doesn’t like being touched.
If you have children who are younger than 6 or 7 years old it can be difficult to teach them how to handle a dog. Children need to learn how to stroke a Corgi, where to stroke them and how to read signals from your dog when they aren’t happy.
How to familiarise your corgi with kids
It’s a good idea to familiarise your Corgi with kids while they are still a puppy. Corgi puppies like to herd people because of their natural herding instinct and will often nibble at your feet or try to jump up on you. A Corgi jumping up on a child is never a good idea so the sooner you can stop this behaviour, using treats and positive reinforcement, the better.
Our Corgi Teeny loves to bark and this can be scary for children. Try to stop your Corgi barking too much, rewarding them with a treat when you associate a key word and action with stopping barking. Lots of dogs bark outside our apartment and before our Corgi barks she looks at us to see if we have noticed and if she stays silent she knows we will reward her with a treat and the command word “stop”.
If you can encourage your Corgi to do the same with children it will help solve a lot or problems which happen when your dog barks and then children start crying or reacting loudly which only encourages your dog to keep barking more. Most importantly, familiarising your Corgi with children should involve as many interactions and as much supervised time spent together as possible. Use a leash at first and be sure to teach your Corgi when they are being too aggressive in their play with children.