I did a quick search for previous posts, with no luck, so I apologize if this has been covered.

While I feel my two corgis are very well-behaved and follow directions 90% of the time (pretty good for a corgi!), they have one challenge I can't seem to figure out: jumping up on people. I have put a lot of effort into coaching visitors and hubby (who is with me), giving corrections on the leash, and ignoring and saying no, Junebug (especially) jumps up on people.

I feel that the reason for failure in this area is that everyone who meets her loves her excited greeting and bend down to encourage her hopping around. No amount of explaining can keep them from giving in to the primal urge to hold them up and talk excitedly. In such cases, I feel giving a correction is uncomfortable because it would yank the dog off the person and make me look like the party pooper. I have been more proactive with Elvis the puppy, and while he still likes to put his paws up on you, he does respond to a "no" or "off" and calms down.

Any suggestions for teaching a calm greeting? So far, my luck with volunteers has been abysmal. They just don't get it, partly because they aren't on board and don't realize the importance of this lesson (even fellow dog owners--one told me "relax, let the dog have fun"). Help ! :)

Thanks,
Bonny, Junebug, and Elvis

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Here's what i do with my dogs: Always put them on a "lay down" position when greeting people, ask your guests to wait until they're clam and in the lay down position. Be consistent. You can also use a 6ft nylon leash, give the command and step on the leash close to the collar, so that the dogs cannot lunge forward.
Tell your guest to turn around if they jump on them. I found that my corgis don't appreciate the other view. :)
Just make sure your visitors are clear that they can't greet the dogs until the dogs have all 4 paws on the floor. If paws come up, visitors leave. You can practice this with a good friend that knows the rules and is willing to work with you.

You don't have to constantly say "no" or "off", just have the visitor ignore the corgi (face away, hands behind back or out of reach) until all the paws are on the ground. Corgis are very smart and will figure this out quickly. "Hey I get rewarded when I keep my paws on the ground so I better do that."


If you feel your visitors won't comply with your request, remove your dogs from the situation. Every time you reinforce the unwanted behavior it will become more difficult to undo. If I know I'm going to have lots of people over and my dogs have a lot of energy, I'll keep them in another room or put them on lead tied to me. Then I can step on the leash and prevent jumping, plus ask the visitor to again, wait for the dog to sit or down before petting.

Practice with lots of people. Go to a pet store, parks, areas where there are lots of people. If any strangers want to pet your dog ask them to have your corgis sit and then you can pet them. Tell them they are therapy dogs in training or something - people will get the idea and want to help you more often than not.
Thanks for the ideas! I'm going to try turning backs to jumping corgis. I'm listening to Tamar something's The Loved Dog, and she suggests this, as well (I'm not sure about her method yet, but I love hearing new ideas!). Since we have moved 3 times in the last two years, we have been short on friends to invite over (sad, I know!). But I love the therapy dog excuse!!

Barks and biscuits!
Have you tried teaching them "paws up"? It is basically a legal way for dogs to jump up. It's kind of in the same vein as teaching dogs to "speak" when they bark a lot. It's teaching them there's a time and place for everything. Theo knows that when I say "paws up", he can jump up on my legs for a treat or pet or whatever, and when I say "off", it's time to sit back down on the floor.

Personally, I don't think that Corgis jumping up is a bad thing. They're not large dogs so they're not threatening. I know it's etiquette and whatever, but it's not something I ever told Theo not to do. If someone leans down or comes forward in a greeting manner to Theo, his way of greeting back is to jump up, usually to try and get closer to their face. If the person just stands there and doesn't greet him, he doesn't jump up on them. I think it works for all parties involved. :)
i know how you feel!! its corkies favorite thing to do... especially with barking and growling at other dogs.. most of the people that he does it to love it though.. hes jsut got such a crazy personality :-P i think it might be because they are so short and cant get a good look! ha ha
from experience and a 4 month old corgi.. moms in the park don't appreciate it when a puppy jumps on their kid.. although.. they shouldn't bring their kid over to pet the corgi without asking and letting me get him into sit postition :) Whatever.. we are working on Owen's little issues patiently and persistently
I agree with Owens Mom about th kids not liking to get jumped up on, a corgi could easily knock over a toddler or a small child. Teaching a dog how to handle a situation calmly is always a good thing.

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