Hey, stranger... (How to meet, greet... and treat other people?)

I have a problem here. Charlie gets overly excited when he sees other people on the street when we walk. He starts running and jumping towards them, he wags his tail, and he is more excited than when he sees us!

I try to sit him when he sees people, or call him with "come" command, and it helps a little, but temporarily.

So, what should I do so that he would not be so excited seeing other people? :)

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That's a nice trick! Thanks, Natalie!!
Your Welcome!
Kind of on the opposite end of the squirt bottle...have you tried treats? My trainer always reinforces rewarding good behavior and ignoring the bad. I have the exact same problem with my Theo. When we see another dog coming I halt him and tell him to sit. If he's too excited to listen to me I pop out a treat and entice him to sit with it. Once he smells the treat his attention is back on me. Once that's done I release him to go say hello. It's worked really well so far. Now I don't even need a treat. He knows that when I tell him to sit it's because I'm going to let him go say hello, so 9 times out of 10 he'll sit right down (nubbin wagging the whole time of course).
Treats are always good to try too.....if you can get them to focus on the treat and not the other dog/people.....my dog loves treats but if there are people/dogs across the street forget it, he wants nothing to do with treats!
OMG...are you sure you have a Corgi!? Hehe. Theo doesn't know the meaning of "not interested in treats".
Thanks, Ju Lo. I did the first part - made him sit with a treat. But if people are close, or they want to pet him, he forgets about treats.
both my corgis do the same exact thing... the boy worse than the girl.. i dont want to be to loud with him infront of people i feel like it makes me look mean.. its one thing when he jumps up on people in the house.. but walking them around.. it just looks bad i feel..
I would be hesitant about using a squirt bottle or some other sort of aversion method when teaching him to greet people. You don't want to have him associate meeting new people with something negative or something he would consider punishment. You may end up creating a dog that is frightened or shy/defensive when greeting new people.

Personally I think spray bottles are cop-outs when people don't feel like really putting in the time to train. It is an easy fix that even I myself have been guilty of using in the past (but no longer!!!) There is always a positive method to get your message across about what is acceptible and what is not.

I'd change him over to a regular leash. Flexi-leads are convenient for dogs that don't pull and know their boundaries but not useful when you're training a dog to walk on a loose leash or greet other people properly.

Definitely expose him to all sorts of new people. I'd mix it up between greeting people that seem friendly (especially children) and walking past. He needs to learn we greet people on your terms and we don't stop with every person we see.

When meeting someone new step on the leash that way he can't jump up. I will step on my dogs leash or hold onto the collar. I'll ask the person to tell my dog to sit or down before petting them. It will take several times before your dog gets the picture. Don't get frustrated and reward your dog profusely for not jumping. Bring treats on your walks. If the stranger is willing, have them give a treat to your dog for doing a sit/down when they ask and then have them reward the dog themselves with the treat and a pet. You'd be surprised about how willing people are to help train your dog.

This training is very useful if you plan on doing the Canine Good Citizen test. In the test you can't use leash jerking (corrections), yelling, hitting, spray bottles or anything like that to have your dog not jump up on the evaluator. You also can't use treats during the test. It takes a lot of preperation but it is so worth it when you pass the exam.
Oh that is such a good point about the CGC test. I need to start training Theo not to jump up! Hehe. Though he does respond to verbal commands most of the time so I think we just need a little more work.
Thanks, MagnoliaFly, you are making a lot of good points! I'll work on that.
walking beside you is a must, not in front of you. Try to get a handle on that now instead of later, unlike what I am having to do. ugh! Then, the sit/stay command. I like Ju Lo's trick, teaching a 'watch me' command, they focus on you and you give them a treat until that other dog passes by.

I think it is okay to want to greet another dog or person, but you don't know if that other dog has aggression issues, or if that person is frightened of dogs, dogs jumping on them etc. I wouldn't want your Charlie getting hurt.
It's just when there are too many people around, our walk becomes a constant "hello, new people!" May be that's what I also don't like. Cannot find an area without any people, though. "Sit" command works better and better for Charlie.

I guess I should have called my topic "How to avoid people", he-he :)

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