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Permalink Reply by Laura Jones on July 21, 2009 at 10:22pm

I don't know about bringing kids in to a family that already has an established corgi but I can say that both of my corgis have been great with my kids. We got KC last April when she was about 8 weeks old, and Taz in December at 6 weeks. We were very careful to tell the kids that they were herding dogs and although we would not encourage them to herd the kids the kids also had a responsibilty to know not to antagonize them. My kids are 9,7, and 5 but I do have a two year old nephew here regularly and they know that he is one of "their kids" and they are very good about not being anything but respectful to him. And even though we hadn't seen him for almost two months when he came back over yesterday they immediatley knew he belonged here and welcomed him back with no qualms. Same with my cousin's daughter that they see maybe a few times a month. She is one of "theirs" and no matter the time between visits they welcome her back and take very good care of her.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on July 21, 2009 at 10:34pm

Are you anywhere near a park? Trust me, take a corgi puppy to a park, and it will get socialized with kids in a big hurry. You'll see them grinning from a block away, and what we have done with Jack is first of all, take all comers who say "Can we pet your dog?" even if they don't seem very good with dogs (you want to be careful, BUT if your dog is only ever approached by people who behave perfectly, it won't be truly socialized, just polite with people who are perfect). And second, we go out of our way when we see those grinning kids who might be too shy to ask to say "Do you want to pet him?"

I am always careful with other people's kids to keep the dog on a leash and under control. If you have a puppy who is still unpredictable, then you want to be triply careful. I would say something like "He's a puppy and he's usually good, but he might jump or nip a little" and then if they were still ok I would watch them together like a hawk.

It's not a substitute for running and playing with kids who are in your house, but it will get your dog used to children, who move quickly and unpredictably and sometimes make loud sudden noises.

Get the dog that is right for your family. Trust me, if you think labs are boring now than in five years you will be kicking yourself for getting a dog that does not match what you wanted it to be.

We don't have kids and I would consider our dog well-socialized with children. Just a few months ago a little tiny one had Jack in a headlock and he didn't even bat an eye. He's been screeched near, drooled on, poked and prodded and he takes it all in stride.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah C. on July 21, 2009 at 10:50pm

we did this too. i took her to a playground that was on the path to the dog park. She now can be mauled, punch petted, have fist fulls of hair pulled out and have her ears yanked on, and bear it all with a grin. I would stop them but she seems to enjoy it so much...

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Permalink Reply by Laura Jones on July 21, 2009 at 10:46pm

I firmly believe that your dog will take a cue from you on this too. If you are open to the experience and being watchful of what is going on he/she is going to say, "mom says it is ok so it must be" It is all in how well the owner socialize the dog and behaves in situations. IMO. Good luck on whatever you decide to get, I hope it is a corgi though :D

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie, Greg, Starbuck on July 21, 2009 at 10:52pm

My 15 month old loves kids. She was okay with a one year old poking her in her eyes. She loves two and three year olds petting her and giving them kissies. And she adores the strange kids we meet on walks. Everyone wants to pet her, and she wouldn't have it any other way. She's never tried to heard anyone, even little ones. Sure she nips, but she's actually never nipped a child. She thinks they're cool... I can only imagine it's because the kids are her size (size mini). All dogs are different, but I'm certainly not afraid of the time we have kids with Starbuck around.

To be fair, we have made a lot of effort to socialize her with kids because we don't have any now but will someday. Really though, just walking her around the neighborhood she meets tons of kids that want to play.

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Permalink Reply by Sunni A. on July 22, 2009 at 12:44am

I also don't have kids, and I socialized Eddy as early as 11 weeks by casually strolling by my neighbor's yard who has 4 children ages 3-11. As he got older, I took him to the park and out in the general public, and it's true! children are magnetized! By the time he was almost 4 months, I was showing kids (at the park, wherever) how Eddy loved his belly rubbed and loved playing chase. He lets kids roll him onto his back, feed him treats, touch his neck and feet, etc, because I encouraged the kids to do all that... Now he is perfectly gentle with my sister's crazy 2 year-old.

But - and this might just be me - if we came across a child who appeared to be afraid, but still wanted to pet Eddy because he is so cute, I would absolutely not let them near him. The parents would look at me like I was some stuck-up child-hater, but I didn't want Eddy to think he needs to identify which kids he could bully around or that kids are vulnerable. My puppy-training was not the time for this timid kid to get over his fear of animals.

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on July 22, 2009 at 8:32am

We got our first corgi when my youngest "child" was a senior in high school. Sparty was not a well researched purchase and was a wild example of corgi puppies! (biting, talking back etc) When around children I was always careful to make sure he was not mauled but nicely petted. We travel a lot with our dogs (camping) so the socialization has happened naturally. My other corgis have been and are calm, sweet corgis. All of them have been great with kids. When we are out, it is not unusual for kids to run up behind them, scream and grab. Sparty and Izzy are literably "bomb proof" with kids. (i do wonder what the parents are thinking sometimes) Even Sparty when my grandson was a baby(Sparty was 7 at the time) and I cared for him a couple days a week was as good as gold with the baby. He even taught the baby when he started to crawl how to push the tennis ball forward so Sparty could fetch. However, I have always been careful that children are supervised so the dogs don't get hurt.
I have always had cats. Currently I have 2 rescues that were not raised with dogs. Chasing is very discouraged! When we added my son's doberman, she chased the cats a couple times so I leashed her and she spent a lot of time walking around with me in the house. She no longer goes after the cats. As puppies, the corgis, learned that going after the cats was unacceptable pretty fast. Now if there is a chase it is because the cats started it! They all sleep on the couch together and get along fine. Taking your dog to obedience classes is a great way to insure you know what to do to help them be a great family member.

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Permalink Reply by Dri on July 22, 2009 at 9:26am

Take your corgi out, anywhere, he'll get attention! We are constantly amazed at how children are drawn to Pippi, adults too, and she loves every minute of it! We do bike trails, walking trails, the park, and even camping and fishing. It's amazing how well she could keep up, even at 10 weeks old, usually 1-2 miles, without being carried (better than our 3-yr old).

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Permalink Reply by Ross on July 24, 2009 at 2:29pm

Kids love Atlas. I can't tell you the amount of times I've been running, and I see a kid staring longily at Atlas, so I stop running and say "Would you like to pet him? He's very friendly." It's funny because the kids will usually ask what kind of dog he is, and I'll tell them, and they'll respond "corgis are my favorite breed of dog."

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Permalink Reply by Beauty and the Beast on July 22, 2009 at 9:53am

Don't get lab, get a corgi! Not all labradors are nice dogs. Huge popularity of the breed created lots of puppy mills and backyard breeders who don't care about quality. If you do decide to pick one, it won't be easy to find a good tempered dog. Besides corgi is easier to handle due to their size.
To socialize your puppy wit kids take him to local parks on a regular basis. Playgrounds are the best! Make it a habit to go there couple times a week. Kids love pupies and they'll sure want to pet him/her. Give them treats to give to puppy, let them hold the leash, etc.
Also take your pup out with you as much as you can: downtown is the best, where you can sit outside of a cafe sipping coffe and have your dog meet lots of friendly new people, including kids.
Also, when you have kids you'll need to teach them how to treat the dog just as much as you teach your dog how to treat kids.
I do hope you'll get a corgi, they're the best!

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Permalink Reply by Kristina Kainz on July 22, 2009 at 10:14am

Thanks for all the tips. We have one park in town that is ALWAYS full. Not matter what time of day. We orginally wanted a Newfie but I didn't want to deal with the drool. Then when my mom got Rex, we fell in love with those big huge ears. I've actually seen quite a few corgi's in our little town so maybe we could start a Fergus Falls corgi group. LOL Hopefully we can get our first corgi baby this fall!

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on July 23, 2009 at 10:03am

I did think of one additional consideration, corgis really can not be ignored. With a young family it takes some real effort to spend time with the dog too. So unless you can make that commitment, you should consider a more mild mannered breed. I am sold on corgis and recognize that they can be mild mannered too but even the calm ones have to be a big part of the family. There are a lot of breeds that are not as demanding but they usually are not as big of characters!

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