My lovely Corrie, one of the corgis I had when I was young
I was brought up with Pembroke corgis so of course I have a soft spot for them. They are lovely little dogs and it isn't true that they are snappy. The Pembroke stands between 25 and 31 cm tall at the shoulder. Dogs should weigh about 12.27 kg and bitches should weigh about 11.4kg approx. The coat colours can be red, sable, fawn, or black and tan (tri-colour) with or without white markings on the legs, chest, neck, muzzle, underneath, and as a narrow blaze on the head. Too much white is not acceptable for showing but we don't care what colour agility dog you have.
Corgis need a fair amount of exercise. The one I had as a small child accompanied me everywhere and spent many happy hours playing with us kids. Cops and robbers was the favourite game. Being a working dog Judy made an excellent "police dog" and quickly learned to round up small children. We all thought this was hilarious and Judy loved it. I sometimes used to leave Judy in the garden so that she could look after my guinea pigs and stop them straying. It was the next best thing to having cattle to herd. Judy would also round up next door's rabbit and pop it through the fence if it came into our garden.
They might need a lot of exercise but it doesn't mean they never go to sleep...
Photos above published under the Creative Commons License
One day one of the Queen's corgis was supposed to have nipped a guardsmen. Of course it made headline news and corgis immediately developed a reputation for being nasty, snappy little dogs. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are wonderful dogs to train and work with. My childhood dog was a very typical corgi and I was so proud when she won prizes for obedience at local dog shows. Judy could not only herd family pets and small children, but like our subsequent corgis she doubled up as a hearing dog for my mother. She quickly understood that my mother couldn't hear, and with her keen ears she was able to alert her to anything that needed attention. She learned this all by herself.
My beloved Judy, the first ever dog I had when I was five
Another thing that people don't always realise is that corgis have a very deep bark. It can terrify callers to your house when they knock on the door and hear that wonderful deep woof. They expect it to be something at least the size of a German shepherd and twice as fierce as a bear. If there is a disadvantage to this breed it is the amount of grooming that they need. I used to brush our dogs endlessly but they always seemed to leave a trail of light coloured hair wherever they went. If you like beige as a colour for a carpet then a beige coloured corgi is ideal. We put up with this gladly and wouldn't have swapped our Pembrokes for any other breed.
I just had to add this bit. A slim and fit corgi is a very active little dog and they can have a strong herding instinct. If you've ever seen video clips of the new dog sport of treibball (herding gym balls) you may not immediately think of the corgi as being a good candidate. However, I've found a little clip on youtube that I thought was brilliant. Treibball people eat your heart out and get yourself a corgi. I am so tempted!
Comments from Corgi owners and handlers
Linda:
I have had them since 1962 and have shown in obedience, agility and conformation. The 2 I have now are not too good for conformation, but are super in agility (no trials so far, just training) and liked obedience and rally obedience as long as they think it's fun, like agility. Linda's Kurbi practising the weave which he loves.
And this is Linda's Dooki who is absolutely beautiful.
Julie:
Sam is like a mini border collie - quick to learn both good and bad and needs to be kept busy both mentally and physically. We can't show him because of his coat and quite frankly standing around looking pretty would bore him into bad behaviour and me to tears. Been there done that with a Rottie many years ago!!