The Pembroke Welsh Corgi is a "big dog in a small body". The official AKC standard describes a Corgi as "Outlook bold, but kindly. Expression intelligent and interested. Never shy nor vicious." This is a herding dog and general all around farm dog and, as such, must be able to work steadily all day without tiring. They were used in Wales to drive cattle to market, herd the farm animals, catch vermin and alert the farmer when strangers appeared.

The Corgi is highly intelligent, learning tasks quickly, but due to this intelligence, can become bored easily. They thrive on a routine and a job to do whether it is fetching the morning paper, alerting their people to the phone when it rings, or keeping the squirrels out of the yard. While not necessarily easy to train they learn quickly when they know what it is that you want them to do and decide that it is important. For this reason, some people call them stubborn, however, a working dog must be self-reliant and able to think for themselves in emergencies. Even if your Corgi no longer works on the farm this trait is still apparent and desireable. For this reason when training your Corgi it is important to vary the exercises and make training fun or your Corgi will become easily bored and will stop learning.

Even though small, they are not what one thinks of as a small dog. They are not yappy, but will bark to alert you to the doorbell, the phone ringing, or a car pulling into the driveway. They make excellent hearing dogs for the deaf.

Corgis are endlessly amusing devising many ways of having fun. You will have a laugh a day with a corgi and with two, even more laughs. Corgis love to make you laugh and once you laugh at something they have done they will not forget and will repeat the act to elicit more laughs. They are fun-loving and fun-giving.

Due to the herding instinct they can have a tendency to nip the heels, but not being a cow you must train the corgi not to nip. Since they are highly intelligent a corgi needs early training to know where he stands in the pack (your household). You must be firm, but gentle and once the Corgi knows the rules of the house they are will happily oblige. However, left to their own devises without direction from the top dog (you) they will take the lead and rule the house causing all kinds of havoc. Also, the Corgi is not happy in this role, but knows that someone must take charge and if you don't seem to be doing the job he will take it upon himself.

The Pembroke Welsh Corgi is an ancient breed and there are many stories of their origin, however, the most widely accepted is that they were introduced to Wales by the Flemish weavers when they settled in Pembrokeshire in the year 1107 A.D. Although, the Flemish were weavers they also farmed and set about establishing small holdings where the dogs were used as cattle dogs and general purpose farm dogs.

There are several myths about the PWC, but nicest is that they were used as steeds by the fairies and to this day you can see the marks of the "fairy saddles" upontheir backs and sides. According to the legend, two young farm children were out playing in the Welsh hills when they came upon two puppies which they took to be foxes due to the foxy faces and erect ears. When the children took the puppies home they were told that the little dogs were a gift from the fairies. As the puppies grew they learned to help the farmers watch over the cattle, which they still do today.

The head of the PWC appears foxy in shape and appearance. The length is moderately low and long with the distance from the whithers to the base of the tail approximately 40 percent greater than the distance from the ground to the top of the whithers. The ears are erect, firm and of medium size, tapering slightly to a rounded point.

The corgi is a double coated breed and as such, sheds twice a year. The outer coat is a coarse and weather-resistant and the undercoat is soft and downy. The outer coat should be of medium length with length varying overall. The neck ruff will be longer than that on the body.The coat can be Red, sable, fawn and black and tan with or without white markings. White is acceptable on legs, chest, neck (either in part or as a collar), muzzle, underparts and as a narrow blaze on the head between the eyes.

Where's the tail? This is a docked breed, with the docking done at 2-3 days old. There are many legends to explain why the tail is docked, one being that the farmers were taxed on all animals and length was used as the guideline. Since no one wants to pay more taxes than necessary and the dog had no use for it's tail, the farmers began docking the tails. Mostly, the reason is given that since some dogs are born with natural bobs, the tails are docked for uniformity of appearance. A tail of up to two inches is allowed according to the standard.

 

To read more about the Pembroke Welsh Corgi and to see more pictures explore these web pages:

Elizabeth Cheney's Corgi Page

Pembroke Welsh Corgi FAQ

Recommended Reading:
"The New Complete Pembroke Welsh Corgi" - Deborah S. Harper

Genie Murphy Email