My Daughter's Corgi

My daughter's Corgi Dog is now about 10 years old and still doing fine. My older dog ( a combination of long hair German Shepard and Australian Shepard was the smartest dog I knew up to about 3 years ago when he started mentally slipping. However, if you were now 15 and for his breed about 80 to 100 years old you might be slipping a little too. Likely, because of my background and father I likely would have put him to sleep about 3 years ago because of my family traditions and respect for our dog's well being. However, my wife is a person that likes to keep people and animals alive as long as possible. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing for me personally. But, we'll see.

My daughter's dog is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi and a purebreed with papers and cost us about $600 when we bought her as a puppy.

This is what a young adult Pembroke Corgi  dog that looks a lot like her looks like: However, ours is now 10 years old.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

As a puppy she looked something like this:

Search Results

Images for pembroke corgi  

 She was very tiny about 8 to 12 inches long. Our then 5 year old German Shepard and Australian Shepard combination didn't know what to do with her. But, eventually since he was lonely for my daughter's previous dog that had died from an encounter with a raccoon when she was about 15, he eventually bonded with her. Eventually, she came to rule the roost as bitches often do in the dog world.

She has been a very personable and lap dog kind of dog. She also, if you don't close the bathroom door wants to "comfort" anyone who is on the john by helping them by being there. We laughingly call this behavior "Poop support". At first we thought this was weird but "No. It's just part of the personality of a Corgi. They are loving and very affectionate and they often "Talk" 

By making sounds that if words were added to them would be like, "Hi. I love you. or I'm hungry. or I'm bored or something like this. 

So, they are a very big personality dog that is happy to sit on the couch with you. So, in addition to being very smart like all Sheparding dogs are in the extreme. My older dod german shepard australian shepard is the smartest single dog I have ever met in my life. He stars you in the eye just like a human being will. Most other dogs avert their eyes because they see you as superior. He doesn't do that because he is more like a wolf that feels equal to a human. 

If you have ever met a wolf it can be a little scary even if they are trained by a human. Because they are always sort of wild at core like a bear or lion. They don't bark and they often look you in the eye as if to say, "I won't. But I could easily kill you if I wanted to."

However, my older dog has always been quite comfortable around wolves because he is as intelligent as they are.

Wolves can run backwards very fast to protect themselves. Also, wolves don't bark. They are very quiet unless they are mating or howling at the moon.

So, what you see in movies really isn't how wolves are usually.

I worry a little that my daughter's corgi will be sad when she goes away to college likely in Oregon or Washington in the Fall.

Many young people wish to go north from California because of the drought here as they worry about the future of a life in California. However, my wife and my business activities are all in California but it is likely we might spend a month or more a year in Hawaii and rent a place in Oregon or Washington for part of the year since we are both semi-retired and can work from almost anywhere on earth at this point.

So, I worry a little for my daughter's corgi and when my older dog passes away we have discussed getting another dog to replace him so she won't be alone.

Though dogs who are alone bond with humans in a different way it is important to understand that dogs are pack animals so it helps them (if it is a good dog) to have both a dog and a human pack to belong to.