[glencorgi]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

Here is a subject matter which is rather serious and disturbing for Cardigan Corgi lovers.

Not all that disturbing or serious if one looks at the world wide state of the breed; sad they are losing appreciation in their country of origin.

Part of an article at the weekend in the local metro paper about new breeds of dogs taking over (ie cross-breeding of Labs-poodles etc ) in the UK, caught my eye. And that was the mention of Cardigan Corgis as becoming extinct because they are one of the real old breeds that are no longer fashionable in the UK.

For those who wish to read the article, here is a link:
http://tinyurl.com/yp4244

It should be noted that the only threat of extinction is in its native country. The Cardigan gene pool world wide is larger and more diverse than it has ever been. Cardigans are gaining in popularity in the US and there are international devotees of the breed.

Now that is sad because Cardis have such a lot to offer. I can't help thinking though, that with the world wide moves towards banning the docking of tails on Pembroke Corgis, that this will further affect the dwindling numbers of Cardis in relation to the Pems.

Or the reverse might prove true. One of the major attractions and unique qualities of the Pembroke is that it is a docked breed. (BTW, Michael have you signed Lesley's petition to Downing Street against docking bans?)

Without much doubt, Pems are the more glamourous of the two Corgi breeds and if Pems are to have a tail retention what then will the Cardi have to offer people who want dog ownership.

:wtf:

As you noted in another thread, the two breeds are different and not necessarily interchangeable. There are many corgi owners who delight in their Cardigans, yet just cannot live with Pembrokes - the latter breed just does not work with them personality/temperament wise. No one size fits all, whether it is a breed, training methods, method of raising puppies, exercise needs, foods ... Cardigans have as much to offer to homes where they are the breed of choice as do Pembrokes.

Now Cardi lovers will be able to quote all kinds of other aspects besides a beautiful tail, but on the world market the finer points don't usually rate.

Ahhhh, but Pembrokes are going to lose one of their most marketable commodities should docking bans become international - barring all the finer points which make them a wonderful breed for the right homes - they'll lose the uniqueness of that bunny butt and the general public will see them as just another dog with a tail. A big part of their superficial appeal, attraction and "glamour" is that cute tailess bum.

Without doubt many of the popular current cross breeding of dogs is going to create new pedigree breeds in the very near future just like a huge spate of new breeds were established within 80 to 150 years ago.

NOT with the way the current crop of cutesy named mutts (sorry, not feeling particularly PC this morning) are being created. A lot of the -poo crosses (Maltipoos, Cockapoos, etc.) have been around for decades and they are NOT breeds. Why? Because they are all still F1 generation. Breeding a Pug to a Beagle and getting a "Puggle" does not a Puggle BREED make. The breeders of these puppies are not selecting for traits or qualities and then breeding select Puggle to Puggle to set them (which is going to have to include inbreeding and close linebreedings to do). It takes generations of breeding to create a breed and none of these so called designer breed breeders are doing that. They are cashing in on the gullibility of John Q Public touting hybrid vigor (breeding two breeds of dogs together is NOT hybrid vigor as dogs are all the same species) and if the two breeds mixed both have health problems in common, then all that happens is the doubling up on liver shunts, or eye problems or hip dysplasia because no health screenings are done, marketing the doodles as hypoallergenic (bunk also, not all doodles get the poodle coat); and the lies, deceit and marketing ploys go on and on. One can go to their local pound, shelter, Humane Society, SPCA and get a dog that looks like any one of the so-called "designer breeds" without paying the thousands of dollars one of those breeders will charge for such a mutt.

And it is conceivablle that some of the most well known and well thought of breeds of will die out - breeds like Bloodhounds and a couple of dozen others. Will the Cardi survive.

As long as there are devotees and fanciers of the breeds, they'll be around. As I said, on an international basis the CWC gene pool is better than it has been in years. The threat to all purebred breeds worldwide is such things as docking bans which eliminates traits and qualities that go to breed type thus making the differences in dogs not much different than what one sees in a feral dog population. It is an attempt to make generic dogs.

Debbie