Pembroke & Cardigan Welsh Corgi - View Single Post

Michael Romanos · 02-26-2006, 07:39 PM

There's been some controversy recently on GoCorgis regarding the origins of the Cardi and the Pem.
Debbie maintains there is Terrier in Corgis and that's the way the American Kennel Club had grouped Corgis when they were first accepted as a purebred in the USA.
The origins of Corgis is based on theories and no one knows with any certainty the true origins of todays's Pems and Cardis.
The Cardigan is said to go back in time at least 2000 years but it is pretty obvious that the Welsh farm dogs of 2000 -3000 years ago bore little resemblance to the Corgis of today.
Along the way in their development, it is believed the Cardigan Corgi picked up a Techel gene. Now Techels are basically Dachshunds from Central Europe and that would have given Cardigans a real makeover in shape- long back and short legs included. There are only two breeds of dogs in the world that are true dwarf - the Dachshund and the Welsh Corgi. Dachshunds are mostly hound with a little Terrier. That therefore constitutes the Terrier aspect to the Cardigan. Around 1000 years ago, it is believed that some of the Cardigans had liasions with the Valhund - a Scandinavian breed brought to Wales by the Vikings and from this was created the Pembroke variety of the Welsh Corgi. The Valhund is a Spitz type dog and is not closely related to Terriers. Valhunds are very much a Corgi-looking species - around the same size as a Pem (only slightly smaller in body length and only slightly longer legged). That is why the Pembrokes are given the status of belonging to the Spitz grouping of dogs - and they don't look out of place in that company.
But from these theories that I have repeated, there is not really anything concrete that would entertain today's canine experts into grouping Corgis in with Hounds or Terriers- either in mannerisms, activities or in breeding. It is now evident that all dogs species are related, from the tiniest to the largest, which means that at the onset of the origin of the dog, there was just a single breed. So therefore there is always going to be a correlation between all the breeds of dogs.

02-26-2006, 07:39 PM	#1 (permalink)
Michael Romanos Global Moderator Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Silverstream (near Wellington, the capital of NZ) Posts: 5,185	Origin of the Corgi There's been some controversy recently on GoCorgis regarding the origins of the Cardi and the Pem. Debbie maintains there is Terrier in Corgis and that's the way the American Kennel Club had grouped Corgis when they were first accepted as a purebred in the USA. The origins of Corgis is based on theories and no one knows with any certainty the true origins of todays's Pems and Cardis. The Cardigan is said to go back in time at least 2000 years but it is pretty obvious that the Welsh farm dogs of 2000 -3000 years ago bore little resemblance to the Corgis of today. Along the way in their development, it is believed the Cardigan Corgi picked up a Techel gene. Now Techels are basically Dachshunds from Central Europe and that would have given Cardigans a real makeover in shape- long back and short legs included. There are only two breeds of dogs in the world that are true dwarf - the Dachshund and the Welsh Corgi. Dachshunds are mostly hound with a little Terrier. That therefore constitutes the Terrier aspect to the Cardigan. Around 1000 years ago, it is believed that some of the Cardigans had liasions with the Valhund - a Scandinavian breed brought to Wales by the Vikings and from this was created the Pembroke variety of the Welsh Corgi. The Valhund is a Spitz type dog and is not closely related to Terriers. Valhunds are very much a Corgi-looking species - around the same size as a Pem (only slightly smaller in body length and only slightly longer legged). That is why the Pembrokes are given the status of belonging to the Spitz grouping of dogs - and they don't look out of place in that company. But from these theories that I have repeated, there is not really anything concrete that would entertain today's canine experts into grouping Corgis in with Hounds or Terriers- either in mannerisms, activities or in breeding. It is now evident that all dogs species are related, from the tiniest to the largest, which means that at the onset of the origin of the dog, there was just a single breed. So therefore there is always going to be a correlation between all the breeds of dogs. Last edited by Michael Romanos; 02-26-2006 at 09:45 PM.