Corgi beauty

[Michael Romanos]

There has been several photos of Go Corgi members' new or newish Corgis put out on postings and no doubt repeated in the photo section of this website. And the pics show just how gorgeous Corgis can be as pups and remain that way through their adulthood. The owners can be justifiably proud. But every Corgi is beautiful in their own right and just as well loved no matter if they have that X-factor look or not. I always say that it pays to advertise and modesty need not be a virtue. Go Corgi is an important avenue for promoting and popularising Corgis and the more magnificent Corgis featured on the site, the better.

Friends of mine just returned from a trip to Europe and whilst there had attended the 2006 world agility champs (where both the pure bred and cross bred dogs are elligible) and the first really brief report from them to me was that several Corgis had competed at the world champs in the mini section and they were nothing like the Taylor type of Corgi. These were very long legged, very slim and not at all classical in their looks. But they performed very very well. To be a winner you've got to be what it takes and I wouldn't knock any super leggy and skinny Corgi with a head that won't turn heads - he/she might very well be a champion in agility or just a champion at home.

[Cardiguy]

Michael, while I agree that all Corgis are beautiful regardless of their looks, and looks have no effect on "petability", I must say that the further away the corgi gets away from the standard the less attractive it gets for me from an aesthetic stand point. Corgis are not meant to have long legs-- period, case closed, and a corgi who wins an agility contest with long legs may be a great animal but it is not a valid representative of the corgi breed and their breed capabilities regarding the agility of the breed. This post is not meant as a knock on mixed breeds as they can make the best pets and can be more adorable than pure breeds, its just that a "super leggy skinny Corgi" sounds like an oximoron.

[Michael Romanos]

OH, I quite agree. But I'm not talking mixed breeds. All I'm saying is that Corgis are Corgis and apparantly some people want different types to do different things. When someone who has limited knowledge of Corgis, but a good knowledge of dogs in general and who is a dog trainer and a vet, says that Corgis she saw were very leggy and very slim - then it's a matter of conjecture if the legginess is abnormal or not.

[Cardiguy]

I would think that when a knowledgable dog person with limited knowledge of Corgis says that a Corgi is very leggy and slim, it would mean that the legginess was more abnormal not less abnormal. For example a corgi judge might call a corgi with legs say 1 to 2" too long leggy while a lay person would use a larger number to indicate legginess due to less familiarity with the breed.

Aah-sounds like I am splitting hairs here so take my response with a grain of salt.

BTW, I find it fascinating that it is fall for you guys while here in the U.S. we are getting ready for the beginning of summer.

[glencorgi]

At that level of competition, I'm not surprised at all by the observation, "These were very long legged, very slim and not at all classical in their looks." and I suspect it was very accurate. That it was noticed by someone who had basically a passing knowledge of the breed speaks volumes.

Threads come up from time to time on the show lists and the performance list discussing "show" lines and "performance" lines. Not many are in favor of splitting of the breed(s) into the two distinct styles as we've seen what has happened with Labrador's and some of the other Sporting/hunting breeds here with "field" lines and "show" lines. We see it also in some of the working breeds - working lines vs show lines. As I said a thread sometime back, breeding for one quality only leads to loss of type and without type, one does not have a breed. Not only does one lose the aesthetic stand point as Cardiguy pointed out, temperament can also be impacted. The drive, energy, edginess, sharpness needed to compete at the levels asked of them make them not the easiest of dogs to live with. As only so many of them will go on to the "career" they were bred for, that leaves a number of puppies left to go into loving pet homes and these homes are often not prepared for what they are getting into with dogs of these temperaments. Difficulties often arise down the road.

Debbie

[Michael Romanos]

The world agility champs in the Netherlands had a very selective entry with naturally only the best from the competing countries represented. Most success came from the Americans followed by the Russians. In the midi class Border Collies were dominant and bigger Borders were also prominent in the maxi class. Pappillions were the most prominent breed in the micro class. MOst of the Pembroke Corgis appeared to have come from the USA and my informants tell me that one could quite easily see their ribs. Let's face it, every dog at that level of agility must be skinny.

Neither Australia nor New Zealand were represented largely because of our dog restriction laws through not having any rabies problems. We can get dogs to the world champs without a hitch and no quarantine - but to get our dogs back into NZ or Australia, they would need to go into quarantine in their own countries for some time due to the fact that they have been in other countries and among dogs where rabies is still a curse. Its a catch 22. We're clean, others are not, so our dogs and owners suffer the consequences. There's got to be a way round this and I've written an article which takes into consideration this very problem. I've been told that the leading New Zealand dogs in agility could hold their own at the world champs.

By the way, these world champs were the unrestricted version ie open to pure and mixed breeds - but very few of the entrants were a mixed breed. It probably proves that handlers will go for what they know as a breed as a pointer to certainty. It helps cement the true importance of conformation showing where excellence in conformation is the target. From good conformation comes great agility exponents.