Cardigan corgi owner

[Mvons]

I am a grieving cardigan corgi owner. Monday we put down our 15 year old corgi, Pepper. I'll be posting in the rainbow bridge, the health issues, and the puppy sections soon.

I came across the forum quite by accident as I was researching breeders. I don't know why I never thought there was a forum. I use the forum on car repairs all the time (cars the age of our corgi). I believe writing up the memorial will help my grieving process.

I hope something can be done to have this forum come up in google and yahoo search engines. Especially when we search on health issues and are desperate to learn more.

Because I am a homemaker, the days are hard without my Pepper. We hope to get a puppy in June when my son will have the summer to train him/her. Doesn't seem to be many litters in April though so wish us luck. My son begged for a puppy because our corgi was 4 when he was born. My son said he wanted to stay with corgies because of their long life, and why change a good thing when our dog was so good.

I am thrilled about the puppy section. After 15 years I forgot so much and happy to see so many answers there. I read and find myself saying "oh yeah".

I'm located in the mountains above Palm Springs. Small dogs are uncommon because bold coyotes are common. My neighbors know now if I'm yelling, that means a coyote is around. We are on the route of a gorgeous, large bobcat who doesn't dine on dogs and fears coyotes. We don't have a fence because putting a dog in our yard would be feeding the wildlife. We have a steep slope and a fence installation would be a nightmare and we like the feel of no fence. Our neighbor across the street has a gentle slope and fenced yard that we will use when our puppy arrives for free supervised running. All the neighbor dogs are large males. One male mix has adopted our warm front deck in the mornings. Pepper's favorite was a beautiful pit bull who hated coyotes. She knew who would protect her best!

We vacation in Montana every year. My husband is an aircraft mechanic and his parents live near Billings. He works in Palm Springs where it is too darn hot for my taste, though gorgeous this time of year.

We normally get snow that melts right away, like yesterday, but January was cold all month. I grew up with doxie's and they'd shiver in the snow. I saw a corgi at a dog show when I went to see my brother's mastiff. I knew corgi's were perfect because of their double coat. Their hair between their pads also is great for traction on the ice. I like the tail which displays their emotions.

There is more about my family on my shaklee website at www.shaklee.net/merrie

Thank you for reading!

Merrie VonSeggern

[milles2]

Merrie:

Welcome to the site. I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your fifteen year old. What a great life!

I am "Mom" to Tucker (almost 2 year old Pem) and Cardi pup Lulu (9 months). I love Tuck's bunny butt but adore Lulu's tail. They are two peas in a pod.

Susan

[ZdogZ]

Welcome, Merrie. Sorry for your loss. Many of us have lost one of our pets at one time or another. My thoughts and prayers are for you and your family.

[Jespah]

Welcome Merrie and I send my deepest sympathies to you and your family.

I know there are lots of great folks here who will be happy to share their info and experience in puppy raising and Cardi ownership. Although I am a Pem owner, I must say those Cardis are starting to grow on me!

[Jane Austen]

It is wonderful that you had Pepper for such a long time. I hope I am lucky enough to have my Duchess until she is fifteen or better. But I do really understand your need to grieve. A puppy will help to fill the void that Pepper left.
Don't expect a new dog to be a copy of a previous pet. Each has their own personalities.
You didn't say if you have other children beside your son? I was wondering why your son was going to be the one to train the next puppy? Is this dog going to be his to take when he moves away?
I see you posted other sites we can go, to learn more about your family. I don't have the time just now, but am interested in catching up later. Welcome

[Mvons]

Jane, My son is 11, sorry if I had a typo. One child, one dog. Having at least a month before getting a puppy is required for grieving. We watch Dog Whisperer and he says you need to be ready to let the light in when you get a new dog.

We are the type of people who plan (attempt to control?) so we know that we will be the ones with the dog when our son goes off to college, gets married? At least now we know 15 is the average for her life (mom, dad and a sibling all died at 15). We had been misinformed by a friend who had one live to 20. I also know that after this puppy we will replace with an adult as I'll be in my 60's.

We decided to keep her crate in my room for the new puppy rather than move it to my son's. I'm the last to bed at night (husband gets up at 3am) and I'm the one who am the most vocal to defend the puppy from coyotes. By the way motion detector lights are great to keep other animals like Black bear, raccoons away!

But during the day and early evening my son will have dog duty. I pray I can keep from intruding and just make helpful suggestions to both. We are agreeing on the correction sounds right now. He'll read a portion of the Dog Whisperer book then read the "Mother knows best" which is what we used for Pepper. I will be busy painting the exterior of our home this summer provided rain cooperates. I'm so used to checking on a dog, I look forward to a puppy to check on instead of an ill dog. The thought of a puppy brings the hope in my life during the day and a lot more exercise when my son is in school!

Thank goodness the personalities are different on dogs. But we also desire the coloring to look different. We don't want to be constantly reminded of Pepper when we look into our new corgi's face. We want to concentrate and be enthralled about the new puppy for who she/he is. And have Pepper remain in our memories.

Merrie

[Jane Austen]

I did go back and edit my post. It was my mistake about your son's age, not yours.
A lot of people would not think the way I do, that it is paridise to have "wild animals" in the area. I have never seen a wild moose, bear, bobcat, but we do have coyotes here just recently. I get a real thrill to see fisher cats and turkey, raccoons and beaver.
I never leave Duchess out in the yard alone except in the real bad weather(rainy) when I know she will come back in soon. And then I am standing right at the door. It must be a real problem for you to have to keep an eye out for possible dangers though.

[milles2]

Merrie:

I'm chuckling over "painting during the summer" + new puppy.

My two are the chewers from hell! If it can be chewed, it WILL be chewed! That includes all baseboard modings, my backdoor window panels, heck... even a painted corner of the wall!

I use X pens to protect my floorboards and mouldings from the two devils!

Lulu's breeder tells me her dogs tend to chew until they are three. Tucker has slowed his pace but Lulu is like Jaws!

[Mvons]

Susan, try ben gay! You know the stinky stuff that reminds me of my old grandma. We put it on the door moldings, on the back of our shoes and it cured her quick! We had to as Pepper was a puppy in a rental. Thank you for the memories.

Yes the short x-pen will go around the wood flooring we will wait for the puppy stage of peeing, first waiting for the senior in-continence when barking stage to be over. The large x-pen will be on the deck, away from the new painted exterior. Though a little water base paint never heart any dog on it's coat. Yes, I'll be making my husband very happy cleaning up the deck and using tables for my painting supplies instead of the deck floor. Oh my, this is great, I will get busy soon...tomorrow when it is warmer.

Merrie

[Dillydoodle]

Merrie, welcome to gocorgi, I am terribly sorry for your loss of Pepper, 15 yrs is a wonderful long life, though never quite long enough... I am mom to 21 month old red and white pem named Dillon and adopting 28 month old red and white pem named Gus on saturday. Glad you found us, hope that you will find some comfort here as well as lots of great information.
Emilie

[tandemgal]

Hi Merrie,

deleted by T-Gal

[Jeni D]

So sorry to hear about the loss of your corgi. It's nice that you had 15 wonderful years with Pepper though and I'm sure you have tons of great memories.
I am mom to Dudley--an almost one year old cardigan and soon to be a new mom to Maya (as of Saturday) who is also a cardi

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Mvons

I came across the forum quite by accident as I was researching breeders. I don't know why I never thought there was a forum. I use the forum on car repairs all the time (cars the age of our corgi). I believe writing up the memorial will help my grieving process.

There are lots of forums for corgis. Corgi L is an email list you might be intrested in. It has owners of both Pembrokes and Cardigans.