Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kathryn Graham on October 20, 2009 at 8:30am

My Madoc wasn't consistent about holding his ears up until about 13 or 14 weeks old.

There's a page about coat colors with pictures at http://www.pembrokecorgi.org/colors.html and I know there's lots about breed standard at various sites like the AKC, PWCCA, that explain fluffs, mismarks, bluies, etc.

The archives of this site had an interesting "to dock or not to dock" discussion from a while back. A lot of the rationale is historical and then it became breed standard. And there's loads of lovely pictures of undocked corgis on Mycorgi. England and a lot of Europe no longer dock.

Enjoy your amazing puppies! They look adorable!

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Livingston on October 20, 2009 at 7:35pm

Thank you for your informative reply and the link to view the colors.
We are totally enjoying our puppies. Wish I had done this sooner!

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on October 20, 2009 at 9:32am

Corgis were originally bred to be a small farm dog. They needed to help with small herding chores and keep critters out of the garden. The big ears are to help them be really good listeners! You can not show a corgi with ears that don't stand up but they still make great pets. They don't often need c-sections but there are breeders on this site that may be able to speak to this. Docked tails supposedly started in parts of England to signify a working dog vs a pet. There was a tax on pets. Pembrokes are often born with a tail but some are not. Many European countries have banned docking but the US has not.
Enjoy your puppies!

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Livingston on October 20, 2009 at 7:37pm

So that's where the tail docking came from. Interesting. Both puppies ears are always standing up, which is why I was questioning how big their ears are.
Thank you.
Kathy

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Permalink Reply by Mim on October 24, 2009 at 11:18am

Also, their tails could get injured easily, being so low to the ground amongst all the running hooves of cattle, so they were docked to prevent injury. Cardis aren't docked because their tail carriage is different to pems and wasn't going to be so easily injured.

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Permalink Reply by Kristen on October 24, 2009 at 10:35pm

The tax was also wy draft horses would have their tails bobbed. Animals with tails were taxed those without were not.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on October 20, 2009 at 12:10pm

I totally agree with all Bev said but want to add that there's a vet clinic(chain?) out west that is now not docking tail, cropping ears or other such things (it might be on the docking tail discussion. I've only had 1 litter so far but she did fine with birthing! I've heard of this but I also wonder if being in good physical shape makes a difference If you want to see pups with tails you can go to my page and I have 2 day old pups with their tails still there and since the docking discussion I have decided that I will also no longer dock!

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Livingston on October 20, 2009 at 7:39pm

Those pups tails are so cute with the tip being white!
Thanks for responding!
Kathy

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Permalink Reply by Beth on October 24, 2009 at 11:22am

I don't have experience breeding but my understanding is that quite a lot of Corgis do just fine birthing, though C-sections are not totally uncommon. Our female, Maddie, came to us as an adult and she had one litter that was a C-section before we got her. The litter our male, Jack, was born into was a natural birth.

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