I know there was some discussion awhile back about how many vets seem prejudiced against Corgis, people were theorizing on why, and I thought it would make an interesting topic.

We recently had Jack to the vet for his annual checkup. Now, Jack has been to the vet's office several times recently for weigh-ins, so he's an old pro at the scale. The vet who we saw is an experienced guy who looks like he may be nearing retirement age. The scale was all the way up, and I said "Oh, if you lower it, he'll hop right on."

So, the scale went "Whiirrrr" and Jack pricked his ears and took a step back, and then when it was on the ground I snapped my fingers and said "Jack, up!" and he hopped on the scale, and sat on command. Then the scale wasn't resetting right, so we had to hop off and reset the scale and do it all again. The vet commented "What a well-trained dog!" which pleased me more than 100 strangers in a park saying what a good dog we have. But I said "Ah, wait til he's on the table!"

Well, as I suspected, Jack was cool as a cucumber in the room while we chatted with the vet. Then we put him on the table, and game over. He HATES it. He is not a nipper, so he doesn't try to bite, but he tries to scramble backwards, jump off, get away. He cries. His little heart is pounding. I don't think it's heights, as we have popped him up on picnic tables several times and he's calm. And it's not being handled, as he passed CGC with a stranger looking in his ears and mouth.

I think it's being crowded. Getting the exam done took all our obedience skills. Lots of "Jack, staaayyy, stay" very calmly got him to hold still (tense as could be) long enough to have eyes, ears, teeth, etc checked.

And after all that, the vet smiled and said "He's pretty good for a Corgi. A lot of them I've seen need to be tranquilized to even be examined." I was pretty surprised at that, as this vet is super calm and really good with the animals, but he said they seem to hate being confined. I do know I read that once or twice online as well.

He also said (and this I believe) that many of them are great and loyal, loving family dogs, but not so good with strangers, so it was good that I had socialized mine. Now my Corgi loves everyone he meets, but we got from a breeder who breeds outgoing personalities, and we socialized him within an inch of his life when he was a puppy.

How is your Corgi at the vet? And what does your vet think of Corgis? Mine was nice as could be and he didn't sound hostile when he described what he's seen, just matter-of-fact.

We also visited a breeder on Saturday, and she mentioned that a lot of vets don't really like working on Corgis.

In the meantime, I am going to try to find someone with a grooming table so we can work on Jack being up high while people loom over him, as it's that very specific combination of events which sets him off (I believe he feels trapped, as he does not mind being crowded on the ground).