We've got 11 year old Joey on 1 cup a day. He's 34# with moderate exercise. We feed him half cup of dried Kirkwood senior food mixed with Party Animal organic food and green beans twice a day.

curious about other Corgi owners?

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Ein is a 19 months old who gets moderate exercise, 20#, eats 1 cup of Canidae ALS with a couple of Dogswell Chicken and Oats kibble mixed in. Along with some treats throughout the day.
Teagen the baby gets 1/4 cup 2 a day, Jordan full grown 28lbs ish 3/4 cup 2 a day. Jordan gets moderate excersise a day also
Jack gets 2/3 of a cup a day, divided into two even feedings. In the evening we mix with some green beans, pumpkin, or yogurt. He gets moderate exercise. He is a big and stout corgi at 14 inches and 39 pounds. Believe it or not, at 39# he is looking a bit skinny to me; when he walks you can see the outline of a rib or two, and he has a hollow spot between the end of his ribcage and his hips. I also think his hip bones are starting to show. Sooooo, we are upping him to a half cup AM, one-third cup PM and see how that goes.
I think 39# is overweight. Joey is 34# and many vets and Corgi experts say that's over. He should be at least 30#. Weight is hard on their joints and heart.
I agree one would think 39# is overweight, but if you look at my blog from a week or so ago I relate the story in some detail.

We just had a weigh-in about two weeks ago, and the vet tech, who has dogs who run agility, checked him over and said to not bring his weight any lower. As I said, you can see some rib and hip; my own understanding is feeling ribs is good, but except in the ultra-slim breeds like greyhounds, seeing ribs is generally too thin. And he not only has a defined waist, he has a hollow spot that you can see immediately behind his rib cage. I think he's actually getting boney.

All I can say is for a Corgi, he's very large. The standard is 10-12 inches at the shoulder, and he's two inches taller than that and he's also got an huge and deep chest. His parents were both show dogs, so go figure.

There's some pics on my recent blogs. :-) I appreciate your concern, and I agree with you on principle, but if my dog weighed 30 pounds he'd look anorexic.
Well, a vet tech is not the best guide. I wouldn't leave Joey in the same room as some of these techs. I would get a breed specific vet and some AKC owners. We belong to the Corgi club of SoCal and take Joey to a breed specific vet who also breeds Corgis. Joey at 34# is overweight. We hear it all the time. I know you want to think because you can see ribs, that's lean but we've seen these dogs show and they're really suppose to be lean looking. Like no fluff. Basically skinny dogs. They're herding dogs. It's hard to tell through email I would get an opinion of some other AKC owners. The breed range is 25# to 30# unless it's a Cardigan.
And as mentioned, the breed standard is also 10-12 inches and mine is 14, so I would expect him to weigh more than an 11# dog. He's a Pembroke. He was 35# at 12 months and the vet said his weight was good. You could easily feel ribs, and had a defined waist.

Breed standard weight does not apply to an obviously oversized dog, and mine is quite tall. On a 10# dog, an extra 4# is 40% bigger. He does not have a long leg; his extra height is not lankiness. I've seen show results from his littermate sister and the judges commented "obviously bigger than the others" which I think lost her some points.

Anyway, never heard of a breed-specific vet and I don't know any vets who breed Corgis. The nearest Corgi breeder to me is about 25 miles away.

Edit: Here's another pic taken just last week. His waist is noticeably smaller than his chest as far as I can tell. I'm not a professional, but he looks tucked in to me.

Well, he does look thin. That's weird he's 39# I guess his length is answer. Here's a picture of Joey. Not sure of his length but I think it's over 14"
Thanks! Just to clarify, he's 14 inches at the withers by about 20 inches withers-to-nub.

Trust me, I'm not one of those people who doesn't want to admit my dog is chubby! We did hit 43 pounds which was ridiculous; it snuck up on us over the winter, hidden by his very thick winter coat. We dropped him down to 39 and we are now trying to more-or-less maintain, depending on his condition.

I just think it's important for all of us to understand that numbers are a guideline; most Corgis would be enormous at 39 pounds, I agree. It is very hard for me to judge Corgi weight because of those stubby legs. Ours just appears to be built like a linebacker for some reason. Not sure why; as I mentioned both his parents showed but the litter appears to have been big. Maybe there was a recessive gene for hugeness thrown in there. LOL

How did you move his weight down from 43 to 39? My girl was 47# when we got her one year ago at 6 yrs old. I feed her 1/3cup 2x daily. I make her treats myself. Very low cal. She has very minimal exercise. We walk everyday, but she walks very slowly. Her weight is not budging. She is a very large Corgi like you describe yours.

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Oh bless her, she's a chub!   I know it is NOT because of you at all but she needs to lose 10 pounds at least.


What is the calorie count on the food?  We feed one that is only about 300 calories a cup. I've seen foods as high as 500, which would make a huge difference.   Make sure the primary protein source is meat and not corn gluten or soy protein. Adding in treats and food, my dogs probably average something around 400 calories per day.  

I think adding exercise is the key.  You need to get her moving.  Think of breaking up the day with repeated small bursts of exercise to get her metabolism moving.  So for instance, when we come home from work we have a game of chase.  While we're watching tv we throw a ball.  Considering her weight you don't want her working too hard for too long, but try to get her moving as often as you can and build up from there.   

Have you had her thyroid checked?  That could cause issues if it's low.   If that's ok, you may need to cut her back even further, to a quarter cup 2x a day.  Check with the vet;  you may need a supplement for vitamins and minerals if you are feeding that little amount.  

Please keep us posted on how your girl is doing!

I should add Jack now goes about 35 pounds but he is a RAIL.  I keep him super thin because he goes banging around the house, chasing tennis balls and skidding on the tile and slamming into the wall.    He's back up to 1/2 cup 2x a day and maintains weight at that;  sometimes we need to give him extra.   Once he lost the weight, we had to up his food and he is back to what he got fat on.  Not sure how that happened.

Our Maddie gets 1/3 cup AM and 1/2 cup PM but sometimes she puts on a pound or so and we cut her back for a week or so.  I don't keep her as thin as Jack because she's easier on herself.   She usually goes about 28 pounds and is heavier proportionally than Jack at 35.

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