Le-Le is our 2 year old cardigan corgi who we got at the very end of Feb just after her second birthday. After the passing of our beloved beagle, Buster in Jan, we wanted another dog but a puppy was too much for our traveling life. We had two beagles, Buster and Max for almost 14 years and loved the fun, playful qualities of the beagle, but I was interested in having a dog that would come when I called and not go on the 'hunt' at every smell. My grandparents had a Pembroke Corgi when I was growing up and my parents have their second PWC, Punch who is eight. I delivered Punch from the breeder's in MD to my parents in FL on my Dad's birthday eight years ago. He was the cutest thing ever and a sweet happy guy. I had helped by mother pick out their first corgi, Tad. We fell in love with him when the breeder picked him up and was walking away from us; he had the cutest butt and pantaloons. Tad was 5 months when they got him and was a wonderful companion for over 14 years. I have always wanted a corgi and wanted a dog who would get long with my parent's dog and my sister's dog. Our Buster was a demanding beagle who without uttering a word terrorized Punch. After an extended visit in FL in 2003 after our first sweet beagle Max died, Buster was exiled from coming back since he made Punch's life so miserable and stressful. So we went on a search for a corgi. I decided on a Cardigan because I love a tail. A tail tells you many things about a dog though a beagle's tail is very different than a cardigan tail. A cardigan tail is very expressive, but that is another blog. We wanted a 'over the puppy stage' young dog so we looked on the Cardigan Welsh Corgi Club Of America website and contacted breeders who contacted other breeders. We got some emails with pictures of dogs from under a year or older than 5 years. Wish I had found this site when we were looking but it did not come up in my searches. Some how we got an email from a breeder in Oklahoma who had a female cardigan corgi who was almost 2. We saw her picture and fell in love. She had a sunny corgi smile and looked beautiful. I had spoken with several breeders so I knew to ask certain questions since I knew the breed could be shy. Everything sounded good and we were doing a job in Arkansas only a few hours from OK so we arranged to pick her up. The Breeder's ranch was very nice and it was fun to see Le-Le's father who is a Blue Merle and the other dogs. Le-Le was nervous about us and leaving the only place she knew. One minute she was there and the next she was in our truck with strangers. Poor thing was very scared but she did not make a sound.

We had to work in Arkansas on the way home so we traveled for about 8 days before getting home. Stayed in one hotel for several nights, in Branson, MO the second day we had her. Life has it's way of serendipitously happening. We took her on an outing across the street from our hotel into a craft and antique mall. Le-Le had to ride in a shopping cart lined with her blanket. We met a woman who had a booth with dog treats and toys. She was stocking the shelves and started talking to us about Le-Le. Gave us great insight and hope that she was not really a shy dog but just very 'fearful' and needed to be desensitized to the world. She sold Buddy Biscuits soft and chewy peanut butter which Le-Le was crazy for. We had not found a treat she liked yet. So we bought several bags of these and felt much better that we were going to get Le-Le to hopefully love us and not just tolerate us. We were told to not look her in the eye that much and give her lots and lots of treats so she would associate the treats and good things with us. We had rescued our beagles from the pound and they were a handfull in the beginning until they got use to us and the house. But they were nothing like this dog who was so very scared of us.

She had her crate which was the safety zone in the hotel and in our truck. She would not come out of it even to eat. I would try and put her food outside the crate to get her to come to us but forget it. I would inch it closer and closer to her. Finally she would edge out of her crate and stretch as far as she could but still keep her hind legs in her crate. Le-Le would fall into herself when she caught us looking at her. She would look away and back into a corner. We were very worried about her being so scared of us. It was very hard in the beginning. We had gotten lots of toys, treats and beds for her. We had been told she liked toys but she had never seen one. We let her be for the 1st few nights but then I started making her sit on my lap or sit by me on the bed; on her dog blanket of course. I would pet her or just hold her so she got used to me. She was more scared of my husband, Gary and it took her longer to look at him and acknowledge him. She walked perfectly on the leash but that was because she was so scared of the outside word she was not exploring anything yet. Any noise would make her jump, even our shadows falling over her made her jump. She hid in the hotel rooms in the bedside table cubbyholes. Some mornings I would wake up and the draw would be pushed out by her head when she shifted in the night, the space was so tight.

When we finally got home she hid under our vintage refrigerator in the kitchen, sofa in the dining room and her favorite place right by the back stairs. She did not go up stairs right away and forget going down them. She would do stairs outside without any problems just not in the house. Whenever we walked by her she would cringe and not look at us as if we might hurt her. It was terrible! We had so much love to give her and all we wanted was for her to be happy with us. I spoke with obedience people to try and understand if this was going to get better and what to do to help her. Only the Buddy biscuits worked if she was a little bit scared she would take the treat but then drop it; she is not food driven. She never barked, was house trained but did not ask to go out so we had to do that on a regular bases. She would follow me around but really did not want anything to do with Gary. Gary does all the cooking in our house; and yes I am very lucky. One night he made lamb and gave Le-Le a taste. Well that was the start of their bonding. He would give her pieces of real meat and she would come near him. This was week 3.

By the 2nd month we went to stay and work in FL at my parents. She found her safety zone behind the loveseat in the family room/kitchen by the slider to the backyard. Their PWC, Punch who is 8 really helped her. He likes to play with toys and she saw that toys were a good thing and started to understand what to do with them. We discovered the skineeeze stuffless toys which she likes. We got one for each of them and they would really look like they had a dead animal in their month. Le-Le and Punch would play after dinner in the darkened yard. We would hear them running through the grass, rolling and small noises as they chased and played. It was wonderful! They came in exhausted with wet necks and happy faces. We started to feel that Le-Le could settle in and be happy with us. My Mother never did get to pet her until the last day when I held her before putting her in the truck. She did not make eye contact yet with strangers and My Mother and Father were strangers still after being in their house for over a week. But she was following me around like a mother duck and her duckling.

Each month has gotten better and she does view Gary and I as her people. She comes when I call her even when she is doing something interesting. I am still her human elevator in the house and she is really cute when I say 'up' she puts her left paw up for me to pick her up. Sometimes she is so excited she even jumps into my arms. She is a sweet and cute girl who really needed a chance to blossom into the dog she can be.