Will you join us for CORGI-CON 2013?

Tonight I noticed a message from Stephanie to you and she mentions CORGI-CON.  Urbana is about 1 1/2 hours from you.  Hope to see you on May 18!

Check out the details on the Main Events Page.

Lisa

<--- Ashton says: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

May all your birthday wishes come true! <3

I am on FB but I rarely use it. I'll send you my name anyway so you can find me. :)

oh you are sooo kind !!! I tell you the Lord brought this guy to me at just the right time in my life. I am home alone quite a lot of the time and Fin is such a faithful friend and companion. I am thrilled that you love this breed as well : )

What a beautiful dog. Amazing eyes!

Love the new pics. Grady looks like he should be a cartoon character with those big smiles and big blue eyes.

I just realized you're a vet tech. That's convenient!

I'm sorry for you and Grady. Hopefully it won't cause him problems.So I take it they don't know if it's effecting his nerves?

At least you've made the breeder aware. I don't know if there is anything that can be done to prevent it with future litters or not. It would be nice if the breeder would help with the medical cost or refund some of your money. I know some do, but my breeder didn't do any of that either when I proved to him that Finn has HD. He did offer to buy him back but I'm not about to get rid of him.

Maybe Grady will be able to do herding when he's older if no problems present themselves. I'm sure he'll be happy even with the activity limitations; I know Finn is. :)

How did you find that out? I'm sorry to hear that. I wonder how bad it is. I was only vaguely familiar with the condition so did some reading on it here and it sounds like no matter what, it is treatable. We thought in the beginning that Finn might have something like that causing neuro problems because of the walking, the weakness and his incontinence (which we still experience now though it's not extreme). Te specialist said he didn't move like a neuro dog but he may have a deformity inside causing him to dribble. :(

Did you talk to the breeder? I wonder if any of the other pups are experiencing anything like this.

That would be really fun to see!

Since you've already ruled out the hips, I would guess he just needs to build strength. Like I said, Finn's back legs have been getting noticably stronger since the day we got him and now at a year and a half old he is finally able to jump up onto things such as the couch. Progress has been slow obviously but he has made huge progress none the less. We went for a couple 15-20 minute walks a day and tried to keep Finn at a steady fast walk, we also walked him up inclines when possible such as hills in the park and we started letting him climb the stairs when he was about 10 months old (but not go down) and that seemed to build muscle. Swimming would be great too but we haven't tried it yet. Just keep up with the strengthening exercises (but don't overdue it since he is still young) and he'll get there. If you have a way of filming him I'd love to see a video of him moving. ??

Here's Finn at 11 wks and this is about when he started bending his legs. You can see that they are bent in the picture.

Is Grady clumsy? Finn has always been very clumsy. He'll trip with one of his front legs all the time and turn his head and smack his face on the wall or whatever he was standing too close too. He used to stand up on his hind legs (really just sitting on his butt) and lose balance and fall backwards. He can beg now without falling most of the time.

Finn is the only Cardi puppy I've been around so I always wonder how different he is compared to others. I've seen videos of other Cardis and the biggest difference I see is how well they move at a young age compared to how Finn was.

When we got Finn at 8 weeks, he was not using his hind legs much. The breeder said he had seen this before and it sometimes just takes a pup longer to get the hang on it and they move in an odd way because they are stiff, kind of like when you see a human baby learning to walk. Another breeder confirmed that this is true but I had a bad feeling about his legs from the get go but we took him because we were already in love with him. He would avoid standing if at all possible and when he stood his legs were very stiff and straight, he didn't bend his legs at all and they were wobbly. When he'd walk he'd keep them straight and kind of swing them around the side and he could bend them in ways that made me cringe. He couldn't run, he'd trip and he couldn't step/jump up onto anything over an inch high. The vet said the tendons were very loose and he probably just needed to strengthen his legs. He did start using them more over time and in a more normal way. I still was concerned by how he'd kick his back legs to one side when he ran and he still couldn't jump onto things like the couch or the bed so at 8 months we had his hips x-rayed and we found that he did indeed have dysplasia. My gut told me he did and we could have returned him to the breeder but he was already our little boy. he will now limp if he gets too much activity for extended periods of time and his hips makes a faint popping sound when he does that slow waddling walk but his legs are much stronger and he can finally jump on the couch (it took him a year and a half to achieve that). So, I'm thinking if you had Grady's hips checked and they are fine then he may just need more time to grow and become strong. Did you see his hip x-rays? How old is he?

Yes to all. Finn still just kind of scoots back to sit on his butt. It's definitely unlike long legged dogs and it does look funny. I think that's totally normal for Cardis.

As far as the waddling, Finnigan has always had a lot of sway in his hind end when he walks. My Mom's Cardigan has a little but not as much as Finn. When we saw a specialist about his hips recently she said he definitely doesn't walk normally.

That's great that you can take him to work with you and he's lucky to have an owner with an obedience background. I wish I were better versed in obedience because Finn could use more training. We did a puppy class and my husband and I taught him quite a bit at home but he has some habits that I can't seem to break. We'll eventually do another class but I mostly want to do the herding. It is expensive. I checked several places out here (they too are all breed) and they can be costly but I think Finnigan would love it and it would help him burn some energy. We have to be careful though because of his hips. They said he could work ducks and sheep but cattle may be too rough on his hips.

Finn is like Grady in that he thinks everyone and everything is his friend, even birds. That's great that Grady isn't a shy guy. Sounds like you've got a great little Cardi. I'm sure he'll grow into a handsome dog. Finn went through some awkward stages so don't be surprised if suddenly his head looks too big or his body looks to long and skinny. :)

Does Grade seem at all shy like his parents?

We had Finn neutered as well. he ended up with a retained testicle so it was in his best interest to be neutered.

I agree that blue merles are the prettiest and I was set on having one too. A dog is something you are going to have for so long so I think you should get what you want and not have to settle. I'd be a lot more open when choosing a second Cardigan but for my first one, I was dead set on having a blue boy and I really wanted him to have one blue eye and the fact that Finn ended up having just that was such good luck.

Finn is a year and a half old and he can still be a brat too but he has such a fun, loving, happy personality that the good times outweigh the bad.

I've been looking into doing herding with Finnigan as well. You'll have to let me know how you (and the dogs) like it.

Oh, ok. Finn doesn't have have any Legacy in his pedigree but that doesn't mean Grady's parents don't have some of Finn's relatives in their lines. Either way, he's a doll. :)

I looked on puppyfind when I started searching for a Cardi too but I wasn't trusting enough to get a puppy from a website like that. I know they are not all bad breeders though and Grady is proof of that. He may not come from a show line but that doesn't mean he can't be handsome.

I wonder where they got the parents from? Do you have papers on him? I'm curious if there are any dogs from well known breeders anywhere in the line. It's possible that he and Finn share an ancestor somewhere in there. :)

Maybe I've asked you before and just forgot but where is Grady from?As he gets older he reminds me of Finn. They have some of the same features.