Monday, March 15, 2010

Breed disclaimer

A dog show friend made a good point the other day. Seems after an accident to which she was recovering the “seedy underbelly” of her breed’s traits came to surface. She goes on to comment that breed/judge seminars should not only highlight the perfect breed example but issue a disclaimer right off the bat about the reason we love to hate our breed, so to speak.

So what is it about Cardigan that we love to hate? Oh boy, here we go.

#1-they shed. They are not afraid to leave traces of themselves at every port of call. When you live with a corgi, you adapt your furniture, clothing, heck even your car, to hide the hair as you know you will never get rid of it all, so why bother.

#2-they are not neat freaks. Goes right back to the whole shedding part. They love mud, water, things you don’t even want to know about. Low ground clearance means lots of dirty undercarriages, so keep lots of towels handy. They walk through puddles, not around and have no concern that you want to keep your couch clean-for them it’s the handiest place to dry off.

#3-too smart for their own good. And they will make sure you are fully aware of it. From figuring out how to climb the four shelves to get to the toy they want to opening doors, making sure you are trained to put the toilet seat down or pick up your underwear, cardigans are masters at the art of training their humans.

#4-oh that mouth. Refer back to #3 in that when they want you to know exactly how they feel about a subject, they will tell you. Some are more suttle as in our Eddie and his incessant whining to Merlot and her ear piercing high frequency bark. Side note-she’s the same dog that can’t howl, but yips. They let you know when there’s stranger dangers, or just a bird flying past the window.

#5-in addition to the mouth that talks, how about the stomach that is a garbage disposal. Corgis can and will eat anything that doesn’t move. Most of them also have a unique trait of passing it too. Ask about the stuffing from the toys, pieces of wood, metal, rocks or again, ask Eddie—straight pins! Watch your fingers when you feed them, actually count them. Not afraid to take a treat with a side offering of the fingers that held the treat. Or the hamburger off the dinner table, potatoes out of the pantry or my favorite- a loaf or two of banana bread!

So--what else do we love to hate about our favorite breed?

Later gators...
C

5 comments:

penni said...

Sigh! Just IVDD -- everything else I am privileged to live with -- just aks my dogs!

Dawn said...

Today I would have ro say, the ability of my 1 foot tall dog to leap the 3 foot tall fence keeping her out of the mud (unsuccessfully.) Dang it Peace!

Kathy and Kim Gibson said...

Their desire to use electronic devices. But heck I'm with Penni, love those bad dogs! They are the gift that keeps on giving!

Cindy said...

I wouldn't have it any other way, either! Bad Dog Rules--just ask Moose :0)
I also thought of another one-never known a breed to hold a grudge longer then a cardigan. COme to my house after I leave Moose home while we go to a dog show--not pretty.

Sherilyn said...

Oh, yes, they DO hold grudges! Just ask Boo! He gets mad if I cheer for another Cardigan on tv! LOL Silly boy! :) Love the bad ones!