Dog Facts
About the Cardigan Welsh Corgi Breed
The Cardigan Welsh Corgi is a very distinctive dog. It is very short, but very long. It can be almost two times longer than it is tall. It has very short legs, but still has a good ground-covering gait. Used for herding cattle, it is thought that the Cardigan was bred so short because it meant that should cattle kick at it, the hoof would just go straight over the dog's head and it would avoid injury.
The short height is somewhat accentuated by a relatively normal sized head, crowned with large, erect, rounded ears. The coat can be red, brindle, black tan or sable in addition to white. It is a double, waterproof coat of medium length; a short, soft, thick undercoat and a stiffer outer coat. It has a friendly and alert-looking face.
The Cardigan Welsh Corgi was first brought to Cardiganshire in South Wales many centuries ago. It was used to drive cattle out across large areas of farmland. It lost its job driving cattle however when land was fenced up and sold, restricting the ranging areas. It survived by being a loyal and kind companion to people, but in many cases, such a friend was an unaffordable luxury, and numbers of the breed dropped.
It is a fun loving, high-spirited dog, which has a high intelligence that helped it learn to herd and drive livestock. It is agile and tireless, traits which people may not expect of such a short dog. However, because of its size and shape, it can be prone to back problems. It needs brushing about once a week to stop a build up of dead hair.