Learning to be a show dog...

Learning to be a showdog is tough work. One has to go to classes to learn to stand still (Mr. Wigglebutt has yet to master this skill). One also goes to obedience class, where Mom spends an hour feeding dinner and making Dash (GASP) work for his food! But practicing is fun…

And sometimes practicing involves getting cookies from the little boy!

As an aside, Gus and Dash are becoming fast friends. The first month was rough because Gus was used to calm, lazy dogs, and Dash was in the jumpy, bitey, obnoxious puppy phase. Fortunately he has outgrown the bitey part! Now Dash and Gus work together…

Of course, the ultimate reward is when you get to go to a show and play with your sister!

But that still means you get groomed, and toenails amputated, and brushed…

So far Dash has been in three matches. He made his debut in Greensboro in November days after he turned 4 months old. Joe & Dora picked him up at 9:00 a.m. to take him over for a makeover and to work on his table manners. Dash is my first show prospect, so I'm learning everything right along with him. I joined them at 4:00 after spending an hour being lost (something about taking the wrong interstate - one would think after living in this state for 13 years that I'd be past all that!). I then got a crash course on dog handling.

Everything was going swimmingly... Dash kissed his first judge. He pulled a bit on the leash, and then he saw Clover and thought she would be much more fun to play with - but behaved himself. So there would never be a "first class" for this novice pair again. Then, in the breed ring, competing for best puppy - disaster (well maybe not really a crisis)... In the middle of the back portion of the down & back - and quite possibly in the geographic center of the ring - someone turned into an Inchworm and deposited quite the poop! I was redfaced - Dash was happy - and everyone else in the ring with me was quite gracious! "It happens to everyone..." Well okay - it has happened to us, and I'm taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again - constant vigilance on the clock and the poop schedule for me. It helps that as he is maturing he has much better bladder and bowel control.

Our next match was in January in Charlotte. I got a chance to learn more about grooming and about gaiting. And Dash did much better at moving around the ring in his age group. He is still a wigglebutt on the table - and so thrilled to meet new people. Another judge accepted his enthusiastic kisses. Dash was still in the 3-6 month class, and his competition this time was a lovely little 3 month old puppy. Dash was days away from turning 6 months old, so there was quite a difference in the two. In the breed ring for best puppy, he was much more interested in seeing who was following him than paying attention to Mom. But this is a learning experience, and we are learning something new every time out. Mike & Gus came along to watch and Beth drove over to act as our personal photographer.

Match number three was the Happy Trails Match, southeast of Greensboro. The attention here was more on the handler than the dog. It was a good experience for us to spend more time in the ring waiting our turn and moving around with more than two or three dogs. Dash had fun. I got more practice. And we got a bag of cookies (no ribbon this time). We skipped the last January match because Dash had an upset tummy. Now that Dash is 6 months old, he can make his formal debut. And I'm trying to figure out how to get out of his way.

We've started attending handling classes sponsored by the Durham Kennel Club. It is definitely worth the drive as we can get more immediate feedback and helpful tips both from the instructor and from other experienced exhibitors. Happily, I have a dog who LOVES to meet people. However, he is very enthusiastic about his greetings. So, we have to settle him down on the table and figure out how to get him to stand still. Time will solve this problem. I'd rather he be too enthusiastic than too timid.

Dashing around the House

His favorite “game” so far is fetch – and there is quite a variety to what he fetches – sometimes it is things we throw for him … and others he retrieves on his own…
Dash frequently demonstrates the frog dog/flying squirrel posture so enjoyed by Corgis. In fact, every morning after coming out of his crate, he stretches on the floor to let me know that his crate just is not long enough for a frogging Corgi (hint, hint, hint!). But we are still not ready for a loose dog at night (the horrors of my housekeeping continue).

Dash gets to explore the great outdoors. One of his projects is to dig a hole to China, starting at the neighborhood slides…


On other days he gets to play fetch at the vegetable garden!

Hopefully we will have a fenced in yard soon so that Dash can run to his heart's content. Gus and I call him back and forth to us, which lets him run, and also practices his recall. But I know he is looking forward to total freedom to poke around his yard some day.

Hanging out and settling in...

Okay - so now we have a puppy. It has been 23 years since I had a puppy, not quite as many for Mike, since Bixter was bred 16 years ago - but still a long time. When we last had puppies, no one had heard of crate training, and pop/jerk the lead was the accepted method of training. So much has changed.

So, what do you do with a puppy when no one is home? To keep him safe, he needs to be confined in some manner – especially since I am not a stellar housekeeper. One option is his crate, but his movement would be really restricted. So we built a condo by gating off the doorways of our laundry area.


Don’t let the sad look fool you. He has plenty of space to romp, food, toys, water, and a nice soft bed. He also has walls and woodwork to chew, so we may have to revisit crating during the day. He also has a dog sitter who came to visit three times a week during the fall semester and once a week this semester, since Mike is working at home on his fellowship. Still, one must try to look as pitiful as possible when being thoroughly mistreated by one's family.

At first Dash was content to chew on his gate - and whenever caught, Mom resprayed bitter apple - otherwise he would be free by now. What mom didn't notice was the attempt to eat through the doorway into the kitchen. So we are now sporting a duct tape patch until that can be repaired. Silly puppy! I wish it had been the drywall instead of the door frame. I know how to fix the drywall.

Preparing for Dash...

It was now 2001 and we shared our home with Gus (11 months), Bixter (11 years old) and Java (10.75 years). Upon contacting the Carters of Carterhall, they recommended that I come to see them at the Labor Days shows in Raleigh (learn something new every day - they have shows at Labor Day as well as in March!). So I strapped Gus into his Baby Bjorn (the world's best invention for keeping an infant close by!) and headed out to the show. We met Joe, Dora, and Darwin that day. And Gus got his first Corgi Kisses from Darwin.

Over the next few years we would see the Carters at the shows in both March and September. Gus soon outgrew the Baby Bjorn and was mobile. At one show, where I met Corgi-L folks as well, I wrapped a flexi-lead around his overall straps to keep him contained! Eventually though, I recognized that Gus and dog shows don't fit too well - he gets bored very easily. So I started attending on my own a few times just so that I could watch the dogs instead of chase my child.

On Saturday September 4th, 2005 I went to the Labor Day cluster of dog shows and ran into Joe Carter again. I started the conversation off with – “We are finally ready for our Corgi.” My expectation was that we would get on their waiting list for a litter in the spring/summer of 2006. What I didn’t expect was: “Great, we have a litter that will be 8 weeks old on Monday, do you want to meet them. We might have a puppy available.” So instead of rushing back from the show to pick up Gus from his sleepover, I called, and asked if they minded if I was a little late… and then spent 45 minutes playing with baby Pembrokes! Ahhhhhh puppy breath!

I went home to Mike and told him I’d been playing with puppies. He asked if I’d met our puppy. Up till then I was afraid to fall in love with the little boy called “Kenny” who cuddled up on my chest. When we had talked earlier, we both agreed that it was best to wait until spring/summer – but give me an inch… Plus – I was finally getting my CORGI! I’ve wanted one since 1980 – so I wasn’t going to pass up the chance.

Sunday I spent back at the dog show chatting with the breeder and exploring the possibility of adding “Kenny” to our household. I spent part of Saturday night researching his pedigree and was impressed with what I saw. The Carters expressed an interest in a home that would be interested in co-owning and showing. Something I had thought about for the future, but was surprised that my first Pem might be this good. After a month of discussion and negotiation, and reviewing contracts, DASH came home with us on October 1st.

Dash is Carterhall Commander N Chief – by CH Coventry Quest out of Carterhall Mary Kay.

A Brief Pre-History of Dash... or why it took me so long to find the perfect Corgi!

In the first few entries, I'm going to catch the world up on Dash's early months! And on my love for the Corgi breed.

I first met a litter of Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppies (about six weeks old at the time) when I was volunteering at my veterinarian's office. As a teenager, I was very active in Girl Scouts - so I could combine my love of animals, aspirations to be a vet, and service hours at the same time.

A breeder brought in her litter for its exam, and possibly shots, and it truely was love at first sight. I don't think Mama dog was even there. Pembroke puppies are adorable - and at that age looked like little stuffed animals. I'm not sure what it was about the babies that melted my heart, but I was lost to the breed forever.

Over the next 25 years I shared my home (well at first my parent's home) with two wonderful Shelties and a Chocolate Labrador. And still longed for my Corgi. After working on my father for several years (along with my sisters), he finally agreed we could have a dog. But as sibling rivalry would have it, he finally decreed that we had to AGREE on the breed and since we were at an impasse - find something other than a Corgi or a Golden Retriever. Thus Duchess entered our home and our hearts. She stayed with with my parents when I left home for college and later grad school. In graduate school, I met Mike. As graduation approached, I was already planning to add a Corgi to our home as we were both dogless at the time. In October Mike called and asked if I minded if we put off getting a Corgi so that he could bring Bixter home. Bixter was the son of Mike's sheltie Amber - and at the time was living with his parents because his sister could no longer keep him. Of course I said yes (is was now 1992). But with a one dog limit at the apartment, my Corgi dreams were delayed.

A few years later, we moved into a rental home, with again, a one dog limit. Though within a year we petitioned to add a second dog - Java, a Chocolate Lab who belonged to friends planning to emigrate overseas. At this time, both Bixter and Java were six years old. We enjoyed 10 more years with Bixter and about nine and a half more with Java before both passed away in 2005 at the respective ages of 16 and 15.5.

Also during this time period, our son Gus was born, and we bought our own house. But again, we delayed my Corgi dream because a puppy and an infant and two senior dogs was not a great mix.

However, just because we delayed the dream does not mean that I stopped learning more about the breed. With the growth in the internet, all manner of resources became available - aside from my dusty collection of books. I joined Corgi-L and got recommendations for what to look for in a Corgi - and even better - a recommendation for a Corgi breeder in North Carolina, where we now live.