Corgi
Corgi is not a breed of dog. The word Corgi is no different than the word Hound, Retriever, Shepherd, Spaniel, or Terrier. Each word is only part of a breed name. Several breeds have similar names, but have nothing in common.
Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Pembroke Welsh Corgis are the breed that most people think of when they hear the word Corgi. Pembroke Welsh Corgis were the first registered breed to have the word Corgi in their name. Pembroke Welsh Corgis were the dog breed that was owned by Queen Elizabeth II from 1933 till 2022. When you are thinking of a short yet long dog with a docked tail you are thinking of a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Pembroke Welsh Corgis are the only dog breed that meets that description.
Pembroke Welsh Corgis vs Cardigan Welsh Corgis
Pembroke Welsh Corgis and Cardigan Welsh Corgis are not the same dog breed. Pembroke Welsh Corgis are a Spitz breed like the Swedish Vallhund from northern Europe. Cardigan Welsh Corgis are a Teckel breed like the Dachshund from central Europe. Pembroke Welsh Corgis and Cardigan Welsh Corgis are the only dog breeds with the word Corgi in their names. Pembroke Welsh Corgis are smaller, shed less, bark less, more affectionate, more adaptive, and better with other dogs than Cardigan Welsh Corgis. You can visit the AKC.org website to read more about the two different breeds.
Docked Tails
Pembroke Welsh Corgis have their tails docked, and docking is part of the breed standards. A few Pembroke Welsh Corgis have a bob tail gene for a natural dock. Pembroke Welsh Corgis have a brittle tail that can be easily broken if not docked. Veterinarians will not dock any dog after 5 days old. Avoid breeders who remove tails by banding, which means they put a rubber band around the tail and let it rot off. As mentioned above Cardigan Welsh Corgis are a different breed. Cardigans don't have bob tail genes and have a stronger tail, so their breed standard is to keep their tails. A common scam is mix-breed dogs having their tails docked, so they appear to be Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Scammers with Cardigan Welsh Corgis will even dock their tails in attempts to sell them as Pembroke Welsh Corgis. As mentioned above, Cardigans don't have the same personality as the better Pembroke Welsh Corgi.
Colors
Pembroke Welsh Corgis come in the colors of: Fawn, Red, Sable, and Black & Tan. Every color includes white as a marking on feet, underbody, full or partial collar, and full or partial stripe on the face. Every Pembroke Welsh Corgi should have brown eyes. Blue eyes is an indicator that the dog is not a purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgi, or has another issue causing the problem. If you see something called a Corgi with any other color like blue-merle, brindle, white, or spotted it's either a Cardigan Welsh Corgi or a mix-breed. You also want to avoid the D-Locus, which is a mutation that bleaches the hair color, eye color, and skin of dogs. The mutation can cause skin irritation, skin allergies, and hair loss as a dog becomes older. Bad breeders call such dogs Blue or Blueies. Any saddle tan aka tri-colored corgi must include all three colors of black, red, and white. To learn more see our page Corgi Colors.
Health Tests
Pembroke Welsh Corgi's have several health issues that can occur, but good breeders can avoid them by health testing before they breed a dog. See our page Corgi Health for details about these tests. These tests are not performed by Veterinarians. Instead the tests are cheek swabs done at home by dog breeders, then mailed to a laboratory. Scammers often have several dogs with bad results, but use one good dog to fake good results for every dog they own. Often a dog breeder will purchase from a scammer, get paperwork of good health results from the scammer, but never test the puppy themselves before they breed it and sell their own puppies to other breeders and pet homes. That results in several generations of dogs that are thought to have good health results, but don't. Any health test shown to you should show the name of the breeder you are purchasing from, so that you are less likely to be scammed. I estimate around 50% of Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeders do not have the health results they think or claim to have.
Corgi Weight 25 to 30 lbs
When picking a Pembroke Welsh Corgi make sure both parents are around 25-30 lbs without appearing fat. The breed standard for Pembroke Welsh Corgis states: "Weight is in proportion to size, not exceeding 30 pounds for males and 28 pounds for females. In show condition, the preferred medium sized male of correct bone and substance will weigh approximately 27 pounds, with females approximately 25 pounds. Obvious oversized specimens and diminutive toylike individuals must be very severely penalized." As you can see the ideal weight for a male is 27-30 lbs, and the ideal weight for females is 25-28 lbs. The largest oversized male Pembroke Welsh Corgis tend to be around 33 lbs without appearing fat. The smallest toylike female Pembroke Welsh Corgis should be at least 22 lbs. A breeder should never breed any adult male less than 25 lbs or any adult female less than 22 lbs, because they are far below breed standards.
Personality
The personality of a Pembroke Welsh Corgi is largely inherited. If you have a hyper or barky parent, you'll end up with hyper or barky puppies. If you have a father dog that likes to hop to show their playful personality, you'll end up with a 2 month old puppy doing the same thing even when it's never been around the father that does it. New breeders will often purchase two new dogs, and sell puppies from them the next year without any regard to personalities. Personalities can be trained, but inherited traits are always a factor. On social media you'll often see people talking about how they bought a Corgi from a breeder, and they can't control the dog so they have to adopt it out. Often that ends up being a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, a mix-breed, or a purchase from a Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeder that's only been around the breed for 1-10 years and only has 1 male fathering all of their overly hyper puppies.
Vaccinations & Deworming
Often you'll see a breeder say fully vaccinated and dewormed on their 6-8 week old puppies. Such a claim is never true, because puppy vaccinations only start at 6 weeks old. All puppies need at least 3 vaccinations, and each vaccination should be 3-4 weeks apart. Booster shots should be given every 1-3 years. Dewormings should be done at 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 weeks old, then monthly. Many breeders do not follow these schedules, and don't tell their customers about them either. Bad breeders like that is why northern Michigan had a Parvo outbreak during July 2022 that made national news. Then in December 2022 north east Texas had their own Parvo outbreak.
Mix-Breeds
A lot of people think they have purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgis, but they don't. Sometimes they'll have a Cardigan Welsh Corgi instead with a docked tail. Sometimes they'll have a Pembroke Welsh Corgi mixed with a Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Plus there's an endless amount of mix-breeds created from using Pembroke Welsh Corgis with anything from a Chihuahua to a St Bernard. Often those scammers will say it's Pembroke Welsh Corgi or simply a Corgi. They'll often create fake breed names like: American Corgi, Cowboy Corgi, Borgi, Chorgi, Dorgi, Porgi, Lorgi, and more.
Avoid Puppy Mills
The best dog breeders specialize in one breed of dog and are usually experts on that one breed. Puppy mills usually produce two or more dog breeds. Puppy mills often focus on small dogs like: Corgis, Shelties, Yorkies, French Bulldogs, Chihuahuas, Pugs, Papillions, Pekingense, Pomeranians, Poodles, Dachshunds, various Terriers, and mix-breeds. The Puppy Mills Project estimates there are at least 10,000 puppy mills in the United States, and some are USDA Licensed. Majority of puppy mills are located in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania. A majority of puppy mills will ship puppies to customers they never meet, so always beware of dog breeders who offer shipping.
The Animal Welfare Act & USDA Licenses
The Animal Welfare Act requires any person with more than 4 female animals of any kind to have a USDA License before they ship even one animal. That rule is broken daily by unethical dog breeders. The Animal Welfare Act also requires every shipper to be USDA Licensed. That rule is also broken daily when unethical dog breeders hire unlicensed people to deliver puppies for them. As you can see, you want to avoid dog breeders who ship without a license or even ship at all. However, there are situations where you want to avoid dog breeders with USDA Licenses. A USDA license is required to sell to pet stores or animal laboratories, and you want to avoid dog breeders that do either of those things.
CKC Registered
The AKC and CKC both recognize Pembroke Welsh Corgis and Cardigan Welsh Corgis as the only two dog breeds with the word Corgi in their name. However, scammers will say they have purebred CKC Pembroke Welsh Corgis, CKC Cardigan Welsh Corgis, CKC American Corgis, CKC Cowboy Corgis, CKC Corgis, etc. That's because the CKC has two types of registration types: Purebred & Non-Purebred. The CKC will register any dog alive under their non-purebred status, and allow people to create any type of mix-breed they want with CKC papers.
No Registration Papers
We've all seen dog breeders say a puppy is a purebred, but without registration papers. They'll explain the puppy is a purebred, because the grandparents were AKC registered. At that point you know the person is an unethical breeder. When an AKC breeder sells their purebred puppies they can sell them with AKC Full Rights to breed for a higher amount, or with AKC Limited Rights as a pet for a lower amount. When an AKC breeder sells a puppy with AKC Limited Rights is almost always includes a puppy contract that states the buyer must spay/neuter, and never breed the dog. Unethical breeders will buy a purebred dog as a pet, break those contracts, then breed puppies and sell thems without papers. A lot of the time the unethical breeders will sell their unregistered puppies for as much or more than the AKC breeder would.
Social Media Bans Pet Sales
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms ban pet sales. On Facebook a business with a brick & mortar location or website is allowed to have a business page. However, that business or website must still direct any possible customer to that business location or website. That rule is broken daily by thousands of dog breeders and puppy mills, who don't own a business or website. Instead they only use instant messaging on social media to conduct the banned sales. Nothing says cheap and unethical like a dog breeder who doesn't invest in a website, and breaks social media rules to do their selling. In that situation you can guarantee that breed standards, state laws, and federal laws are also not followed.
Cost for Pembroke Welsh Corgis
The cost for a Pembroke Welsh Corgi can vary. If it's AKC Registered, from parents that have received 6 health tests, proper size, proper colors, proper personality, and being sold with AKC Full rights for breeding the cost is usually $3000 to $3500 in every state. If that same Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy is being sold with AKC Limited Rights as a pet the price is usually around $1500. If the puppy isn't proper by health testing, color, size, personality, vaccinations, deworming, mix-bred, or being sold by a puppy mill with too many puppies the price can be as low as $800. You will see breeders asking $1500 or more for dogs that only have 3 health tests, and aren't proper in some way. Plus anything below $1200 is often less health testing, from 15-21 lb adults that are far below breed standards, or are mix-breeds without AKC Papers. You never want to over pay, and anything that isn't proper should always come at a reduced price. Always evaluate every factor before paying the price that a dog breeder is asking.
Bad Purchases Happen
I've been around Pembroke Welsh Corgis since 1977, and even I made bad purchases when buying from other Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeders. In 2021 I purchased a puppy from a breeder with the last name Peterson in north east Texas. A DNA test revealed that Peterson's AKC Pembroke Welsh Corgi was actually 8% American Eskimo. I purchased a Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy in Fredericktown Missouri, because it's father was an AKC Champion. On the way home I realized the puppy had the worst personality I'd ever seen, and later one health result was not what the breeder claimed it would be. I purchased an AKC Pembroke Welsh Corgi from another breeder in Arkansas, whose parents were both claimed to be between 25-28 lb adults and appeared to be that in photos. The Pembroke Welsh Corgi never grew up to be over 19 lbs. I purchased a puppy from a breeder named Long in north east Texas, who had paperwork showing her puppy tested as DM Clear. After I got the puppy two health test's revealed that Long's puppy was actually a DM Carrier. I had the same experience with a breeder located near Lynchburg and Plato Missouri, who claimed her puppy was DM Clear by parentage. Later testing also revealed that she sold a DM Carrier that was claimed to be DM Clear.
Red Flags
When shopping for a Pembroke Welsh Corgi keep all of the above information in mind. If a dog breeder has one of the issues above consider it a red flag, and that their puppy may have more than one issue.
Our Program
Our AKC Pembroke Welsh Corgis are true purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgis and properly health tested. If we purchase a puppy, we do a DNA test to verify it's 100% Pembroke Welsh Corgi before we breed it. If we purchase a puppy, we do the health tests to verify the results are accurate before we breed. We have always met every customer in person, and we never sell to pet stores or laboratories. We follow breed standards for proper colors, and never breed a parent that doesn't reach proper size by adulthood. We properly vaccinate and deworm our adults and puppies. We provide our customers with a health schedule to continue the proper care of their Pembroke Welsh Corgis. With over 45 years with Pembroke Welsh Corgis I'm very familiar with what their personalities should be and what to avoid before breeding. Over the decades customers from as far away as California, New York, Florida, Virginia, Minnesota, and other states have traveled to Arkansas to get their AKC Pembroke Welsh Corgis from us. Plus many of our satisfied customers have 2 to 4 Pembroke Welsh Corgis bred by us.
