The Arrival!!

Shelby gave birth to six wonderful puppies last week and today I got the call from Sally to pick one out!! Picked a beautiful tri colored female and could not be happier. I'll post pictures as soon as I can. I'm soooo excited!!

Book Look: Welsh Corgis Pembroke and Cardigan

While at home in Hawaii for the holidays, I picked this book up for a little bit of beachside education:

I found it thoroughly enjoyable and informative. I enjoyed the history of the breeds much more than I had anticipated (strange seeing as I hold a degree in history). It also has good sections on breed standards for both the Pembroke and Cardigan. I learned a great deal about the differences and similarities between to two. I found the question about which breed being the "true" breed a bit like the question of which came first: the chicken or the egg?

For a first timer like me (I mean I've had dogs all my life but most of the grunt work was done by my grandparents, sorry!), the information about what to expect from your Corgi, the subtle differences between males and females, and tips on how to get your life and your house ready for owning a dog were extremely helpful and encouraging.

I'm glad that I picked this up and would recommend it to anyone wanting an introduction to the breed and deciding if a Corgi is right for you.

Good news!

The breeder sent me an email this weekend with the good word: She will be having a litter at the end of February! Well, not her exactly, but her corgi of course. That is such exciting news. It still means that after they're born it'll be a wait to take him/her home,  by my calculations that's about the end of April or early May. I think that's the perfect timing. Enough time to have some more winter fun and time to get my place looking more like someone actually lives there. Yeah, been in the place for a couple months now, but I've just been procrastinating. I have all these grand plans and then I come home from work and just lay on the couch. Now with this news it's time to start moving and getting off the couch!

Hawaii Puppy Mill Goes Down

I hate that this horrifying story has come from my home state. I've only recently learned about the horrors of puppy mills and I can't look at pet store owners the same anymore. Please don't support puppy mills, get your dogs from breeders, the people who have the best interest of their dogs at heart.


Hawaii's largest puppy mill defendants plead no contest to 153 cruelty charges

Responses!

The responses have started coming in :) At first I was a little worried. The only news I got was that a couple breeders were not going to have litters until late next year or 2013. That was such a long time! Patience prevailed and soon there were some responses from people that have puppies now (unfortunately that's too soon) and a few who will have puppies in the spring (perfect timing).

Now, just trying to explore all the options and find the best match with the breeder. Does anyone have any tips? What should we be looking for? What questions should we be asking the breeder? I want to be able to make an informed decision, not a haste one because I want a puppy.

A couple have offered to let meet the prospective parents of the puppies, which I think is a good idea, right?

I'm so excited but nervous as well.

The Search Begins

The time has finally come to bring a new member into the family. I finally researching and have decided that a Corgi would be a welcome member to the household. I've always been a pet owner. Mostly rescues and a wondrous Border Collie named Kingsey. Once life got hectic that had to end and Kingsey remained with my grandparents until he passed away this year. Now that I've settled in, it's time. I've always had a thing for Corgi's. There was one in the pen next to Kingsey's when my sis and I picked him up over a decade ago and I've always remembered those adorable short little legs of theirs. Being rather vertically challenged myself, I've felt a sort of connection with them.

When I started researching how to adopt a puppy, I was astounded at how little I knew. I had always had dogs and felt that I had a pretty good understanding of what it took to be an owner. How wrong I was! I had always been a fan of stopping by the local pet stores and watching the puppies in the window. I had no idea about puppy mills or the dangers of adopting a puppy from a store, both for the owner and the dog. My heart sinks a little everytime I see a pet store now.

Once I started searching and inquiring about breeders, I knew this was going to be no meager task. Being the obsessive organizer I am, I quickly created an excel file of potential breeders, their locations, whether I had made contact and if they had replied. It was more daunting than I imagined. A couple hours later I was done and now I've started getting responses. Hopefully, someone will come along soon who is up to standard and will have puppies in the relative timeframe of a spring pickup.

Wish me luck!