They’re not as well known as their Pembroke cousins that are so beloved by The Queen, but Cardigan Welsh corgis are small dogs with a big attitude, finds Matthew Dennison
VISITORS to the epilepsy ward of one British hospital may find themselves in for a surprise. Among regular attendees at the clinic is a Cardigan Welsh corgi called Bella. As an assistance dog, she combines the roles of faithful companion and earlywarning device for her epileptic owner. Indeed, so acute is Bella’s sensitivity to her handler’s health that she’s able to give her a 30-minute warning of a seizure.
To Bella’s breeder, Brenda Piears, the dog’s prowess is easily explained. ‘Cardigans have an ability to empathise,’ she divulges. ‘They’re quick learners and very intelligent.’
They are also, as anyone who has ever seen one will vouch, handsome little dogs, sturdily four square on their short legs, with a long back and a tail like a fox’s brush, usually tipped with white. Their double coat shows a variety of colourings, from the ​red more often associated with their cousins, Pembroke corgis—until last year, the favourite pet of The Queen—to sable, brindle and blue merle, the colour that Mrs Piears chiefly breeds and shows.
Cardigans’ coats are liberally marked with white, including a distinctive white blaze on the head and often on the neck, chest and legs.
However, the striking good looks, intelligence and small size that make them ideally suited to being a modern pet have done little to popularise this native breed, one of the oldest in the British Isles. Although the Cardigan Welsh corgi enjoys a healthy following overseas, especially in the USA, at home, it’s among our rarest breeds.
Last year, only 147 Cardigan Welsh corgi puppies were registered with the Kennel Club. That this represents a marked improvement on figures a decade ago, when fewer than 50 puppies were registered in one year, doesn’t diminish the challenge facing the breed in safeguarding its numbers and its homegrown breeding stock.
この記事は Country Life UK の August 21, 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Country Life UK の August 21, 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
