Saturday Smiler: Cecil!

Masha S., you are one lucky dog!

Saturday Smiler: Jozi!

Lots more photos of this dolly girl (and her feline housemates) at Jozi and the Pussycats!

The Daily Corgi will be on break Memorial Day; posts will return on Tuesday, May 29th.  

Everybody enjoy and Corgi On!

Wahlberg Gist-Jones (aka Barky-Bark, Berger, Wally)

Wahlberg was so excited when he heard he'd be Dog of the Day on The Daily Corgi, he just had to tell his own story.  In his own words.  So take it away, little buddy!

"Hello, Corgi Nation! I am one year and two months old. I was born on February 23, 2011 in South Hill, Virginia. My parents Eric and Alicia met me when I was six weeks old but I was too little yet to go home with them to Richmond. I fell instantly in love."

"They tell me I cried the entire way home. Well, I've always been a noisy little guy (and still am)!"

"My Mom says I am very stubborn and only listen to her when I want to. She is a smart lady, because it's true -- I like to be in charge. Admittedly, I listen best when my parents reward me with treats. I completed puppy school and the advanced courses too. The only fancy trick I can do is being super cute -- and it makes my family very proud."

"My favorite things include all paper products and cardboard. I love to find boxes my parents leave by the trashcan like the empty Diet Coke box. I take it when they aren't looking and run into the living room, where I quickly shred the box into millions of small pieces. I think the house looks better when paper and cardboard pieces are shredded on the floor, don’t you?"

"I enjoy cleaning the dishes, after my folks finish their meals. I help them by licking the plate until any traces of crumbs are gone. I know I’m a good helper because it cuts down on having to re-wash the dishes."

"I adore lint rollers. My parents have so many of them around the house. They don’t seem to like my hair on their clothes, I’m not sure why. Whenever I find one I hide it. When people use them I make it very difficult for them because I try to take it from them!"

"My favorite place in the world is probably Barker Field, the dog park near my house. We don’t have a big backyard, so everyday after work we go to the dog park to play with my friends. When Daddy drives us to the park, I have to sit in his lap with my head out of the window to make sure he is going in the right direction. At the park, they know me as a "little police officer" because I like to break up all the arguments and need to know what everyone is doing at all times. I love to run as fast as I can and everyone watches me because I look so silly and cute. They are surprised at how fast I can sprint and love how my ears flop up and down while I run."

"My best friends are much bigger than me. One time it was very muddy and my Mommy told me not to play in the puddles. Of course I didn't listen, which is how I learned I just LOVE being dirty and jumping in mud. It was the best day ever!  The puddle was so big and I got really filthy, but we all laughed. Lots of my friends played in the “puddle” too. What a wild day it was!"

"I have absolutely zero tolerance for vacuum cleaners, Swiffer mops, and skateboarders. I will do anything to protect my humans from these invaders and use my loudest bark to fend them off. One day, if I bark loud enough I might scare the vacuum cleaner so bad that it won’t ever come back out of that scary closet."

"I'm a pretty active guy -- lots of playing, jumping, eating, barking, and being cute. When I do sleep, I love to sleep on my back in really silly and confusing positions. My Daddy even made a tumblr blog about me called Upside-down corgi naptime, because I am super-duper adorable when I sleep. Sometimes my belly just gets hot and I need to flip over."

(Editor's note:  You HAVE to check out the blog.  Seriously).

 (You other Corgis know how it is, right?)

"One of my favorite games is hiding my toys under the TV, the couch, chairs, or any impossible to reach spot. Then I stare really, really, really hard at the toy I want back, whimper softly and paw at it. I stare back at my Mom and Dad and give them my sad face and cry then I collapse and whimper some more. Then the game gets better when Mom and Daddy run over to get the toy and throw it again. Then I do it all over again! I also love taking my toys onto the bed and giving my parents a silly glare. From there, I take the toy in my mouth and fling it across the room. We all laugh, then they fetch it. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing fetch with my tennis balls, but it’s even more fun when my parents fetch too!"

"My favorite people in the world are my Mommy, my Daddy, and my Aunt Marie. Aunt Marie is the only human that gets all my kisses. I give Mom and Dad some kisses, but when I see Marie, I run to the door and cry and cry then roll over and kiss her like crazy. She is the best Aunt in the world."

"They take loads of photos of me, so here are some extra snapshots ... you know you want 'em!" 

 

June 9th Corgi Jubilee Picnic in St. Louis -- and COOL Corgi T's!

The fine folks at Faery Tales Corgi Rescue of Saint Louis, Missouri are throwin' a great big Jubilee Corgi Picnic Party, and you're invited!  Click here for all the details.

As part of the fun and fundraising, they're selling truly paw-some limited edition royal blue T-shirts, emblazoned with designs custom created for the Jubilee event.  

Front of shirt

Back of shirt

(names of event sponsors included)

The T-shirts are $20 each and available in a variety of sizes, from small to XXXL.  This Sunday, May 27th is the deadline for placing your order:  e-mail ftcorgirescue@yahoo.com today to ask about getting YOURS!

The shirts can be mailed to you or you can pick them up in person at the sure-to-be-wooftastic Jubilee Picnic on June 9th in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Great job as always, Faery Tales ... getting it done for Corgis in need!  You're aces!

Benny The Wonder Dog of New Hampshire

Every now and then, because of the blog I'm fortunate enough to be able to share an extra special story of a rescue dog and the family who loves him, no matter what.  This is one of those stories.

When Peter and Lorraine V. met Benny ten years ago, it was love at first sight.  Although he was just a little over two years old at the time, not much was known about his first few years and it didn't appear he'd had much attention.

"We had always been “cat people" says Lorraine, "but several years ago, perhaps because we were empty nesters, we began thinking about getting a dog. Our cousins from Ohio have had Corgis and on a visit with us here in New Hampshire we got to talking about dogs in general and Corgis in particular. They returned to Ohio and picked up their Corgi from the kennel, which was run by a woman who also runs a Corgi rescue. They met Benny, took pictures and emailed them to us."

"People ask why we went all the way from New Hampshire to Ohio to get a dog. We had been planning a trip to visit our daughter and her family in Michigan, so it wasn’t that far out of the way. Benny loved the ride home. On a stop at a dog walk area on the thru-way he made it clear to other dogs that we were his people by peeing on Peter’s shoe. We were learning the ways of dogs."

"When we arrived here he wouldn’t let us out of his sight. As soon as I went from one room to the next he would follow.  Peter runs a part-time business from our home restoring antique motorcycles and race cars, but the noise of the engines and workshop machinery didn’t bother Benny a bit. He's grown to love being wherever Peter is, and especially enjoys it when people come to visit. He only barks when he’s not getting as much attention as he thinks he deserves. No one comes into the shop without rubbin' the dog!"

"It soon became apparent that he really didn’t know how to play. A bouncing tennis ball at first confused him. We finally discovered that he liked to chase a basketball. Actually, “like” is not the word ... it's his passion. We would throw the ball and he would herd it back to us until we were all exhausted. The game became known as “Benny-ball”. “Ball”, “ride” and “treat” became his three favorite words."
  

"Life was pretty good for all three of us until one day in the Summer of 2006. As I was getting ready for work, my heart sank as we heard Benny fall down the stairs ... the same stairs he had run up and down hundreds of times. We took him to our vet that morning and he sent us to a Veterinary Ophthalmologist. He was a kind and experienced man who told us that Benny had progressive retinal atrophy (PRA). There was little that could be done. We were devastated. It was so sad to see Benny rub his eyes in confusion."

"However, he was healthy otherwise and in no time he seemed to adapt. We became his “seeing eye people”. He has found his way around the house and the “bumps” along the way don’t seem to bother him. He still loves to go for rides and he has even learned to play “Benny-ball” again. We use a long leash and he can find the ball by sound and smell and return it to us almost as well as before."

"We live in a small town and almost everyone knows Benny, the rescue dog who woofed his way into our hearts a decade ago.  He's twelve now, slowing down a bit and spends time in own house with a small fence around it in Pete's workshop.  We know someday he'll be gone from us, and even though there is no replacing him, we will never be without a Corgi in our lives."

"Benny The Wonder Dog has enriched our lives far more than we could have ever imagined!"

Wednesday Adoptables: Update on Rooster!

Two months ago, Corgi/Heeler cross Rooster appeared in the Wednesday Adoptables spotlight.  

Good news!  This Nebraska boy got himself a new home in Denver, Colorado where he is busy climbing mountains with Corgi panache!

It was Corgi Connection of Kansas that rescued and placed this boisterous guy.  They do an amazing job with the dogs and have a whole page of updates filled with success stories ... do yourself a favor and check it out!  

Rescues ROCK!

Blue Ribbon Blogger: Darby and Pumpkin Daily!

Last Fall, The Daily Corgi initiated a "Blue Ribbon Blogger" series with a post about Elizabeth K. and her downright howl-arious blog "Chronicles of Cardigan" (a finalist in the humor category for the 2012 Nose to Nose Awards!).  

The Blue Ribbon series returns today, with the spotlight on Melissa Janssen, who blogs at Darby & Pumpkin Daily.

Melissa, when and why did you start blogging about your dogs at Darby's and Pumpkin Daily?

In the Spring of 2009, Coedwig’s Mountain Laurel “Darby” came to live with me. The blog gave me a way to record the fun (and worry and struggles) I was having with raising a puppy -- sort of like a journal or the baby book a Mom keeps for her human child.  I challenged myself to post something everyday for one year.  By the time that first year came to an end, I was having way too much fun to stop.

Do you blog for the same reasons today?

Yes and no.  I still use the blog as a way to capture what’s going on in Darby’s life – and now the life of Coedwig’s American Pie “Pumpkin” as well. But now, the blog has become a real creative outlet for me, an outlet I didn’t know I needed and one I would miss tremendously if it went away.  It gives me reasons to use my wonderful digital SLR camera, it challenges me to research topics about which to write, and it allows me to try to make people laugh (and sometimes succeed!)  

How much work is the blog?

By the time I started the blog, I had been reading blogs for quite a while.  I noticed people lamenting about how blogging was taking over their lives; in a way, they were spending more time writing about living than they were actually living!  I understood how that could easily happen to a middle-aged woman with no children at home and plenty of time on her hands, so I pledged to myself to never spend longer than 15 minutes on a post.  I stuck with 15 minutes for a long time, and usually that is still all the time I devote to posts.  Every now and then, however, I catch myself spending as much as an hour getting things to be what I consider just right. 

What do you like best about blogging in general and your blog in particular?

I love how blogging has shrunk the world for me.  While sitting at my desk I can read about life in a small, Italian hill town at Fuoriborgo; the antics of  two Scotties and a mutt who live in Australia at Downunder Daisy, and see the daily paintings of a stay-at-home artist mom who lives in the Midwest at Heidi Malott Original Paintings.   And that’s just the start!

Because of blogging, at an agility trial in Virginia, I met Taryn T. and the two Cardigans she writes about at A Tail of Two Cardis.  I’m keeping up with Darby’s brother Buddy at his Mom Becky J.'s blog  It’s Me Buddy.  Because of Darby and Pumpkin Daily and It’s Me Buddy,  Leda Thompson -- one half of the Coedwig Cardigan team -- gets to keep up with some of the “babies” she has sent out into the world.   

How cool is all of that?

As far as my own blog is concerned, what I like the best is the way I’m able to easily and creatively record the lives of these two dog-girls of mine. For that reason, I would continue to blog even if no one else ever read another post.  But, I do have to admit it’s awfully fun to read the comments readers are sometimes inspired to write! 

What do you like least about blogging?

I hate when I have no blog fodder!  While I still challenge myself to write daily, I no longer feel badly if I don’t manage to heft a post up onto the screen every day.  And now I have help from my daughter Erika, who first introduced me to Cardigan Welsh Corgis and who has recently started guest blogging about her two  Cardigans – Bonnie and Coedwig’s Baileys on the Rocks “Bailey,” who just happens to be my Pumpkin’s brother.

Where do you see your blog in a year?

I don’t see any big changes.  I hope to just keep plugging along, showing off these dog-girls of mine to a small but faithful following.  I now use the on-line book-making utility Blurb to turn my blog postings into actual hard copy books that I'll have as a record of my blogging  years! 
  

I would continue to blog even if no one else ever read another post. But I do have to admit it’s awfully fun to read the comments readers are sometimes inspired to write!

Thanks for sharing your work with us, Melissa!  Darby was a Dog of the Day on The Daily Corgi nearly three years ago. Keep an eye out for Pumpkin's post, coming up in early June!