The Welsh Corgi, a Gift from the Fairies
By Erik Faarup

This headline invites you to follow me back in time; so far back that events were stories passed from mouth to mouth through many centuries.

We do not know for certain when, but the story says that two young children were herding their parent's animals when suddenly they came across two young puppets that they believed to be fox cubs. They proudly showed the two youngsters to their parents when they got home. The parents immediately realised that they were not foxes but dogs and that they must be a gift from the fairies, because they knew that the fairies used these small dogs for pulling their small carts. Even today some corgies have a bright stripe behind each foreleg when shedding their hair. Tradition says that these marks are attrition marks from the harness that they were wearing when pulling the fairies small carts.

The puppets soon proved not only to be sweet and fun, but also good helpers in the field when looking after the animals and when the men of the house went hunting. Besides that they were very watchful on the farm and perfect playmates for the children.

We do not know for certain the age of the Welsh Corgi. As soon as 1200 BC the Celts had dogs with long backs and short legs when they migrated from Central Europe to Wales. The Corgi may be even older. An investigator claims that the Corgi was known 4500 years ago as dog of the Neolithics. The Neolithics were farmers and lived in Wales.

We know for certain that the Welsh Corgi Cardigan and the dachshund can be traced back to Central Europe as dogs of the Celts.

The Nordic Vikings invaded the coast of Wales in the beginning of the 9th century AD. Besides Vikings the boats also carried their small dogs, presumably those known today as Westgötaspitzs.

A few centuries Wales again got visitors. This time it was the Flemish who carried with them their small dogs Schipperke. The Flemish dogs were presumably cross breeded with the dogs in Pembrokeshire whereas the dogs in the northern Cardiganshire weren't. This may be the time when they started developing into two breeds. One of them a little lighter and short bodied, the Pembroke, and the other one a somewhat heavier and longer, the Cardigan. The colour of the Pembroke is often red/sable, but you also see tricolour and red with a black saddle. On the contrary the Cardigan offers a variety of colours. Presumably brindled Sheep Dog, Welsh Collie and Scots Collie have been breeded with the Cardigan and this should be the reason for the gene for brindled and blue merle.

There is no doubt about the fact that the corgi has always been appreciated by its human beings. This shows the body of laws that Howell the Good, king of South Wales, decided on in 920 AD. It says that the penalty for theft or killing of a sheep dog is the same as the price for a young bull.

The Welsh Corgi has always been a utility dog. In the 18th century breeding was systematised. The ability of being a sheep dog was particularly stressed. In 1892 the first official Corgi exhibition took place. It was held in Carmarthen in connection with an agricultural fair. After that the exhibition became an annual returning event. Not until 1925 was the Welsh Corgi acknowledged as one race and this only by the English Kennel Club. The same year the Corgi Club was founded. In 1926 the Cardigan breeders broke away and created the Cardigan Corgi Club.

The Corgi was first exhibited at the big annual Cruft exhibition in 1927. The classes of dogs were quite extreme in type, some long and others with small short and thin legs. Not until 1934 did the English Kennel Club recognise Cardigans and Pembrokes as two different breeds and a standard was elaborated for each breed. Thus from 1925 to 1934 you could mate a Cardigan and a Pembroke and get a pedigree of the puppies. This means that today's Cardigans and Pembrokes may have ancestors of the opposite breed.
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