Why a blog and, more importantly, why Cardigan Corgis?

Why write a blog about Cardigan Corgis?  Of course they're adorable--we have people stop their cars next to us and hold up traffic on a regular basis to exclaim how cute they are.  There also aren't that many of them where we are in Western Pennsylvania.  And when a new Cardi comes on the scene, there is always instant fellowship. 

But they are also the most exasperating breed to deal with on a daily basis.

The short answer is that NONE OF THE RULES WORK with Corgis.  We have a bag full of every training technique, harness, and leash every made (short of the shock collars or spike collars, which we will never use).  None of them work.  We now roll our eyes when offered advice on how to train.

For instance, at the puppy training we went to with Gryffyn, our one-year old female Cardi: our instructor tells the group how they would NEVER have any trouble walking their dogs if they used a Gentle Leader.  She walks five, seven, TEN dogs at a time and NONE of them pull!

We look at one another, roll our eyes, and whisper "unless you have cardigans."

So how do we know that we just aren't terrible with dogs?  Betty the Australian Cattle dog--our third dog is a dream on the walk--never pulls.  Very well-behaved--a total success story.

We have come up with some alternative ways of training our Cardigans that we think might be valuable to share with other Cardi owners.  They always involve positive reinforcement and compassionate treatment.  They may not be the standard way to do things--but we have found that they are The Corgi Way.