Corgi Drive By

Those of us with corgis in the city are very familiar with a particular type of incident--the corgi drive by.  Most of the time it's cars slowing WAY down and looking at the corgis, pointing, smiling, and then speeding by.  When Rhys was little it was like walking a rock star--and, quite honestly, although he has grown into a VERY handsome dog, he was not the cutest puppy.  He had a skinny rat tail and no curls anywhere.  But still cars would slow, point, smile, and sometimes yell 'I love your dog!' out the window.

Walking Gryffyn puts a new twist on the corgi drive by.  The cars slow down, people smile, and then they see the muzzle.  Usually this results in a dramatic facial shift, either into laughing or into mild fear.  I think it's the dissonance between Gryffyn's extreme cuteness and the tiny 'face prison' as we call it.  It's a barbie dream muzzle, but a sign of potential danger still.

What amazes me is when it doesn't even phase people.  They come running up, wanting to pet her, talking about how cute she is--all the while she's attempting to leap at them, teeth bared, snarling.  Now Gryffyn is a very sweet girl...in the house.  But OUTSIDE she is very fearful of everything.  In some people's minds, though, the cuteness seems to cancel out all possible danger.

So my godson and I were walking the three dogs and we had a new spin--a woman stopped her car about 20 feet ahead of us, opened her door, and started talking to us.  She has a corgi, she said, that she adopted and that the dog has always nipped and bossed an herded to an extent that sometimes ends up with someone bit a little too hard.  She saw Gryffyn's muzzle and thought, maybe, we had an answer--a magic bullet to the issue.  I could only nod at her story, reinforce how great it was that she kept the dog and keeps working with him, and, then, when she asked for my help directly I said "you are not alone, that's all I can tell you." 

We have had some significant successes with Gryffyn this past year.  Her stomach is much better since we have put her on the prescription diet, she hasn't had a seizure since we got the right level of her medicine, and she is safe outside with the muzzle on.  Although this may seem like a lot to deal with, when I look at her, with her big brown eyes and her big ears, and she leans into me and licks my hand, I can't imagine a better dog in the whole world.