Saturday, April 09, 2011

A Working Corgi?


This is the picture you get when you google a picture for "working Corgi."

An adorable picture, but a picture that makes the point.  As I said to a friend, who sent me to a UK Dog World link about someone claiming he is going to "recreate the working Corgi":

I think we have more videos of the Loch Ness Monster than we do of Corgis herding cows for a living. Lots and lots of cattle in this world, and lots and lots of mountains, and lots and lots of dogs moving cattle on mountains, but no true working-for-a-living Corgis anywhere!

This is a failed breed.

If people who actually move and herd cattle for a living are not going to use Corgis -- and never have, and never will -- who will be using these dogs, and for what artificial purpose?

I am all for cross breeds, and I am even OK with invented work, but one of the things that is always occurring is people taking a Kennel Club dog that has never worked, and has no work to do now, and claiming they are going to "restore it" to work that it never did, and cannot do now.

This is the Neo story all over again.

Can't one be happy with cross bred dogs bred for function and not for fiction?

Drover and herding dogs have existed all over the world since the beginning of time. There is no one breed, shape, size, or even temperament to do the job.

But a dwarf dog with a heavy body and very short legs keeping up with hill cattle over distance, on rough ground? Think that one through!

Can a small dog walk behind milk cows going to the milking shed?  Sure -- but so can a cat! Milk cows go to the milking shed on their own if you simply open the gate for them. They know what time it is and that their bags need evacuation -- these are creatures of habit.  

But let's put a few numbers on it, shall we?  Wales alone has over 2,000 milk producers (it had twice as many 20 years ago).  Have any of these milk producers ever used a Corgi as necessary equipment? Nope. Most of these dairies have at least one cat around, as a cat will at least knock down mice. Some have a dog or two to move stock off distant hills. But a Corgi? Not much need for that breed unless you have a hankering for a pet and have a dislike of collies, terriers, pointer, lurchers, and spaniels!

Of course the Corgi people want their dog to be a working breed! If you look around, you can find pictures of Corgi's herding chasing worrying sheep and goats in pens. But working cattle on open range? Nope. No pictures there. In fact, there are more pictures of Corgis herding zombies than there are of the them herding cattle!
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6 comments:

Ann said...

The herding breeds are generally good at agility. But I considered a Corgi - very briefly after I looked at it's confirmation and decided it was unlikely to stay sound. I can't believe the Corgi looked the way it does now when it allegedly worked, I guess it probably looked rather like a Welsh Collie - remarkably similar to the still fit for function Border Collie which the KC haven't had their hands on long enough to ruin yet. So I got another rescue collie.

Ann said...

The herding dogs are generally good at agility. I briefly considered a Corgi when looking for an agility dog, very briefly once I looked at it's confirmation and decided it was unlikely to stay sound.
I cannot believe they looked like this when they worked, I suspect they looked more like a Welsh Collie - remarkably similar to a Border Collie. A breed which hasn't been in the KC's clutches long enough to be ruined yet, though sadly it is going that way.
So I got another rescue collie, not a pretty head, curly tail, but the bit in the middle is put together brilliantly!

M said...

Droving is a pretty near extinct piece of work since the invent of the cattle transport car and modern squeeze chute systems. The only place I know of a few droving dogs being used to force beef cattle into cattle cars. These dogs weren't corgis but rather some kind of cattle dog curs. It certainly isn't the long drives of yesteryear through cities.

The only work related herding I've heard spoken in any seriousness with a corgi was geese on a foie gras producer's farm.

Also, as a note since I live in dairy country. No dairy farmer uses dogs on their herd. Stress leads to milk production loss, so most opt to shake a can of grain rather than use any kind of force to get the herd in the milking chute. I know a few ultra modern facilities that don't even allow their cows to see humans during milk production let alone dogs.

Anonymous said...

There are working corgis. Just ask around Edmonton, AB in Canada. However they are far and few, not because of their abilities, but the simple economics: why would you get a a dog with a price tag of $1,500 when one can simply ask for a free border collie from a neighbour?

PBurns said...

A slightly amusing cattle drive in Alberta (without corgis, of course).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1ejQV3Oqy4

Not really Corgi country. Of course, no cow country really is. Look at the ground clearance on a corgi as compared to a horse, a cow, a jeep, a border collie, or an Australian cattle dog. A dwarf dog is not made for moving cattle!

A corgi would, on the other hand, be fine as a yard dog to keep in the geese and keep out the fox (same work as a sheltie), but that's a far cry from driving cows.

P

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