Corgis can be wonderful family dogs -- for the right family.  They are smart, bossy, pushy little dogs with great intelligence and an even sense of humor.  They learn quickly, for better or for worse.  They are affectionate, but slightly independent, a bit like cats, with some individuals cuddlier than others.  They set themselves jobs around the house and property which they take very seriously, and do best when they   are obedience-trained, respect their humans, and have something to do. They love everyone they meet -- and then surprise you by being watch dogs when you need them to be!  Despite their size, they need ample exercise, but are active, not hyper.  The best ones have an on-off switch which carries them from snoozing on the sofa to eager participation in whatever the family is doing at the snap of a finger.

  Corgis are easy to train if you are an effective and consistent trainer who follows through on every command every time.  However, that is not to say that they won't think of their own way of doing things!  You have to be at least as smart as your Corgi.  A sense of humor helps too!  Daniel Tortora  PhD, in his wonderful book "The Right Dog For You," classifies Corgis as being of intermediate dominance.  This means that they accept leadership willingly from an owner who demonstrates that he or she is the leader, but  will take over the leadership role if they perceive the human to be  weak.  I have found that the best relationship with a Corgi is a loving  partnership, with me as the boss when it counts.

 You should be prepared for a high level of interaction -- a Corgi is not  just any dog about the house, but a true companion with a high need for  talking, cuddling, and companionship.  If this description sounds like fun,  a Corgi may be the right dog for you.  (But yes, they do shed!)

 I am wondering what the term "even-tempered" means to you.  If you mean in  the sense that Corgis are happy-go-lucky, adaptable, sensible, and enjoy  new places, experiences and people, I would certainly describe the breed as  even-tempered.  However, it has been my experience as a breeder that this  expression is sometimes used to mean a dog who will take repeated rough  handling from children, and if so, the answer is no.

 Forgive me if I belabor the point for a minute, but I recently had a very  sad experience which made me sensitive to this issue.  I had a wonderful  year and a half old Corgi girl named Munchkin who loved nothing more than  to swim in the creek with my children or cuddle with our family on the bed  while we read or watched television together.  Like any children, mine can  get wild, and she had tolerated the occasional surprise landing or pillow  fight with equanimity, so I felt confident that she was an excellent family  dog.

  We decided that Munchkin was not going to have a show career, and were happy to receive an inquiry from a couple with two small children and a stay-at-home Mom in search of an "even-tempered" family pet.  They were thrilled to find a well-socialized and housebroken dog who was through the chewing stages and loved cats, children, and their other dogs.  She was a plug-and-play solution for them, with none of the puppy stages to deal with, and we hoped that Munchie would have a chance for more one-on-one time with people than we could offer her in our many-dog household.

by Elizabeth Trail  bestfriends@VA.ARDI.NET