Care and Feeding of a Utah Corgi!

The Care and Feeding of Utah Corgis
by Peggy Newman - Taflar Corgis

Well, any corgi really, but since we're in Utah....

Ok, I'll start with feeding since that seems to be the most important thing to corgis. They LOVE to eat! And having said that, the one thing that owners need to be careful of is not letting their corgi get fat. Being overweight is very hard on the dogs front assembly, and on it's back. And being overweight can have the same effects on the heart and health as it can on humans. If your dog is overweight you are shortening it's life. Please DO NOT let your corgi get fat.

A corgi in good weight should have a noticeable waistline and you should be able to feel the ribs. You should not have to dig for them under a layer of fat. And if your fingers fall easily between the ribs your corgi is too thin. (A rare happening.)

FEEDING:

Kibble/Dry Foods:
Kibble is the most common and most convient food for dogs. If you ask owners what kind they prefer you will get a ton of opinions. Over the years (I've owned corgis since 1980) I've learned a lot about dog foods. The best foods are not found in your grocery stores.

Preimum dog foods are found in pet stores or from pet food dealers. Preimum foods have fewer or no fillers and therefore are digested better by dogs. (Fillers come out the way they go in, undigested and you end up cleaning your yard more often.)

Dog food ingredients are listed in the order of amount. The first ingredient is the biggest amount in the food. A good food will not have corn as the first ingredient. Also, watch for the same ingredient in different forms (corn, corn meal, corn middlings, ect.) If it's listed furter down but in several forms it's still the largest ingredient.

Corn and wheat are two things that dogs are quite frequently allergic to. Even if they are not allergic corn is not digested by dogs and therefore does them no good.

Look for a meat based food, meaning that should be the largest ingredient in the food.

For amounts DO NOT go by the recommendations on the bags. If you do you'll have a fat dog, they almost always suggest more food than the dog needs. Remember they are in the business to sell dog food. The more you feed, the more you buy. Most of my adult corgis eat between 1 and 1 1/2 cups of food per day. Some of mine have eaten less than one cup a day. Occasionally a young dog (age 1-3 years) will eat 2 cups of food per day.)

The different formulas were created to satisfy the dog owners not dogs. People thought that a puppy formula, senior formula ect. would be a good idea. In reality dogs do not need different formuls. Wolfs don't catch special cub formula bunnies for their babies now do they?

Senior formula noramlly have more fillers so the dog can eat the same amount of food and feel full. In reality the amount of usuable food has been decreased. I'd prefer to just feed less food, or try the green bean diet. (Decrease the amount of food and use green beans in place of that food. I recommend frozen green beans as the salt content is lower. If you use canned rinse them. There is no need to cook the beans, but you can thaw them. Although in the summer frozen ones might be appreciated.)

If you feed a preimum food, an adult maintence formula is good for all stages of life. Including puppies. You just adjust the amount you feed according to your dogs activity level.

My last two litters were not feed anything but adult formla foods. They are not lacking in bone, correct size or did they have any growth problems. In fact if you feed a puppy formula food you might be harming your puppy. Most puppy formulas cause accelatered growth and that can cause the growth plates to grow faster than muscle tissure. Panosteitis is thought to be caused by this growth problem. (Cronic limping in puppies is one symptom.)

Here is a web site for comparing dog foods: Doberdogs.com

A word about vets and nutrition. Vets don't get a lot of education in nutrition in college. Most of what they are taught is presented by dog food companies, Hills in particular. So, IMO, your vet is not the best person to advise on dog food choices unless they have done reserach beyond college and other than presented by Hills (Science Diet) in nutrition.

I know you're asking what foods I recommend, so for what it's worth, my dogs are currently eating Canidae or Innova. Eagle is the other of my favories. Over the years I have come to prefer foods without corn or wheat and with "natural" ingredients when possible.

Here is a list of brands of foods I would consider feeding my own dogs. They're in alphabetical order, not in order of prefrence. You need to decide for yourself what food will work for your dog. And the abilty to get the food on a regular basis is a big factor too. And yes, there may be good foods out there I don't know about.

California Natural
Canidae
Canine Caviar
Eagle
Excel
Flint River Ranch
Innova
Nature's Recipe (The vegetarian formula is good for dogs with allergies and a good diet food)
Pinnacle
Preimum Edge
Royal Canin
Solid Gold
Wysong

Of the grocery store brands I think that Pro Plan and Purina ONE are better than the others. (Iams gave my dogs gas.)

I am not a fan of Hill's Science Diet foods. That was the one food that when I tried it the majority of my dogs did not eat well. Now corgis rarely are picky eaters so when most of mine didn't seem to like it, well, that tells you something. Now, if your dog is on the perscription food, that is a differnt story, and their prescription foods are a different story and there is a place for those.

One last word, if your dog is in good health and proper weight, and you're happy with what you're feeding, then don't feel pressured to change foods.

Canned Foods:

I only use canned foods as a treat for my guys. They get a can for their birthdays. IMO, canned food is too expensive to feed daily and it's not good for their teeth.

On occasion I have fed canned foods to an old dog that had trouble eating or that was not intrested in eating. IMO that's an extunating circumstance and you do what you need to do.

I do not mix canned food into dry food to get a dog to eat. That only creates a picky eater. (More on that later.)

Raw Food and Bones:

Raw diets also sometimes called the BARF diet (Bones And Raw Food) are fine if you do the research to make it a balanced diet. There are frozen and fresh commercial raw diets you can feed. I have used Nature's Variety foods and have had good success with them. In fact I think that helped extend the life of one of my old dogs that had an oral cancer. He lived 19 mos. beyond the diganosis and we only expected a few months at most. He ate primarily a diet of Nature's Variety raw foods.

Bones are ok for dogs if they're RAW. When you cook a bone it becomes harder and will splinter. This can cause problems for the dogs. IMO, there are risks in feeding bones but there are risks with just about anything a dog likes to chew. You find what you're comfortable with and go with that. Dogs need to chew, it's good for their teeth. My dogs get raw bones and we've found that they are great for helping to keep teeth clean. They also enjoy frozen bones (we call them bonesciles) in the summer.

A dogs digestive tract is shorter than a persons, this is why they can eat raw foods and not have problems with bacteria that a person would have. Wild dogs eat raw foods and also road kill (which I do not recomend for our dogs), and they do not die because they process the food faster.

Picky Eaters:

In the words of Millie Williams (Kallista Corgis) no one has ever found a pile of corgi bones next to a full bowl of dog food. No healthy corgi will starve itself to death. Your dog should eat what you give it and when you give it to them.

If you have a picky eater, decide what food your dog should have. Put the food down, allow 15-20 min. for the dog to eat and take the food away. If they dont eat, tough luck. NO food or treats till the next scheduled meal.

How a Dog Eats and When to Feed Your Dog:

Dogs unlike people get hungry about the same time every day, when they are used to being fed. Wild dogs rarely get to eat every day and they tend to wolf or gulp their food and gorge themselves when they eat. While our dogs do not need to gorge themselves, dogs do not as a rule chew their food. That's not the way a dog is made, they gulp food down and it digests in the stomach.

Dogs do quite well on just one meal a day. My adult dogs eat once a day. I switch puppies to one meal a day between 4 and 6 mons. Depends on how well they are eating thier meals.

You can feed twice a day if you'd like but no adult dog needs to eat more than tiwce a day. I DO NOT recommend free feeding corgis. IMO that can make them fat and also it's one of the best ways to start a fight if you have more than one dog. (Corgis have an unwritten law that says "You don't share food".)

If you have a puppy they wiil need to eat more than once a day. Ask your breeder how often the puppy was being fed and when at the time you take your puppy home. I don't have a set time frame for decresaing meals for puppies. I go by how well they eat a meal. If they're picking at one meal or not eager to eat it I eliminate a meal and increase the amount of food for the other meals.

Treats:

Corgis love treats and I feed a variety of treats, but not frequenlty. That's why they're treats. Since no treat is an everyday thing I don't have any specific recommendations. If your dog is fat don't give as many treats or feed the low calorie ones. Or better yet, break the treat in to smaller pices. Dogs don't care what size the treat is just that they get one.

What NOT to Feed:

Cat food is higher in fat and protein and it will give your dog diarrhea. Feed your cats where your dogs cannot get to the food. My cats are fed on countertops.

People food - some foods are toxic to dogs. Onions (and onion powder), chocolate, grapes and raisins are all on the list of toxic foods. And while your dog may have eaten these things and is ok, you don't know what dog won't be or when your dog may have a reaction, so it's better to avoid them all together.

Sites about toxic foods:

http://tinyurl.com/ioga
http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dtoxin.html
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1661&articleid=1030

Grooming the Utah Corgi
By Peggy Newman (with input from Sharon Ogden)

Corgis need very little intensive grooming. At least most of them. Fluffies I'm sure need more grooming, but I've never owned a fluffy corgi so I'm not experienced with them. Later in this article I'll give some ideas of grooming tools that might help with a fluffy. (You can also click here to go directly to the fluffies section)

Nail Trimming:

Starting when the puppy is tiny, get them used to having nails trimmed. As a breeder I start trimming puppy nails when the babies are only one week old. I use human nail clippers and hold the baby on his/her back and trim the tips of the nails. I try to do their nails weekly so they'll be used to this when they go to their new homes.

At 2-3 months I switch to dog nail clippers (usually the Resco brand) and use these for the next few months. I introduce them to nail grinding at about 4-5 mos.

Ideally, your corgis nails should be cut or ground every one to two weeks, depending on how fast the nails grow. Some dogs have nails that grow much quicker than others. Also if the dog gets to walk on sidewalks or road surfaces the nails will be naturally worn down and they may not need as much attention.

Along with nail trimming, the bottom of the feet need to be trimmed. Trim off the hair that grows between the pads even with the pads of the feet. I do not recommend trimming in between the pads. This hair helps to protect the feet. Just trim the hair even with the pads of the feet.

Brushing/Combing:

Corgis don't need daily brushing or combing except when blowing coat.Weekly should be sufficient.

I would suggest that you use a very stiff bristle brush or slicker brush (and some are "softer" than others and do less damage to the hair). Personally, I prefer to use a fine toothed comb for my corgis. I find it seems to get any loose undercoat out better. My comb is a metal Twinco flea comb, with a handle. In my opinion this is not a real flea comb but a fine tooth comb, but the one labeled fine tooth is not fine enough to suit me. (Not the flea combs with a plastic handle- those aren't strong enough and are too fine.)

The best way to comb the corgi is to start at the rear of the dog and hold the fur back with one hand and comb from the skin out with the comb in the other hand. There is a good picture and description of this in both The Complete Pembroke Welsh Corgi and The New Complete Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Please look at the picture for a better idea of this.

Bathing:

Corgis only need to be bathed when they're dirty or the owner wants to. Fortunately they have a coat that the dirt falls out of easliy. I prefer to comb the dog out first, bathe, and when the dog is dry comb again. This will help get the loose/dead undercoat out.

I also recommend a hand held shower attachment in your bath tub if that's where you're going to bathe your dog. In really nice warm (or hot) weather I have done them outside. Remember though that water coming out of a hose does get rather cold.

Soak the dog to the skin with warm water, add a little shampoo at a time (you can always add more if needed) and lather up. Be sure to get down to the skin when you shampoo the dog. Rinse the shampoo off and continue rinsing till you think it's all gone. Then rinse the dog again. Don't forget the underbelly and armpits. They're hard to rinse areas.

I try to get the dog to shake most of the water off in the bath tub with the shower curtain drawn. Doesn't always work, but worth a try. Then cover the dog with a large absorbent bath towel and towel dry. Now if warm enough I'll let the dog air dry. This however will take several hours (like overnight). During this time if you let the dog outside they will most likely roll in the dirt or grass so you may want to walk them on a leash till they're dry. Or if you prefer you can blow dry the dog. You can use the dryer you use on your hair if you want, just be careful of the heat setting. They get rather warm for dogs. Or you can buy a dryer made for dogs. The dryer I use is the Double K ChallengeAir 2000. Other good models are the Metro Air Force dryer or for one not quite as powerful, the SuperDuck dryer.

I prefer the Kelco shampoos for regular bathing. Another good shampoo is the Coat Handler shampoos. They also do a very nice job. The choice of shampoo is up to you. Chris Christensen's "White on White" is good for legs, chest and other white areas. Also, Sauve Green Apple shampoo is good on the whites. (This is a people shampoo.)

Blowing Coat (Shedding):

Shedding is normal, year round, especially for an indoor dog. However, periodically (seasonally) a corgi will "blow" it's coat. This starts with more shedding than usual and goes quickly to "tufting". When this happens you need to comb or brush more often. A bath will help speed up the process. I recommend a blow dry outside after a bath. That helps get all the loose undercoat out.

Here's a really good website showwing a corgi in full blow and how to groom one at that time: http://terenelf.com/SpockShedding/Shedding.html

Teeth:

Most vets these days recommend that you brush your dogs teeth. Brushing helps to keep the tartar and plaque from building up too much. And your dog won't need to have his teeth cleaned as often. Most vets will tell you daily brushing. When my vet said this I gave him a "you gotta be kidding look". He then said that two or three times a week would be fine, and admitted that even once a week would be helpful.

Be sure to use a doggy toothpaste for this. People toothpaste is made to foam and the dog can't spit it out, so it's not suitable for dogs. I prefer the CHX toothpaste, but there are many brands on the market. The toothpastes can be found as stores like Petsmart, at your vet's or in dog supply catalogs. You can find brushes there too. I use a regular toothbrush for my guys. I buy the cheap generic ones. They don't need anything fancy. Get the soft bristles though.

Another alternative is to use gauze wrapped around your finger with the toothpaste on it. Depends on what your preference is.

That's about all that's needed for normal grooming of our corgis.

Fluffies:

I think some of the tools I use for grooming our Keeshond or our Sheltie would work for fluffies.

I use a pin brush for brushing them out. Combs don't work as well on them. The one I use on the sheltie has pins about 1 inch long (PSI brand from West Germany). Astro's (keeshond) brush has pins about 1 1/2 inches long (#1 All Systems brand). Both are oblong shaped, which is what I prefer, but style choice is yours. I got mine at dog shows, but they can be found in dog supply catalogs.

I also found that a wide toothed comb could be used on the sheltie after brushing for a finishing touch. This doesn't work as well on the kees. For him his breeder loaned me her "poodle comb". It has a wooden handle and about 10 wide spaced teeth. Works great to get the undercoat out of him when he's blowing coat. I liked it so much I did buy my own. RC Steel has them, but not in the regular catalog (they have a separate catalog for groomers). I'm sure you could call and ask them about it. (Poodle comb)

If you should decide to shave your fluffy in warm weather, please remember that he could get sunburned if too much coat is taken off. I don't recommend a real close shaving, but would leave an inch or two of coat.

Other than that, how much trimming you decide to do on a fluffy is up to you. If you want to thin the pants or other feathering thinning shears could be used. They look like scissors with teeth on one or both blades. They trim without giving a blunt chopped off look. And again can be found in dog supply catalogs or at dog show vendors.

Here's an article on grooming a fluffy: Fluffy Grooming

For another view on grooming the pet corgi go here

Where to find the shampoos we like:

Kelco Shampoos:

Kelco Professional Products
P.O. Box 2394
Sepulveda, CA 91393
1-800-451-1355
1-818-895-0505
1-818-892-1631 Fax
Kelco has a variety of shampoos, even one for allergies. And they smell good!

Coat Handler Shampoos:

1-800-748-1777
1-800-488-4241
1-303-247-9504

Chris Christensen White on White Shampoo

Chris Christensen pin brushes
PSI Pin Brushes

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