What a Meeting!

Run, corgis, run!

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here.  I'm pretty tuckered out today after mama and daddy took me to a SUPER exciting event yesterday.  Let me tell you all about it.  First, some background...

If you've been around here long, you know that I live in a home with my 2 rescue dog sisters Sadie and Lucy, and that we often have various foster dogs hanging around as well.  I'm quite proud of my parents who have taught me not to discriminate against anyone based on their creed, color, religion, tail status, eye color, fur texture, or size.  I got to thinking, though, that this means I've never really been around many of my own kind--the corgi kind, I mean.  We are an ecclectic mix of breeds here at our house and none of our fosters have been corgi.  I have seen a couple of corgis at the local dog park, but that's about it.  Now, I'm happy living my life as part of a "blended" society, but I can't help wondering what it would be like to know more corgis.

Well, this weekend, my mama and daddy decided it was high time I spent time with some of my own kind, so they bundled us all up yesterday, put us in the car, and headed out to Tulsa to a CORGI RALLY!.  There were 42 gloriously wonderful corgis in a dog park on a bright sunny winter's day. There were red ones and tri colored ones, there were fat ones and just chubby ones (can't say I saw any skinny ones), there were old ones and young ones, there were Pems and Cardis.  There were a few corgi mixes--like my beagle sister Lucy--and a few visitors--like our foster Bernie.  We were in the small dog section of the dog park, so there weren't any tall dogs around to bother us, just short leggers as far as they eye could see.

See how much joy there was?

I had never been around so many corgis in my life.  There was much running, frapping, barking, and derping. There were a few minor fights, nothing serious and no one got hurt.  We chased tennis balls, herded everything that moved, and, best of all, we got lots of petting from all the corgi parents who understand just what special little beings we truly are.  I kept hearing people in the big dog section exclaiming "Oh my, look at all the corgis!"  It made me so happy to be recognized and appreciated as a breed.  

There I am in the center, getting pets from a corgi-loving stranger.

We all had such a good time and there was such a nice turnout for the event, the organizers are thinking of making this a monthly event!  I'm sure I won't be able to make it to all of the gatherings, but I'm looking forward to meeting back up with my new friends in the near future.  If you dogs out there ever get the chance to attend a meet-up, whether it is a breed rally, a shelter reunion, or just a dog party, I highly recommend you attend.

What a wonderful day!!

Last Monday, the boys came over and spent the day while my cousin Chelsea gave birth to our newest human cousin, Luke.  We had a good time with the boys; as I predicted, we were able to pilfer quite a few snacks (Jake was feeding us marshmallows...very sweet and soft and fluffy and tasty.)   Our new baby, Luke, was born half grown, but he's still just a newborn so he'll be little and sweet and milky for quite a while to come.  Speaking of meetings, I can't wait to meet Luke!

Baby Luke...he's a big 'un.

And finally, our Uncle Scott and Aunt Christy adopted a new dog this past week from the great folks at Celtic Corgi Rescue.  Guess what?  Yep, corgi!  She recently had knee surgery but mama says I'll be able to meet her and have little small corgi rallies with her in the near future.  Her name is Ruby and I bet we'll be good friends.

Ruby with my human cousing Alicia

Wow, what a week!  And now we are finally getting a little bit of snow, which suits me just fine.  Everyone out there stay warm and enjoy life as much as I do!

Til next time,

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

So much happy makes me tired  :)

Babies on My Mind

Look at that flat belly; no "baby boobies" on me!

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here, and how has your week treated you?  Here in Lily's World, all has been going pretty well.  As I told you last week, we are anxiously waiting the birth of a new human cousin.  If he doesn't make his debut by tonight, his mama (my very pregnant cousin Chelsea) will go to the hospital for induction.  That's pretty ironic since baby Luke has been trying to be born for the past 3 months and they've been running to the hospital so the doctors could make him stay inside; now that it's time for him to be born, he's not budging!

My cousin Ryan (Chelsea's sister) is a nurse whose job it is to help deliver babies, so she'll be at the hospital helping.  While all that is going on, Ryan's boys will be staying here with us.  That will be lots of fun!  Little Cohen, who is almost 2, loves to feed us pieces of his snacks; sometimes Lucy grabs them from his hands even when he doesn't offer them, but I have more class than that.  The boys are going to help my mama "kid test" our foster dog, Bernie.  Some people are interested in adopting Bernie and we must find out if he is good with kids.  The next few days will tell the tale (or is that tail?)

Check out Lucy, climbing right in Cohen's hand for a snack.

Anyway all this commotion of birthing babies and babysitting boys has made me do some thinking about children, both human and canine.  So let me first say that I love the little ones.  Even though I've never had a litter of my own, I think puppies are pretty darned cute--in fact, it may be because I've never had a litter that I think this.  My fur-sisters and I are a rarity in the dog world:  3 female rescue dogs who have never had puppies.  My first owner was a vet who spayed me when I was just a young girl.  My neurotic sister Sadie was taken in by the animal shelter when she was just a pup herself, so they made sure she was spayed before she started having puppies.  And we know so little about Lucy's past; we don't know how she managed, but it doesn't appear she ever had a pup.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I think having puppies is a bad thing.  I just know the heartbreaking truth about pet overpopulation.  I realize that lots of puppies--even planned and wanted puppies--end up in shelters; the lucky ones are adopted, but the unlucky ones are often killed.  I'd never want that horrible end for my gorgeous puppies, so I'm happy that I won't be adding to the population problem.

Like most mammals, dogs give birth to live young, in groups called litters.  Sometimes a litter is just a single puppy, but more often small dogs give birth to 2 - 5 puppies in a litter.  Then there are the overachieving large breed dogs.  It seems in the dog world, the bigger the dog, the bigger the litter.  Some large breeds average having 9 puppies per litter...that's the average, folks!  That's a lot of puppies. (Info taken from akc.org)

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest litter of puppies ever produced came from a Neopolitan mastiff in Great Britian who cranked out...get this!...24 puppies in one litter.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it!  No dog comes equipped with 24 teats; how could she feed them all?

Tia and several of her 24 puppies*

While human ladies carry their babies inside for 9 whole months, we dogs are far too impatient to wait around that long.  Generally, a female dog, properly called a bitch, is pregnant for about 2 months. This seems far more reasonable to me, especially for that poor mastiff mama with the litter of 24--I wouldn't want to try to waddle  around with all those babies for very long.  Again, it wears me out just to consider it.

Whew!  I need to get rested up before my boys arrive.  Balls will be thrown.  Ropes will be tugged.  Snacks will be dropped.  It will be a fun day!  Oh...the weather man is forecasting that we'll have sleet, snow, and freezing rain tonight, so it may also be quite slippery around here tomorrow.

And...I just watched a CORGI win her height group at the agility competition of the Westminster dog show.  AND, she's a rescue dog from a shelter.  Life is good.

I have to go patrol my yard a few times and be sure everything is in order before the winter mix arrives.  Til next time, stay warm and remember to spay and neuter your pets so YOU don't end up with 24 puppies!!

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

Dreaming of babies, snacks, and snowmen.

*I am unable to give proper credit for this picture.  I found it via Google Images search but there was no owner/photographer listed on the image.  If I learn this information, I will edit to give proper credit.

Mama's Home Again!

If I could type on this thing, I wouldn't have to wait for mama to help with my blog.

Hi, all, Lily the corgi here.  Did ya miss me?  Silly question, of course you did!  As I told you last time, my mama and Aunt Vicky ran off on yet another of their cruises, leaving me at home to keep everyone on their best behavior.  I think I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.  In fact, we fared better here than mama and Aunt Vicky did on their cruise.  I'll spare you the entire sordid story but let's just say this has been deemed "the cruise from hell," their only excursion in paradise was spent in a Mexican hospital, and Aunt Vicky came home with a bunch of stitches holding together a big gash in her leg.  Maybe next time they'll stay home and pet me...a much preferable activity.

Our little humpaholic foster, Clark, left for his rescue in Colorado 2 days ago and I'm hearing there already may be an adoption in the works for him.  Clark was a pretty nice guy (aside from that ridiculous humping) and I hope he gets a new forever family that will spoil him rotten.  Since Clark was leaving, mama got a new foster (can you hear my eyes rolling?)  The new guy is named Bernie and I must admit he is one cute little dog.  Bernie is a lot like my neurotic sister Sadie; he is afraid of everything--coming in doors, riding in the car, people, leaves, etc... He has warmed up now to the point he will play a little with my sister Lucy but he has a LONG way to go to be a normal dog.  Bernie isn't housebroken, didn't understand he could come to mama and daddy for petting and belly scratches, and seemed to think someone was going to steal his food.  Okay, that last part may be justified since Sadie has been known to pilfer the kibble.  My Aunt Vicky and her sister Gayle came over yesterday and Bernie was very friendly with Gayle; maybe they will decide to adopt him.

This is Bernie.  Mama says she thinks he'll be adopted soon.  I'm hoping so because mama gets "the look" in her eye when she pets him.  I'm afraid if he's here long, he'll never leave!

Mama is supposed to be in charge of a thing called a fundraiser for the rescue people that keep bringing these fosters to us.  That means she is going to organize some sort of event to raise money to pay for vet bills and transports to other states.  Mama says she'd like to have some kind of event that would involve dogs since this is for an animal rescue, after all.  If any of my loyal readers have any suggestions please share with us.  In a perfect world, we'd raise enough money that we could get hotel rooms for all these critters and I won't have to share my home with any more fosters.  Okay, I know that isn't going to happen, but a girl can dream, can't she?

We are all anxiously awaiting an addition to our family.  My human cousin Chelsea is expecting a baby any day; that is very exciting!  Our last human babies are now almost 2 years old and not really babies anymore...they were so much fun when they were small!  They were soft and cuddly and made cute little noises and smelled like milk.  Don't get me wrong, they're still nice kids, but now they are running around and busy--sometimes they pull my ears or even accidently sit on me!  A nice, milky baby will be great to have around again.

Here's my sister Lucy enjoying a little milk breath on baby Cohen...he's no longer a baby!

Just a reminder to everyone that next Saturday is Valentine's Day, a day to show your love to that special someone or some dog in your life.  Remember that dogs and chocolate do not mix (though we'd sure like to!)  And remember that dogs and sugar free stuff don't always mix.  And that even dogs and some flower arrangements may not mix.  Bottom line...get your doggie a nice new squeaky toy for Valentine's day!  And maybe a crispy slice of bacon.  Or a little piece of steak.  Perhaps a small portion of chicken...with noodles, or maybe baked into a flaky pot pie.  Hmmm, now that I mention it, pie would be nice.  Apple pie, with cheese.  I enjoy cheese very much.  Did I ever mention that I, like many corgis, struggle with my weight?  It's a curse.

Anyway, mama says if you can't think of anything original to give for Valentine's day, you could always donate to your local shelter or rescue...or to the rescue for which mama volunteers, 3 Girls Animal Rescue.  Nothing would say love better than saving a life!

Til next time, take care of each other and Happy Valentine's Day!

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

I'm so glad mama is home; resting on her pillow just isn't the same unless she's there too.