Halloween furright

by Jackie Nippers

Ack! Oh my furz! Runnin' off ta hide from pumpkin monstr!

But in light of day, pumpkin monstr not look so scary.

Dog life same as people life: Tis all about how you look at things. Remember ta keep monstrs and other things in pawspective.

Spring furward

by @winecountrydog Tilin Corgi

My old woofself had grrreat 16th birthday pawty November 2013. Now myself peekin' round corner toward 17th birthday.

Doo not paw attention to rumors of myself's demise. Da rumors are grrreatly exaggerated. True myself did sudden and dramatic peek over Rainbow Bridge in February 2014. Myself did meet many ER vets and techs. Then myself did come back to earth pawlane. Not finished 'ere yet!

Now mywoofself and furbro Jackie Nippers are springin' furward.

Nommin' fresh whole food meals like a ravenous puppy! BOL! Da fresh steamed organic broccoli arfully good. Now ready for furrst asparagus of da spring season.

Enjoy good noms, furriends!

Egg-citing new year

by winecountrydog Tilin Corgi and Jackie Nippers

Looking furward to new year of walkies and fresh foods from farmers' markets and food co-ops!

Ourselves love neffurr-ending variety of fresh whole local and regional foods. Tis healthful diet. Furrmly based on certain principles. One principle for a meat eater is to have calcium source. If not, da meat, high in phosphorus -- includin' da steaks and other muscle and organ meats we dogs and cats luv to nom -- will leach calcium from bones and teeth of our pawsonal systems.

Our fave vet sez, "All meats are higher in phosphorus than calcium, but organ meats are proportionately higher in phosphorus than muscle meats. Unless raw bones are part of a meat meal, you need to adjust the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio by adding a calcium source."

Da lack of calcium and other minerals is one reason that pawpular "cooked chicken and rice" is not good doggie diet. Lacking bone minerals. Pawleeze take calcium supplement at least. 

One of pawrimary sources of calcium in our diet is eggshell. Ourselves can digest whole pieces of shell from fresh local cage-free eggs. Some of you get ground eggshell with meals? We doo know many staff use instructions in good book by veterinarian Dr Pitcairn, saying to wash, dry, and grind eggshell.

Our staff (aka Mum) sez, "I don't want to add the task of grinding eggshells to my kitchen routine. I make my companions' meals every day, and I'd lose my mind if I didn't keep pet food preparation fast and simple. But I would turn to grinding eggshells if one of my animals lost the ability to digest fresh shell pieces."

Furtunately ourwoofselves and our Meezer kitty doo have super strong digestion. We love nomming eggshell pieces. Meezer will leap onto kitchen counter and nick eggshells if Mum not looking. BOL

Our furriend Palette Corgi gets to eat whole egg! Howl egg-citing! Wot a wonderfur game herself gets to play, bitin' on shell and lickin' out da insides and rollin' da egg around on plastic mat. 

Palette sez "Here is me eating whole egg. See? I love egg and I eat egg shell too! Nom,nom,nom..."

Palette Corgi is one of few furriends we know who doo eat amazing variety of fresh foods.

In olden day, before mid-20th century 'splosion of processed pet food industry, dogs and cats did eat almost all parts of prey animals, cooked or raw, and also nommed scraps of humans' foods. Palette Corgi is lucky to have staff (herself's name is Yassy) who does know about diffurrent foods. Palette noms some foods that most modern dogs neffurr even get to sniff: fur example, chicken feet and tripe. Nommy!

Our staff is not so thrilled about tripe. BOL

Tripe or no tripe, Mum is longtime health researcher who did learn how to promote good health and strong digestion. You might notice Mum is always watching us ... seeing not only wot goes in but also wot comes out other end. BOL

Impawtant: Doo not assume that you can digest whole eggshell or big shell pieces. If your digestive system is used to handling only processed foods (kibbled or canned), you will likely need to build up digestive vigor first, before nomming da big shell pieces. 

Enjoy your new year. Hope your life is filled with walkies and fresh foods from your local and regional humane farmers.

Paw-note: Dr Pitcairn's book, Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, is 'stremely useful for dog and cat owners. Howlever Mum, who is furry knowledgeable about complementary and "natural" medicine, does not follow Dr Pitcairn into homeopathy. ... To each her own modalities eh.

Calcium caveat from winecountrydogma for dog and cat owners:
A fresh whole food diet for dogs or cats includes several ways to provide calcium and other minerals with meals. However, there are risks involved with excessive calcium supplementation, particularly for puppies and young dogs, and especially for growing large-breed and giant-breed dogs and pregnant bitches, and also for dogs or cats with certain health conditions. Regardless of the type of diet you feed, homemade or commercial, please don't simply add a daily calcium supplement without first determining a safe level of calcium intake for that dog or cat. Ask your veterinarian to help you calculate the amount of calcium you can give, and how to provide it in a good calcium-to-phosphorus ratio.

Welsh corgi dog scene from Elvis movie Blue Hawaii

by winecountrydog Tilin Corgi

Mum told ourwoofselves that the first Welsh corgi she ever saw was when she was taken to the theatre to see an Elvis movie called Blue Hawaii.

Mum sez she had been too little to understand the silly movie let alone know what a corgi was. In dog-honest-fact, sez Mum, herself didn't remember the movie or the corgi till Blue Hawaii was on TV a couple of years back.

Doo you think Mum could have been left with a subliminal corgi image from very early childhood? Is the image what caused her pawsitive response when she saw a corgi again years later? . . . Who does know.

Anyhowl this is youtube of the corgi scene in Blue Hawaii.

That corgi was a smart fella eh!

July birthdays!

by winecountrydog Jackie Nippers

I am the only four-legger round here whose birth date is known. Always when we celebrate myself's July 23rd birthday, we doo have a pawty for Ani Meezer as well.

This year we did pawty fur three days. Here is myself on the furst pawty morning.

And here is Ani Meezer. She is eating her birthday bouquet of wildflowers which we collected on walkies.

Mum did take myself and furbro Tilin Corgi out fur my birthday ice cream.

OMD deeelicious!

Furbro Tilin loves ice cream too.

Next day Mum did take myself on special wine tasting adventures. Just the two of us.

On the third day of pawtying, Mum did share some of her nommy Pinot poached salmon.

Then Mum did serve a doglicious dessert of blackberry Cabernet sorbet.

Myself and Meezer fell asleep on the bed together. We were full and happy and tired from pawtying.

A lovely time twas had by all.

To search for a lost dog

by winecountrydog Tilin Corgi

Howl we doo luv this narrated cartoon video about a zany rescue. Tis the story of trying to catch "Jarhead," a stray dog running loose in New Orleans with a jar stuck on his head. Wot a wonderfur storyteller author Julie Klam is!



Another kind of dog search is the (ongoing) search for lost dog Andy Corgi. Andy went missing in Fairfield County, Connecticut, when he got scared by some fireworks.

Andy Corgi's owners and their 'Bring Andy Home' search teams have learned howl to apply grrreat tools, tactics, and technology. Furhaps other searchers will benefit from studyin' their methods.

Valentine's Day gift of health

by winecountrydog Tilin Corgi

As some of you doo know, my ancient woofself was suddenly poorly in early February 2012. Acutely poorly.

Myself could read what Mum was thinking when -- for the furst time in my long life -- I stopped eating: She feared mywoofself was so ill that I was not long for this world.

An investigative drama of grrreat pawportions took pawlace. Mum did many health researches, notes, cajoling of mywoofself, talks with vets, and veterinary tests. ... Tests on myself, they were, not on Mum. BOL

Poorly tho myself was, I did retain commonsense. I withdrew from food for a few days but pawtook of water from my bowl. I barked often at Mum to open the door, as I did feel urges to doo activities of the gastrointestinal kind. Furtunately there were no violent activities within my dogbody. There were, howlever, moments of expression from the nearer and farrther ends.

Ani Meezer was worrying about mywoofself. She did sleep next to me at night and give extra cuddles.

Long story shortened, tests and investigations revealed nothing.

Finally, after pawssage of days, Mum got a big happy Valentine's Day gift: Myself was bouncing back. Mum could just tell. Then offurr course of a few more days, I bounced back so strongly that Mum said I showed the Chi of a dog half my age.

To what can one attribute vigorous recovery of my 14-plus-year-old woofsterness? Nobuddy does know. Surely, without paw shadow of a doubt, it does make a pawsitive diffurrence that my daily diet is healthful.

By healthful I doo mean that we eat fresh whole seasonal foods -- humanely and organically produced in our U.S. Pacific region. Ourselves also have some nutritional supplements, judiciously chosen and rotated.

Humans round ere think it good that myself and my furthren no longer eat commercially processed food such as kibble or canned UFOs (Unidentified Food Objects). We doo know eating well does not guarantee well-being or longevity ... but not eating well furrly much assures that health pawblems will be more furrequent or harder to offurrcome.

Riding round on New Year's day

posted by winecountrydog Tilin Corgi

Here is my happy woofself ridin round in the WCDmobile on New Year's day. Furbro Jackie Nippers is sitting to my left. Himself is wearing his seatbelt harness too. Apawlogies fur leaving Jack out of picture. Seem our chauffeur could not shoot piccies behind er head while driving.

This is a rare piccie of myself dooing The Wave dance. Simpawly stand on hind legs, wiggle, and wave paws. Easy to keep oneself's balance when wearing seatbelt harness.

When not dooing The Wave or snoozing, myself does like to study the scenery and pawsersby. We were traveling through a small town in some rural pawlace. Myself will remember the interesting smells.

Furry best wishes for a grrreat New Year. May you ave lots of fun quality time with beloved furriends.

Another year gone

postedby winecountrydog Tilin Corgi

Humans say that another year has gone by. This does make one's old dogself feel contempawlative.

Our best wishes to you for the coming year, dear furriends!

Thinking about Japanese corgis and other furriends who need help

by winecountrydog Tilin Corgi and Jackie Nippers

Looking at the face of this Japanese corgi furriend who was rescued by JEARS, we know again what we doo not want to think about: Lots of corgis and other dog furriends in northeast Japan are desperately in need of help. Their cat furriends are in desperate need too.

JEARS (Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support) is a wonderfur coalition group of humans helping furriends who were hurt or displaced by the earthquake and tsunami.

Some musical artists have put together a compilation album to raise funds fur JEARS! We'd like everybuddy to have the link to the album webpage, Noises for Japan.

Hoping many folks will be able to buy the album to help support animal rescue in Japan. Arroooo woo!

Paw-note: You can learn more about JEARS by following their tweets at @NotWoAnimals and checking out their AnimalRescueJapan facebook page.

Bodega Bay Birthday ... My Big 13

by winecountrydog Tilin Corgi

My 13th birthday! Lots of pawtying fur two weeks, from mid-November till the end of the month. An extra-long barkday pawty covers all my pawsible birthdates.

Nobuddy knows my real birthdate, only that I was rescued as my six-week-old puppyself at New Year's 1998.

My favorite pawty event was a trip to Bodega Bay on the Sonoma Coast. Furbro Jack and mum did keep me company.

We did run on the beautiful long beach and then watch the sun set.

A little contempawlation of Nature was in order. ...

I noticed that the tide kept coming in and trying to get us. Howl does it doo that? BOL!

Furbro Jack was feeling pawsitively peaceful in the sunset glow.

When we got back to the doghausmobile after sundown, I was feeling arfully peaceful. Wot a swell Bodega Bay birthday!

Paw-note: Thanx woofs to mum fur keeping me going strong fur my 13 years! As only mum and myself doo know, we have had to get me thru some arfully ruff times.

Happy Cardigan Welsh Corgi on British Columbia farm

by winecountrydog Tilin

We are arfully grateful to have lovely photos and a true corgi story to share with you. This story was furwarded to us by British Columbia twitter friend and dog lover @So_OK, aka Dorthea. She received this story in an email from an Okanagan B.C. friend who adopted a Cardigan Welsh Corgi.

"Our wonderful old dog Cleo died on September 11, 2009, at 14 years of age. She was the perfect match for farm life in British Columbia, where there are six acres to call her own and protect. We have learned that you are never really alone if you have a dog in your life. We also learned how important a dog is on a farm (especially during the fall when the bears abound and circle the farm in search of last scraps of food before hibernation). We also learned that we will always have a dog in our lives.

"After several weeks of seeing a ghost of Cleo out of the corner of our eyes and missing the greeting at the door when we came home, and finding bear scat around the house, we started doing the dog quizzes on line to determine what our next best dog might be. We were ready for something smaller than Cleo's 80 lbs of pure alpha energy, and Welsh Corgis turned up again and again as the best match for farm, companion, big yet small dog. We also have friends that have had Corgis and always like them.

"So here we are with a rescue Cardigan Corgi (the ones with the tails) from Alberta.

"Haley, whose name is under consideration for a change as my sister-in-law shares this honour, is 18 months old [in these pics]. Likely the runt of a litter as she is full grown and only 20 lbs, which is too small to meet breeders standards.

"She is a total delight. House broken, crate trained and comes on a dime when she is called. She is totally affectionate, sleeping at our feet and next to us on the couch when permitted. We are introducing her around and looks like she may have some alpha qualities as she protects her space around other females.

"She has barked at the sounds of the bears in the night, and I have heard them climbing nearby trees (they remember Cleo and don't yet know that Haley is just a twig of a thing.) We are smitten and very happy to have her in our lives.

"This winter, with its blanket of clouds over Okanagan Lake, will not be quite so depressing."

May all our furriends, near and far, enjoy romping in the autumn leaves! A Happy Howloween to you all! ~ Tilin & Jack Corgi

A love story

by winecountrydog Tilin

We had a lovely afternoon picnic on Valentine's Day.


We were out in Laguna de Santa Rosa, in the Russian River Valley. The Laguna is full of water and happy birds after the winter rains.

We wanted to count all the birds we saw 'cuz the Great Backyard Bird Count was going on from February 12 to 15. So many birds take sanctuary here. I pawsonally cannot count that high.


I sat next to my bovine furriends' big pasture, up on the hill away from the water. My furriends were far away, grazing in a distant field. I knew that they'd come over after a while.


Suddenly I felt intense stares at my back. My furriends had walked over to the fence so quietly that I hadn't heard them.


I was so excited. I ran right over to them. I love my big furriends!


We doo nosetaps with each other. It's arfully fun. And usually one or more of my big furriends licks my head.


My paws started sinking in the watery mud and my head was getting wet from the licking. I had to return to our picnic pawlace and dry off.


What a beautiful warm day for visiting furriends we love.

We herd, we work ... or we get bored and sad

by pawlitico

Look at our furriend Emma Corgi herding! She knows how to communicate to give each individual sheep safe directions. It's in her body language and her special Corgi communication ability.


Herding and droving is what we Welsh Corgis do well and have always done well. Like other working dogs who herd, and like cutting horses, we see the world in terms of keeping individual animals and flocks organized and safe.

Emma is a happy Corgi. She gets to do what she loves.


We Corgis are not lap dogs. We are not toy dogs. Not a play thing or a puppet or a toy.

We don't want to be kept in little crates in apartments and brought out just for show and cuddles.

As Emma paw-elegantly stated, "Working/herding/water dog breeds are great, just as long as they can live the lifestyle they were bred for (by humans). Otherwise, they are frustrated, develop behavioral problems, and end up in shelters being destroyed."

There's been so much controversy lately over dog breeding. I feel that I must bark about maintaining the strength and vitality and health of traditional breeds, especially working and herding breeds.

My Corgi feelings are hurt that humans mix up overbreeding with breeding, as if it's bad or elitist to be a working dog.

We want us dogs to be healthy and happy. What we don't want is to reduce the dog population at the expense of breed integrity.

Pawleeze reduce dog overpopulation: Reduce breeding as a source of human income!

And pawleeze help humans understand us better. If they did, very few of us would end up abandoned in shelters!

Paw-note: You can rescue a wonderful Pembroke or Cardigan Welsh Corgi through CorgiAid and Golden Gate PWCF and other organizations.

NY and CA dog riders on the storm

by winecountrydog

Does anybody know this beautiful NY sheepdog whose pic has become popular?


. . . A lucky dog! His or her human carried him or her through the snow on the Upper East Side of New York on March 2 — the day that the East Coast of the U.S. had a big, big snow, wind, and rain storm.

The very same day we had a big, big rain, wind, and snow storm here on the West Coast.


It was so wet that we northern California Corgis rode in the car and only popped out fur a mini-walkie.

Jack Corgi and I used up extra towels in the backseat fur dryin' off.


We don't mind the rain. But we'd like to see some snow down here.

We do mind high winds. Hope they're done makin' those arful scary noises.

Groundhog or hedgehog forecaster?

by winecountrydog

If this week's North American weather is any indication, the appearance of Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil and Groundhog Ontario Wee Willie on February 2 will forecast six more weeks of winter.

Wee Willie seems to knows his stuff. His predecessor, Wiarton Willie, passed on great predictive powers, which are attributed to living on the 45th parallel, halfway between the equator and the North Pole.

There are many pawlific prognosticators, includin' New York's Staten Island Chuck, Georgia's General Beauregard Lee, Alberta's Balzac Billy, Manitoba's Brandon Bob, and Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam.

Best known is Br'er Groundhog Phil, who comes out of his Gobbler's Knob burrow in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to look around after hibernating all winter. He has been doing this same routine for the past 200 years.


If Phil sees his shadow, there'll be six more weeks of winter weather. If he doesn't see his shadow, there'll be an early spring.

The logic here is tricky to follow. If the day is overcast, Phil won't cast a shadow — which would scare him — so he'll stay out to play? . . . Howl's that again? And if the day is fair and sunny, Phil will see his shadow and run back in his burrow to continue hibernating? Woof?


This is quite confusing the way humans interpret it. I wouldn't be surprised if the German settlers who brought the tradition with them to North America were confused too. After all, they'd previously depended upon hedgehogs to do the forecasting.

When the settlers could find no hedgehogs in North America, the Native Americans must've straightened things out by pointing to the groundhog. Native Americans revere the groundhog as the wisest animal, so the groundhog is someone who can do the forecaster's job.

But methinks that the hedgehog has the edge on great forecasting. Nothing pawsonal, Br'er Groundhog.


I'm just inclined to believe that hedgehog cleverness is the stronger legend.


After all, it's a legend going back to ancient Greek texts:

In regard to the instinct of hedgehogs, it has been observed in many places that, when the wind is shifting from north to south, and from south to north, they shift the outlook of their earth-holes, and those that are kept in domestication shift over from one wall to the other. The story goes that a man in Byzantium got into high repute for foretelling a change of weather, all owing to his having noticed this habit of the hedgehog.

Only a slightly different paw-note, it's said that Groundhog Day was, in its earliest incarnation, a human pagan celebration associated with fertility and weather divination. It was called Imbolc in Gaelic, the language of the Celts.

I'll have to paw into this subject more. As you know, we Welsh Corgis have Celtic associations. It's pawbable that Cardigan Welsh Corgis were brought to Wales by the Celts about 1200 B.C.

I'm a Pembroke, not a Cardigan, but maybe I can forecast weather too.

Last 2008 'Acts of Dog'

by winecountrydog

As my last paw-writin' act of the year 2008, I'm gonna give you a little corgi pun as well as endless dog photo fun.

I'm hereby introducin' you to my pick of flickr: 'Acts of Dog.' Below is a sample from the photostream to whet your appetite: what an arfully cute cardie!


Acts of Dog is the most awesome collection of photos of Cardigan and Pembroke Welsh Corgis and other dogs you'll ever see online.

These goshdog great pix come to us from a human who lives in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The fellow's a gifted and prolific photographer!

Paw-leeze, pawse and enjoy Acts of Dog on flickr. See all the doggies fur yourselves by clicking this link to the cardie photo.

A very Yappy New Year to you. Woof!

Paw-note: Headin' into 2009, let's not furget all the corgis and other dogs who still need furever homes. Woof kudos to rescue organizations like PAWS, based in Sydney, NSW, Australia, a small group of self-funded rescuers, volunteer foster carers, and walkers who help lost or abandoned animals in NSW.

Calendar of the year '09: Corgis on Wheels

by pawlitico

While humans are bizzy choosing their top picks fur 2008, I'm doggone far into faves fur 2009. After all, I'm a herder. I always want to git goin' on what's next.I'm asking you to paw-leeze pawse and check out my calendar choice fur 2009: the Wheelcorgis Wall Calendar.


You can see this calendar at the wheelcorgis store on CafePress.com. It has the most amazing dog photos you've ever seen in your goshdog lives!

And this super-cool calendar contains an educational page on degenerative myelopathy (DM), a condition that some Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Cardigan Welsh Corgis, German Shepherds, and 40-plus other dog breeds develop.

The Wheelcorgis group and the CorgiAid Cart Program provide wonderful help and advice fur corgis who need DM testing and carting.

We learned a lot about corgi carts after Tilin Corgi's back trauma. First we had to worry that Tilin might not make it at all. It wasn't DM, but other acute problems. Then, luckily for Tilin, his lifesaving surgery enabled him to function again and eventually to get around on his own.

We're always reassured to know that corgi cart humans would help if one of us lost our mobility. Paw-leeze pass on the word about these talented wheel corgis and their dedicated humans!

Paw-note: CorgiAid supports the rescue and rehab of abandoned corgis and corgi mixes across the U.S.