Living in the retriever world, as I have for so man
y years, my knowledge of corgis was next to nil until about 18 months ago. Then my son Michael and his girlfriend Stephanie acquired a corgi puppy whom they named Felina. She’s been a source of great entertainment for them (and the subject of many of Michael’s Facebook posts), but because they live in Reno, we had not yet met Felina in person. That changed this weekend, when they traveled to Southern California to participate in an event called Corgi Beach Day. I couldn’t resist making the two-hour drive up to Huntington Beach yesterday morning, and I took Beverly with me. (Mike said she could be an honorary corgi.)
Michael had said that as many as 1000 corgis might be converging. I was skeptical. The day started out gray and chilly, not exactly beach weather. But as Beverly and I approached the meeting spot, the clouds were clearing, and I could see people with leashes attached to little dogs with perky ears and stumpy legs streaming toward the designated dog beach. Beverly and I joined them, passing more than one car bearing a “Corgi On Board” bumper sticker. Sure enough, the beach held a large cluster of tents and people and frantic canine activity.
Beverly and I only stayed for about 90 minutes, but that was enough to get a taste of how fanatic the corgi crew can be. The theme of this day’s event was tikis, and many of the corgis were costumed to reflect that.
The tents were jammed with corgi-themed merch and services.
…along with contests (for costumes, limbo ability, “cupcake”-eating prowess). Beverly and I caught the “talent show” and we glimpsed a tiny bit of the arcana of this subculture, in which dogs are known as “loaves” (because of their resemblance to the baked bread dough), their furry butts are commonly called “momos” (because of their resemblance to peaches, aka “momo” in Japanese), and the pose in which a corgi’s legs splay out from the dog’s prone body is known as a “sploof.”)
I learned that corgis come both with and without tails, and they come in various colors — even pure white and “merle.”
We could have adopted a corgi, and brought it home. 
But I wasn’t sure what the rest of my pack would think of that.
Anyway, since Michael and his gang drove down after the beach event and are staying with us for the next few days, we’re getting a brief taste of actual life with a corgi. To be continued.
