H.C. HAS AN H.Q.!

We have the keys! We are about to move regional which is going to have us with some seriously happy Chonks! Getting out of the concrete jungle and into the fresh air with a huge yard for the pups to grow up happy in has been a central goal since we said yes to adopting Saber, who was the first doggo that we brought home. This is beyond exciting and has been a long time coming!

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We are moving to the Upper Hunter Region of NSW on a huge block of land that would be simply impossible to have in a big city. It’s going to be a tremendous lifestyle change and no doubt this will come with its own challenges, but it will be just so rewarding to see our Chonky friends thriving in the kind of space that we have always wanted for them.

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Bonny is fast approaching her second cycle now too, so it really is go-time as the first attempt to breed her will be in her third cycle. This is still about 6 months away, but that time is going to fly so we really do need to get our skates on. Given the timing of things, if you have been thinking about getting a pup from her first litter, it would be a good idea to start getting in touch to reserve a pup!

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We did a super cute shoot!

We recently embarked on a day adventure equal parts adorable and organised chaos - the Chonks have done their first shoot! Now that Bonny and Drax are all grown up, we wanted to immortalise their cuteness, and we results are better than anything we could have hoped for.

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With the wonderful help of Dog Whisperer Cristal AKA Love Tails Photography in Sydney we managed to capture some insanely cute shots of all five of our pooches, but in there, we captured the above shot (navigate to the general Updates page if you cannot see it) as well as a snap for them both to feature in the Love Tails 2024 Corgi Calendar!

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We are very excited to see the end product of this, as well as all the final shots hanging up in our home soon. Hoping that you enjoy the cuteness as much as we have been!

Bonny is Turning One!

It’s our little girl’s birthday this week! She is almost fully grown and in fine health as her big grin suggests. We are all having a whale of a time - all the pups are so well accustomed to each other now. Even though we only have the two chonks, we actually have a total of FIVE dogs for newcomers, so this is an achievement!

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There is not an awful lot else to report - just keeping in the swing of things - but are also hopefully going to have exciting news for next time! We are intent on being able to move to the NSW Hunter Region by the end of the year and we are potentially going to be able to say something more definitive very soon. This is a huge goal for our pups because we want them to have a massive yard to be merry in.

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While at the moment they get taken to the park daily and they are truly happy, nothing beats just being able to run free whenever they want. particularly as both Draxy and the Bonster-Monster are pretty ball obsessed! Wish us luck and we hope to have exciting news next time!

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Bonny and Drax Are DM Free!!!

Hi everyone! We are super excited to have received our results from Orivet on Bonny and Drax’s genetic testing. The biggest snag that can occur with Cardigan Corgis is when a dog is a carrier of Degenerative Myelopathy (DM). This is a degenerative disease that affects the spinal cord and leads to gradual paralysis in the hind legs of our best fluffy friends. It is incurable and unfortunately when a pooch is diagnosed, they usually only have a life expectancy of 1-2 years from that point on. Consequently, one of the really big factors of ethical dog breeding is ensuring that we are not allowing for this to happen to any of our pups!

Because it is a recessive gene, a dog can be a carrier without them being at risk, or placing others at risk either. If a dog has TWO copies of the gene then they are considered at risk. If two dogs have one copy of the gene EACH though, they should NOT be bred together - their puppies have the chance of receiving two copies (one from mum, and one from dad) of the DM mutation and so this is deemed unethical breeding, and should not be happening, as it is cruel to place profit ahead of the possibility of sealing a pup with such an awful fate.

We are overjoyed to say that both Bonny and Drax are CLEAR! That means that neither of them have ANY copies of the DM genetic mutation, so they can safely and responsibly be bred together.

We are still about 10 months away from Bonny’s first attempt to become a mum as she’s still only little, but now we are going to start to set ourselves up formally as breeders, so you will soon be able to see us on official listings of Cardigan Corgi breeders. We are super excited that our Chonks are going to be able to make healthy as well as adorable pups.

Doing our due diligence with genetic testing…

Another month and the Chonks are doing really well. Bonny's first season is coming to an end and the clock starts to tick towards the intended first littler for 12 months from now.

We have just sent off DNA testing (just swabs, nothing too scary for them!) to check for Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) to ensure that they are a good match for each other. If not then Bonny may need to borrow boyfriends for life (scandalous)! This process ensures that we are doing our due diligence to breed only safe pups - when one parent is a DM carrier but the other is not, this makes for safe breeding as it's a recessive condition - we only run into trouble when both dogs are carriers, whereby we would not be able to breed them together. We should have results by next month.

Either way our mentor recommended that we outsource for the first litter so that we can not only obtain a second bitch from that litter, but also we are hoping for a Merle Cardigan for some more variety in the look of our pups. There is a stud she recommended who is already confirmed to not be a DM carrier so Bonny can definitely get cosy with him safely.

We are also more seriously starting to prepare to move semi-rural. This will make for an exciting change - not only will all the dogs have more room to run around in, but we will be able to set up proper dedicated areas for when the litters are born. We are very excited for what the coming year will bring!

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BIG NEWS! Bonny is all grown up!

Our little Bonny is all grown up! She is almost two weeks into her first season at ten months of age. From now on she will be going into season every six months or so. Now, this does not mean it’s time to breed! This is where doing right by the dogs comes in.

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She will be mature enough to carry pups safely in a year from now so we are aiming for a year from now. Australian breeder standards are no more than two litters per 18 months but our wonderful mentor Dee has said 2 litters fairly close then two years off works really well, so that’s the plan. Bonny is going to have a busy 2024!

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So now is when we get busy - we have genetic testing to carry out to check for whether she and Drax are carriers of certain genetic defects and if they both are we will not be able to breed them together and they will just need to opt for being housemates who are strategically kept at arms length from time to time! We will know more about this in a few months time.

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Either way, Bonny’s first litter will be with an external stud as we will obtain our second bitch from there, all going well. She will consequently not have any genetic connection to Drax and she will be of breeding age in 2026. Ethical breeding is a long-term commitment!

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We had the pleasure of meeting Dee in person for the first time together with so many adorable corgis at our first corgi dog show that we visited over the weekend. There we had the pleasure of meeting Drax’s father (Solo - a serious ribbon winner!), Drax’s litter sister, Bonny’s cousin, Bonny’s father and uncle and learned so, so much. We are truly lucky to have connected with folks who care so much for their animals and want to not only do what’s best for them, but who are also so generous with their knowledge and guidance.

welcome to our super cute lives!

Thank you for being here - we are Jordon and Susy. We adore dogs and currently have 5! We have 3 rescues (Saber the Border Collie, Tiko the Siberian Husky and Nova the Alaskan Malamute). We also have two pedigree Cardigan Corgis, Drax and Bonny.

We are excited to announce our intention to breed these little cherubs when they are old enough, but most importantly we are committed to doing so ethically. Bonny only goes to sleep in a crate at night and once in the day to ensure she is able to be kept safe whenever we do not want her to have accidental pregnancy, but our dogs otherwise run free and get heaps of love in the process, from us and each other.

Our dogs have a varied diet, are fit and healthy. Because of our focus on this, we are also committed to creating a lasting bond with anybody who was to have one of their puppies - recent years have seen many dogs being surrendered or otherwise mistreated and we intend to do everything that we can to prevent that from happening.

All potential puppy parents can expect to be thoroughly briefed on what is involved in taking care of a puppy, and corgis in particular. We will also have criteria to ensure that the puppies will be adequately taken care of.

We will be updating our blog regularly with the goings on of both breeding and the lives of our beautiful dogs in general, so please subscribe if you would like to be kept up to date!