Bahkita – Ali Does It Herself

I don’t have a DIY post for you today. But I think that corgis make every Friday a bit better.

Traveler has been a friend of ours for over a decade. He went to high school with the Pie, and then I met him when I met Stef back in our first year of university in 2001. And he’s probably wanted a dog since then. But with school and work and his jet-setting lifestyle, having a pet wasn’t feasible. Until now.

Recently, Traveler began his search for a pet in earnest. He was looking for an adult dog, so he could skip the puppy stage that would require him to be a helicopter parent. And, having met Grenadier and fallen in love with him (because no one is immune to Gren’s charm — NO ONE), he wanted a corgi. I put him in touch with the man who bred Gren, thinking that he might know a retired breeding bitch in need of a home.

It was serendipity, really. The breeder wrote back that the one girl from Gren’s litter, Bahkita, was available.

Every dog in that litter had come out with huge ears (you’ve seen Gren’s, right?), and Bahkita’s were a little on the floppy side, so he couldn’t in good conscience breed her knowing her pups might not conform to the champion standard. And as much as he would have liked to keep her, city by-laws prevented him from having more than three dogs at any given time, so she needed a home.

Surveillance — Gren’s ears at six months.

On the Friday night after I arrived in Ottawa last week, Traveler and I (and Gren) drove out to the breeder’s house for a meet and greet. In-residence were Patty (Gren and Bahkita’s sire), Bahkita (Gren’s sister), and a three-month-old puppy. Add Gren to the mix and there was a party in the making. I apologize in advance for the blurriness of these photos. It’s hard to take decent shots of animals who will not sit still.

It was shocking to see how large Gren had turned out. We had always known he’d be big for a corgi, and at his last weigh-in at the vet’s he clocked in at 34.4lb, which is at the extreme high end of the corgi weight scale. I had thought that Patty, his dad, would be the same size but I was so very wrong.

IMAG0290 — This is Patty. He likes to climb people to get kisses.

All the other dogs present were pretty much half his size, with shorter coats and narrower shoulders. Patty, whom I’d always thought was big, weighs about 26lb. Bahkita weighs about 22lb. These are normal ranges for Pembroke corgis. Turns out I just have a gigantor corgi on my hands.

IMAG0312 — Don’t be fooled by the puppy on the ground. She was in control the whole time.

Despite being the biggest in the bunch, Gren’s natural submissiveness meant that he was dominated at every turn, even by the puppy. It was pretty cute to see him getting beaten up time and time again. He needs a blow to his ego every once in a while, the spoiled jerk.

After playing like mad with three other dogs for an hour and a half, Gren came home and promptly fell asleep on my brother’s feet.

And outright refused to get out of bed the next day.

Traveler ended up taking Bahkita home on Saturday morning, and on Sunday night, after she’d had a chance to settle in and get to know her new family, Traveler brought her over for a short playtime with her big brother. My pictures here are a little better, because they were both tired and therefore slower.