Crufts Dog Show 1927

Charles Cruft was always keen to gain publicity for his show when 'new' breeds were shown there for the first time, just as the Kennel Club is today, and you can often find pieces about these breeds in the local and national press at the time of the event.

The Cruft's Show in 1927 was the first time the Corgi had been seen there and I've previously posted details of the catalogue which reveals that the classes allocated to Corgis had a judge who preferred the Cardigan type. The Pembroke enthusiasts (what is now the Welsh Corgi Club) held their own classes with their own judge!

The depth and intensity of the rivalry between the supporters of each type was 'news' in itself as is obvious from this report on the day which appeared in the Belfast Telegraph. I'm sure other papers would have similar stories if we could only find them.

As ever, news reporters don't always get things quite right and I'm intrigued and amused by the concept of the Pembroke variety being less than four inches high!

Simon Parsons
Facebook, 09.05.2021


CRUFTS SHOW OPENED
CANINE NOVELTIES AT ISLINGTON

WHEN IS CORGI NOT CORGI?
RIVALRY OF WELSH FANCIERS

An interesting question no doubt suggested itself to visitors to Cruft's Dog Show in the Agricultural Hall, Islington, today, when they viewed the corgi, which made its first appearance in London. It was: "When is a corgi not a corgi!"
The answer is - when it slips over the border from Pembrokeshire to Cardiganshire. Similarly when it leaves Cardiganshire for Pembrokeshire.
"Look at that strange animal" a Pembroke countryman would say. "What is it?" No man in Pembroke would dare call it a corgi."
There are two schools of corgi thought in wild west Wales. There is the Welsh Corgi Society, whose members say that no corgi is a corgi unless it is less than four inches high, weighs about 25 lbs., is red, or red and white in colour, has a short tail, and a head like a fox with ears like those of a dwarf Alsatian. Then there is the Cardigan Corgi Society, whose members say that a dog with a short tail cannot be a corgi, and as to the colour - let the dog be any colour it likes except white.

BEST DODGER OF COW'S KICK

There is one thing common to both corgis. They can dodge a cow's kick better than any dog on earth. Their plan of campaign is to yap and snap at the animal's heels and then drop flat to earth.* When the beast lashes out behind the corgi is not there. "Heeler" is the Welsh nickname for the corgi and it fits.

*) Quote from John Holmes: The Corgi as a Cattle Dog (1947):
I have heard different descriptions of the Corgi's method of avoiding kicks, the most usual one being that every time it grips a heel it claps down flat, but I wonder where the cattle would be if it spent at least half it's time lying down and getting up.
It avoids being kicked with practically one hundred per cent success by a much simpler method than that, and is assisted in so doing by it's low stature. It grips very low, in the tender part just above the hoof, and as it does so, it keeps moving forward in the same direction as the bullock, at the same time swerving slightly to one side or the other depending on which heel it has gripped. The bullock usually lashes out at where the Corgi was a split second beforehand. Even if it misjudges it's movement, which is very unusual, it still has it's head nearly on the ground, and the nearest I have ever seen to a Corgi being kicked was a mud mark across the back of the neck.

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www.welshcorgi-news.ch
20.05.2021