Our Fox

Below is a picture I snapped of Suraya and our Welsh Corgi right after we picked her up from the breeder. Welsh Corgis have only recently been popularized in America, and are still far more popular in England where they are known as the Queen's dog. Queen Elizabeth has six or so. They are mainly herding dogs, so their personalities are atypical. They stay small and have been characterized as "big dogs in little dog bodies." In other words, they don't yap constantly, jump on you, lick, etc. This was a decision that came after a ton of thought and research, and mainly at the kid's/Sean's behest. My arm had to be twisted just a little ;) Last year, we owned a cat for a brief stint. He was too scratchy and smelly for my taste (not the cat itself, but the box), so we gave him up.

Our Corgi is purebred and from pedigreed parents, so we are hoping that she is trainable and proves to be well-behaved. Good breeders will take their dogs back, so we still have that option (although the kids/Sean are very happy with her). Me--eh, I am still learning. I've never owned a dog. She will start formal training in 2 weeks. We names her Tello, which is the Anglicized version of Ta'alo,Syriac for fox. Sean's the Syriac expert, so I'll take his word.

One of the most identifying features (as posted in the picture of the full-grown dog below) is their upright ears. If they don't stand up on their own, they are supposed to undergo surgery. Tello's are just now standing on their own; they are were very floppy in the beginning, unless we tilted her forward (like suraya is doing in the first picture). If she was looking up, however, her ears would fall back. The wait sorted reminded me of waiting for Suraya's and Susu's plugged tear ducts to open when they were babies (i.e., hoping that no operation would be necessary)!


Pickup day:






Queen Elizabeth II's dogs getting out of an aircraft (how is that for being spoiled?)
Full grown: