Three things having a corgi has taught me

This is Miso, a 14-month-old ball of fluff with a bit of an attitude problem. It’s been 14 months, but it feels like she’s been part of the family forever. We’ve had a few scares that were followed by frantic trips to the vet (and once to the ER), but the journey so far has been filled with way more ups than downs. My siblings and I still can’t quite believe we managed to wake up at six in the morning for ten weeks straight (weekends not included) to “do our homework” with Miso when she was enrolled in basic doggy obedience classes.

Needless to say, we’ve learned a lot the past year. Some of these lessons, I feel, apply a lot to life as well. Here are three of them.

1) Corgis shed. A lot.

It doesn’t matter if you brush their luscious double coats every day. You will find corgi fur everywhere. Sometimes I wake up in the morning with corgi fur in my mouth. Cleaning up corgi fur is like dealing with problems or setbacks we will inevitably face. There will always be problems. There will always be setbacks. We just got to keep trying to solve them or overcome them. If you don’t, you will be buried in corgi fur. And that might suffocate you.

2) Corgis don’t get the concept of being full. Not one bit.

It doesn’t matter if they’ve just eaten 200 grams of minced pork, a serving of brown rice, a side of broccoli, two tablespoons of plain yoghurt, and a few blueberries. That’s dinner and dessert! They will still want to eat whatever you have in your hand. Cue longing stares with those pitiful puppy eyes, while drooling all over the floor. It’s like a reflex. This is when it pays to be firm, though I admit I give in sometimes…or most of the time. Sometimes you just have to say no. If you always give in regardless of the situation, people are going to learn to take advantage of you. Like a corgi.

3) Corgis can get very temperamental.

Some days they let you run your hands all over their bellies, paws and ears. Some days they come up real close to you and place their paw any part of your body within reach. Some days they just don’t want you sitting anywhere close to them. Corgis can get very temperamental and they make it very clear that they’re just not that into you…well, at least at that point in time they aren’t. You can’t expect your corgi to want to play with you all the time and be happy while doing so. Just like how you can’t expect other people to behave a certain way all the time. Best course of action? Give them space (and perhaps a treat).