Welcome to the world of Corgis

Let's dive into the diversity available in Corgis

I'll go over the different coat options corgis have to offer, the different colors they come in, a tiny bit of the genetics behind these differences and provide pictures to give you a visual example. Towards the end, I'll also discuss the differences between our American Corgis and Pembrokes.

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All the dogs and puppies shown here, just like the rest of our website, are exclusively Magnolia Creek Corgis - dogs we own or have owned as well as dogs and puppies we produced.

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Coat Types

Standard Coat

Standard coats have the "traditional" looking short fur. These coats are more slick, short and less dense than the other two coat types, but ironically are the worst for shedding. While this coat is great for a low maintenance "wash and wear" type lifestyle - expect corgi "glitter" everywhere - all the time. Daily fur bunnies and corgi fur tumbleweeds around your house will be the norm. You'll sit in utter amazement every single time you brush your adult corgi and wonder first how on earth such a relatively small dog can shed that much fur followed shortly by the thought of wondering how your corgi isn't bald by now because somehow they have shed more hair than you thought they had to begin with. But remember - corgis don't shed (yes they do), they emit magical fibers of love and joy everywhere they go (also true).

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Glamour Coat

Standard Coat

There isn't always much of a drastic difference visually between glamour coats and standard coats. This coat is what is typically seen on most corgis in the show ring. They still sport a low maintenance coat of short fur but it is more plush and a wave in the coat along the back, extra booty floof and potential leg feathering is common. Slightly less shedding is expected. Glamour coats are a bit tricky in the sense that there are 2 causes for it - one being unknown and seemingly completely random and unpredictable. The more common and easier predict cause is that the dog carries one copy of the fluff (or length) gene that makes a fluff corgi. Having only one of these recessive traits doesn't give them the long flowing locks of an actual fluff, but does make their coats a bit more dense and full.

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Fluff Coat

Standard Coat

Fluff Coat

Fluff coats have long, luxurious fur - more like a sheltie or aussie. Though the recessive genes that cause fluff corgis has always been possible in purebred Pembrokes and Cardigans alike, for decades the fluff puppies were considered such a fault and so taboo that most breeders hid them (and worse) if they had fluff puppies pop up in a litter. Today, many people embrace them and their more unique appearance. They do have higher grooming requirements, but - here's that irony again - definitely shed the least. Rather than daily tumbleweeds of corgi fur, you might find a few random hairs here and there in most cases. They need regular brushing every few days to prevent matting of the fur and I strongly recommend blow drying after any baths or water play time.

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Coat Colors

Red and Whites

Red and white corgis are generally considered "classic" corgis. It's not even uncommon for people to think corgis only come in this color. For decades, this was the most popular color in dog shows and of course - the queen of England and her many red and white corgis also kept this as one of the most well known colors.

Genetically, all "red and white" corgis have the same color genes as the similar sable colored corgis. This can make it very hard to predict adult coat color on corgi puppies unless there is some other factor genetically with the parents to help narrow it down. While reds may look very similar to some sables, sables can be significantly darker depending on how much sable shows in their coat. This is the difference between what we call reds (which are really sables who aren't showing any sable coloring/don't have black hairs scattered through their coat) and what we call sables which do show sable coloring (black hairs) in varying degrees.

Both Pembrokes and American Corgis can come in red and white color.

Sables

So, we've discussed how sables and reds are similar - but they can also be quite different if you compare a really light version of a "red and white", commonly called a fawn with a richly dark sable. Most sables tend to be light to medium in color with black hairs misted throughout their coat - typically seen on the back, base of tail (or nub) and on the head and edges of ears which create a "mask". Further down you can look through a gallery I've put together of several Magnolia Creek Corgi dogs who are all sable to show some of the variations in coloration that despite their differences, are all sables.

Both Pembrokes and American Corgis can come in a variety of shades of sable.

Tri Colors

There are 2 main categories of tri colored corgis, with a 3rd sub-category. First we have red headed tris (RH) - these dogs are usually born looking the same as any other tri colored corgi (with certain signs you can look for to distinguish them apart) but as they mature - the black on their heads, ears and often times legs and hips will change over to a red or sable coloring. Sometimes, the only black they keep as adults is on their backs like a saddle (think saddle back Germans Shepherd markings).

Next, we have black headed tris (BH) and for the most part, the color they are born with is almost exactly how they will turn out as adults. They have black bodies with tan markings along the legs, cheeks and defined eye brows with individualized white markings.

Lastly, we have an in-between tri which is sometimes called a "capped" RH tri or also referred to as a BH factored RH tri. This is a tri dog who only got one black headed tri gene, so they don't stay black headed, but also don't fade into red as significantly as true RH tris do. They typically keep most of their black bodies and while their ears and a portion of their heads and faces fade to red, they tend to keep a black cap on their heads between their ears.

Both Pembrokes and American Corgis can be any of the three versions of tri color.

Pictured is a BH Tri but keep scrolling to see a gallery full of Magnolia Creek Corgis examples of RH, BH and BH factored/capped RH tris - can you spot the differences?!

Merle

Merle is actually a pattern rather than a stand alone color - but when a dog inherits a copy of the merle gene from a parent, they too will be merle. Merle is an absolutely amazing gene that is extremely complex. We're not going to dive into all those complexities here, but we'll cover the basics. With merle not being an actual color, but a gene that effects the actual base color of a dog - any of the above colors can also come in a merle pattern - red merle, sable merle and tri merles - which in Corgis are referred to as "blue merles". They can also come in any of the three coat types and/or also be effected by the dilute gene which we'll discuss below.

With blue merles - the merle gene randomly changes patches of the dogs coat that would be black, into a beautiful blue/gray color and leaves other patches or spots unaffected which gives the blue merles that stunning black spot on a gray coat appearance..

In red and sable merles - the merle gene again lightens the base color of red or sable in certain spots on the dogs coat and leaves other areas dark - however this is most noticeable at birth and then does tend to fade significantly as the dog matures, some ended up looking like solid red dogs as adults.

Blue eyes is extremely common in our merle puppies which stay blue for the dogs entire life

This coat pattern is ONLY available in American Corgis! No matter what you see out on the internet about "Merle Pembrokes", they don't exist and DO have something else crossed in to get that coloring.

Scroll down for a gallery of merles!

Dilutes/Bluies

There is another gene - the dilute gene - that also isn't a stand alone color, but is another modifier of the base color. In corgis, we call dogs with two copies of this gene bluies (pronounced blue-ies). Like the fluff gene, the dilute gene is a recessive gene that will go unseen in a dog who only has one dilute gene - it takes two dilute genes to be able to visually see the difference. This gene dilutes the dogs natural base coat color (red, sable or tri) as well as their skin pigment (nose, eye rims, etc. will be blue/slate gray rather than true black) and typically gives the dogs a really unique not quite blue, not quite green, not quite brown eye color as well. A dilute/bluie will not have any true black in either their coat nor their skin features.

For another example of this coloring in a breed - it is quite common in Bulldogs and the entire Weimaraner breed, known for it's ghosty silver-gray fur, is built around this gene.

Both Pembrokes and American Corgis can come in dilute coloring as well as all three coat types AND merle Americans can also come in dilute merle or bluie merle as well!