AELWYD CARDIGAN WELSH CORGIS |
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ARE WE BLUE? Blue merle is an interesting, unusual and sometimes difficult color. It is actually not a color but a color modifier, acting as a bleaching agent on black pigment. A blue merle is really a black & white dog (with tan or brindle points) with the dominant merle modifier that has been referred to as a 'semi-albino' and a 'semi-lethal' gene. A normal blue merle may show the effects of this bleaching action in the eyes with blue or china spots or completely blue eye(s). The nose leather may also be spotted, called a "butterfly" nose. A normal blue merle is a perfectly healthy and fit companion or working dog, even with some of these minor color variations. Caution in breeding merles is recommended because if two merles are bred together it is possible for some puppies to inherit two merle genes and they may be born with vision and/or hearing problems. Accepted practice in Cardigan Welsh Corgis is to breed blue merles only to black & white (with tan or brindle points) dogs. It is a violation of the CWCCA Code of Ethics to breed merles to any red or brindle dogs and any merles other than blue (grey) are disqualified from AKC breed ring competition. Although we have occasionally bred blue merles it has been very rarely. If you are interested in this lovely and unique color you may wish to contact my good friend Marilyn Boissonneault, of Aberwyvern Cardigans, who specializes in this color.
Our web site would not be complete without a tribute to BRIG, one of the most outstanding dogs in the breed, and the one who sold us on Cardigans all those years ago. Brig was the sire of our foundation dog Donner, he was the sire of Moonshine whose great-grandson Selkirk won the breed's first Best In Show in Canada. He was the first Cardigan to win all AKC titles then available to the breed. He was a Group placer in the old days when Cardigans were in the Working Group. He was a Top Ten Sire and a Register Of Merit Sire. He was skilled at working livestock. Brig was bred by Peg & Ray Hickel and owned by Helen & Bill Cramer. Most of the Cardigans on these pages and many of our current dogs are his descendants.
American & Canadian Champion Aelwyd Blue Dragon Flame Ch. Coedwig Marbled Birtch CD X Ch. Aelwyd Mor-Forwyn Flame was the pick puppy in his sire's first litter. He was sold to a lady who was confined to a wheelchair, but her dream was to have a champion show dog. Many friends contributed to her success by helping show Blue Flame in the United States and Canada. Flame set a record for the breed in 1984 when he became the youngest Group placer in the history of the breed with TWO Group placements before he was eight months old. He was used to illustrate the standard in a special on the breed in the Brazilian dog magazine Caes Y Companhia. Flame produced a puppy in Canada who finished his championship and placed in the adult Group at the age of six months and three weeks.
Canadian Champion Finnshavn Aelwyd Dragonslayer Am/Can Ch. Aelwyd Blue Dragon Flame X Can/Am/Bda. Ch. Bawyni's Sweet Molly McGee "Killer," a perfect creampuff of a puppy, was six months and three weeks old when he finished his Canadian championship and took this Group placement under the well known judge Melbourne Downing. Killer, like his sire Flame, is blue merle with brindle points. |
American
& Mexican Champion Pera Brigwyn Blue, UDT, PCE
