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Cardigan Welsh Corgi — BetterBred Breed Page – BetterBred.com
BetterBred Breed Profile

Cardigan Welsh Corgi

Temperament: Rugged, family-oriented working dogs with kind temperaments and the intelligence and trainability of a real herding breed. Cardigan Welsh Corgis are loyal, good with children, and adapt well to various households given real daily exercise. They are more reserved than Pembrokes and retain strong working instincts.
Height: 10.5-12.5 inches (27-32 cm)
Weight: Males: 30-38 pounds (14-17 kg), Females: 25-34 pounds (11-15 kg)
Life Span: 12-15 years
Outlier Index ?
0.48
Born before 2016: 0.46 Born after 2024: —
Avg Genetic Rel. ?
-0.07
Born before 2016: -0.07 Born after 2024: —
Internal Relatedness ?
0.04
Born before 2016: 0.06 Born after 2024: —
Cardigan Welsh Corgi
#NameGender OIAGRIR
1 Wind Of Grand Monika TKN VHMA F 0.52 -0.13 0.07
2 Telltail Macsen Y Marchog Coch M 0.52 -0.12 0.07
3 Roland Ladyhawke F 0.44 -0.04 -0.02
4 Phi-Vestavia Cub Run Strawberry Fields Forever F 0.54 -0.11 0.05
5 Frivolity Sioux City Sarsaparilla F 0.57 -0.07 -0.11
6 All Trade Dr Who M 0.62 -0.06 -0.18
7 Waggerland Space Cowboy M 0.55 -0.10 0.14
8 CH Aurora Dare To Dream F 0.47 -0.07 0.06
9 CH Badagri Breakdance M 0.45 -0.09 0.19
10 Raglan Bullwinkle J Moose M 0.57 -0.09 -0.05
The Cardigan Welsh Corgi is one of Britain's oldest breeds, said to descend from both the long-low Teckel family (which produced the Dachshund) and from Spitz-type breeds. A true drover, the Cardigan is a working cattle dog that has reportedly existed in Wales for roughly 3,000 years, nipping at the heels of cattle to move them to market and dodging kicks with its low, sturdy frame. The Cardigan and the Pembroke Welsh Corgi were once considered varieties of one breed but were recognized as separate breeds in 1934. The Cardigan is the rarer of the two today.
View Official Breed Standard →
Hip dysplasia, progressive retinal atrophy, degenerative myelopathy (DNA test available), and lymphoma are the main concerns. Intervertebral disc disease occurs given the breed's long back and short legs. DM and PRA both have DNA tests the breed community actively uses.
VGL has reported Cardigan Welsh Corgis carrying an average of around 5.55 alleles across the 33 STR loci, with an effective allele count near 3.21. Those are moderate numbers - narrower than populous breeds but reasonable given the Cardigan's small worldwide population. Rare alleles deserve deliberate preservation. VGL testing has found Cardigan Welsh Corgis with observed heterozygosity slightly below expected, giving a small positive inbreeding coefficient. That is a modest signal consistent with the breed's long-closed studbook. Individual IR values vary and breeders should continue prioritizing less related pairings.

Average metrics by birth year for dogs with recorded birthdates in the BetterBred database.

A 3D genetic map of enrolled Cardigan Welsh Corgi dogs in the BetterBred database, based on allele-sharing distance across 33 STR loci. This is not a complete picture of the breed — it reflects only dogs whose owners have enrolled them. Drag to rotate · scroll to zoom · hover for dog names (public profiles only).

Historical founders — oldest 25% of enrolled dogs     Current gene pool — most recent 50% of enrolled dogs
Building plot… this may take a minute for larger breeds.

The Dog Leukocyte Antigen (DLA) region controls immune function and is the most polymorphic portion of the canine genome. Every dog carries two sets of DLA haplotypes — one from each parent — which almost never recombine across generations. Frequency percentages reflect how often each haplotype appears across all allele copies in the breed, not the percentage of dogs carrying it.

Class I Haplotypes

HaplotypeFrequency
1045
30.9%
1012
25.0%
1104
16.2%
1066
11.8%
1033
8.8%
1207
5.9%
1208
1.5%

Class II Haplotypes

HaplotypeFrequency
2039
29.4%
2003
25.0%
2017
16.2%
2007
11.8%
2035
8.8%
2040
7.4%
2065
1.5%

Class I & II Combinations

Class IClass IIFrequency
1045 2039
29.4%
1012 2003
25.0%
1104 2017
16.2%
1066 2007
11.8%
1033 2035
8.8%
1207 2040
5.9%
1045 2040
1.5%
1208 2065
1.5%

The Canine Diversity Test from UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory is the foundation of BetterBred’s breed management tools. Testing your dog adds to the breed database and gives you access to the full suite of breeding analysis tools.

Order from UC Davis VGL →
OI
Outlier Index

The Outlier Index (OI) measures how unusual a dog’s allele combination is relative to the tested population of its breed. A higher OI means the dog carries alleles at lower frequencies across the breed — genetic variants that are underrepresented in the population as a whole.

Dogs with high OI are genetically valuable because they carry diversity that most other tested dogs don’t share. Breeding them thoughtfully into the broader population helps redistribute lower-frequency alleles rather than allowing them to become even rarer over generations.

The breed average shown here reflects all dogs tested in the BetterBred database. The senior and youngster comparisons show whether diversity is trending up or down in recent generations.
AGR
Average Genetic Relatedness

Average Genetic Relatedness (AGR) measures how similar a dog’s DNA is, on average, to every other tested dog in the breed. It reflects the dog’s mean kinship — how closely related it is to the population as a whole.

A lower AGR means the dog is more genetically distinct from the majority of the breed. Dogs with low AGR carry alleles at lower frequencies across the tested population, making them higher-priority candidates for inclusion in a well-managed breeding program.

AGR is conceptually related to mean kinship used in conservation genetics for managed species populations. A declining AGR average in younger dogs suggests the breed is successfully redistributing genetic diversity across generations.
IR
Internal Relatedness

Internal Relatedness (IR) measures how much identical genetic material an individual dog inherited from both parents. IR is a useful indicator of inbreeding: lower IR generally reflects lower inbreeding, and it is widely used and reported in the scientific literature.

A high IR is not the cause for alarm it might appear. Elevated IR can often be resolved in a single generation by pairing with a dog whose ancestry is less represented in the breed. It is a signpost, not a sentence.

BetterBred reports IR for reference, but it is not our primary breeding guidance tool. OI and AGR together give a more complete and actionable picture of a dog’s genetic value to the population.

AGR tells you which dogs are genetically unusual relative to the population. OI tells you which dogs are most valuable to preserve. OI specifically weights mid-frequency alleles, identifying dogs whose ancestry is underrepresented in a way most likely to benefit the breed.