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50 free Pembroke Welsh Corgi trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Pembroke Welsh Corgi trivia quiz covers the little cattle dog of Pembrokeshire from every angle: what 'corgi' means in Welsh, the Spitz ancestry and Flemish settlers of 1107, how the Pembroke differs from the Cardigan, the fox-like head, weights and speed, the 'fluffy' fault, the tax-law reason tails were docked, the fairy saddle and the Tylwyth Teg. Breed-club history runs from the 1925 Corgi Club in Carmarthen and Shan Fach's 1928 championship through the 1934 split, Little Madam's £12 purchase at Paddington and the Vulnerable Native Breeds list. The royal corgis get a full section: Dookie, Susan and her honeymoon under the rugs, the biting record, dorgis and Pipkin, wicker baskets, the tipsy footman, the 2012 Bond sketch, Willow, and the puppies of 2021. Pop culture rounds it off with Ein of Cowboy Bebop, Cheddar of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Corgi Toys and The Queen's Corgi. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our Dogs and Queen Elizabeth II quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What does the word 'corgi' mean in Welsh?
Dwarf dog
It compounds cor (dwarf) and ci (dog), which mutates to gi.
Q 02The Pembroke Welsh Corgi was originally bred to herd which animals?
Cattle
As 'heelers' they nipped at the heels of the beasts and ducked the kicks thanks to their low build.
Q 03Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire, home of the two corgi breeds, lie in which part of the country?
West Wales
They are adjoining historical agricultural counties.
Q 04The Pembroke Welsh Corgi descends from which family of dogs?
Spitz
Flemish settlers are thought to have brought continental Spitz types such as Pomeranians and Schipperkes to Pembrokeshire.
Q 05How many royal corgis did Queen Elizabeth II own during her reign?
More than 30
She had at least one from 1933 to 2018 and stopped breeding them so none would outlive her.
Q 06Where does the Pembroke Welsh Corgi rank in Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs?
11th
Coren calls it an excellent working dog; its stubborn streak still makes training a challenge.
Q 07How does the Pembroke differ physically from the Cardigan Welsh Corgi?
Shorter body, smaller ears, straighter legs
The Cardigan is also heavier and carries a much longer tail.
Q 08The breed standard says a Pembroke's head should resemble that of which animal?
A fox
The erect ears sit in proportion to the equilateral triangle of the head.
Q 09How much does a Pembroke Welsh Corgi usually weigh?
22 to 27 lb
They stand only 8 to 12 inches and live around 13 years.
Q 10The Pembroke's double coat is naturally water- and dirt-repellent, except in which long-coated variant?
'Fluffies'
The long, thin coat comes from a recessive gene and counts as a breed fault.
Q 11Why, historically, were Pembroke Welsh Corgi tails docked?
To prove they were herding dogs and dodge a tax
The Cardigan, an equally hard-working herder, was never docked, which gives the game away.
Q 12The AKC standard says a Pembroke's tail should be docked to no longer than what?
2 inches
The Kennel Club, UKC and FCI all allow intact tails in the show ring, and docking is illegal in the UK.
Q 13At what age are most Pembroke puppies' tails docked, where it is still legal?
2 to 5 days old
Some outlying Pembrokes are born with naturally short tails.
Q 21At the 1934 split, how many dogs of each breed were listed in the pedigree books?
240 Pembrokes and 59 Cardigans
Cardigans stayed rarer, with only 11 registered in 1940.
Q 22The first Corgi championship, at Cardiff in 1928, went to a red and white Pembroke bitch named what?
Shan Fach
The Welsh Corgi had first appeared at Crufts the year before.
Q 23Where, and for how much, did Lewis Roesler buy Little Madam, the first Pembroke in the US?
At London's Paddington Station for £12
Q 14Young Pembrokes are known to nip at their owners' ankles. Why?
It is what they were bred to do with cattle
They also love to dig holes and chase anything that moves.
Q 15A 2024 UK study found what life expectancy for the Pembroke Welsh Corgi?
13.2 years
That beats the purebred average of 12.7 years.
Q 16The Pembroke Welsh Corgi is described as achondroplastic, meaning it is what?
A 'true dwarf' breed
The dwarf build brings its own health issues, alongside inherited ones like degenerative myelopathy.
Q 17The lineage of the Pembroke Welsh Corgi has been traced back to which year?
AD 1107
That dates it to the Flemish plantations settled in Pembrokeshire after the Norman invasion of Wales.
Q 18The Cardigan Welsh Corgi is thought to date from the arrival of which culture around 1200 BCE?
Celtic
The Welsh Corgi article also links the Cardigan to Norse settlers and the Swedish Vallhund.
Q 19The Corgi Club was founded in December 1925 in which Welsh town?
Carmarthen
Local members favoured the Pembroke, so Cardigan fanciers set up their own club a year or so later.
Q 20In which year did the Kennel Club recognise the Pembroke and Cardigan as separate breeds?
1934
They had been recognised together as 'Welsh Corgis' in 1928; owners sometimes chose which breed their dog belonged to.
The AKC registered Welsh Corgis as a single breed in 1934, with Little Madam the first.
Q 24In 1953 the Pembroke ranked fourth in Kennel Club popularity behind the Cocker Spaniel, German Shepherd and which breed?
The Pekingese
Postwar Britain loved the corgi; the decline came later, blamed partly on temperament.
Q 25How many Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppies were registered in 2013, putting the breed on the Kennel Club's Vulnerable list?
241
The Telegraph blamed the 2006 ban on cosmetic tail docking; Instagram was credited with the 34 per cent bounce in 2015.
Q 26The Kennel Club credited the Pembroke's UK revival partly to which Netflix series?
The Crown
The breed came off the at-risk list in 2018 with 456 puppies registered in December 2017.
Q 27Where did the Pembroke Welsh Corgi rank in AKC registrations in 2024?
15th
It was 24th in 2012 and 11th in 2020; corgi meetups in US cities draw hundreds of dogs.
Q 28In Welsh folklore, corgis are said to have been gifted to human children by whom?
The Tylwyth Teg (fairies)
The dogs are said to have served as war horses for the fairies before herding for humans.
Q 29What is the 'fairy saddle' on a corgi?
A line of rougher fur at the base of the haunches
Legend has it the marks were left by fairy riders.
Q 30How fast can a fit Pembroke Welsh Corgi run?
Up to 25 mph
They use more upper-body strength than most dogs, which also helps in agility and herding.