[ Linus, an introduction ]

Linus is my Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He was born in December '91, and my wife and I purchased him from a breeder on Valentine's Day '92.

How we became Corgi owners is an odd tale, and therefore highly appropriate to publication on the Internet.

Before we became "dog people," my wife and I were both "cat people." My wife grew up with a multitude of cats around the house, the total at the time of our dating genesis being three (though that would later increase to five). I, on the other hand, grew up without pets of either the dog or cat persuasion, as my sister and I were allergic to dog and cat hair (among others). It seems that this was an allergy that we grew out of, however. When subjected to yet another allergy test in my mid-teens, it was determined that I was no longer reacting to dog or cat hair. Ditto with my sister.

Thus, we began to petition our parents for a pet.

We eventually ended up with a cat, whom we named Tigger, and we became "cat people." Tigger's still around, living comfortably with my folks.

My wife and I would buy a kitten from a local pet store (I know, I know - this was before we were enlightened with regard to kitty and puppy mills) while in college. Lucy came to live with me in my apartment.

By now, you are likely wondering what all of this has to do with Corgis, and more importantly, our specific Corgi, Linus. Here it comes.

While in a local pet store to pick up cat supplies, we were looking over the various animals for sale. My wife saw a particular puppy she thought was really cute. Then one of the salespeople uttered one of those phrases that parents and husbands everywhere fear: "Would you like to see it and hold it?"

Now, I know what you're thinking, but let me assure you that we did not go home with that dog. We learned what kind it was - a Pembroke Welsh Corgi - and we learned that it was $600! We were just poor starving college students (ok, so we weren't that poor, and we weren't starving, but there was no way we could afford 600 smackers). Needless to say, we left with nothing but the intended cat supplies.

Alas, our thoughts kept returning to that cute pooch, however. And that's when it happened. February 12, 1992, I was perusing the classifieds of the local paper (yes, a real live actual newspaper; I realize that concept might be difficult for some of you younger surfers to grasp, but this is what you used as your search engine before the Web came along) and something pulled me toward the Pets section. Therein, I found an ad by a local breeder for Pembroke Welsh Corgi pups. I learned that she was the owner of the dame, and had one litter of pups a year. She had been using the same sire for a few years now. She had three pups left in the litter, two females and one male. I got directions to her farm (a real farm, not a puppy farm!), and two days later, on Valentine's Day, we went to get a puppy.

I will say this, before my wife decides to get the last word in: yes, we ended up getting the male, and he was the cheapest of the three. There, I said it. Honestly, the reason I fixed on the male pup was that of the three, he was the one who, upon my sitting myself on the floor, waddled over and tried to crawl into my lap. So that endeared him to me right away.

The reason the male pup was cheaper than the others were twofold. First, females are generally more expensive because, well, they're female. They carry the litter(s) and give birth. Second, the male pup was not a show-quality dog, while the females were. The male had a couple of markings of white fur that were in the "wrong" place. Like this mattered to a couple of college students who had no interest in showing or breeding a dog. We just wanted one for a pet!

So I wrote a check, received his papers, and the little pup was ours. On the drive home, we named him Linus. The cat's name was Lucy, so we thought we'd just run with the whole Peanuts theme.

That's how Linus came into our lives. More to come on his early years, and how he became the Digital Pembroke, even though he can't code a lick of HTML!

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