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Do Corgis And Golden Retrievers Get Along?

Do Corgis And Golden Retrievers Get Along?

Knowing that corgis are very friendly and that the golden retrievers are the golden standard of a house dog, the question of “do corgis and golden retrievers get along” arises.

Unfortunately, there’s no universal answer to this question. As you know, all dog breeds (and all dogs) are different. Some might share some similar personality traits, but that’s not guaranteed by anyone.

I know I was keen on learning how my corgi can improve on its relationship with other dogs, and I assume you are as well. To learn about this and perhaps pick up on some socialization tricks, keep your eyes peeled!

Just remember like with people, there’s no rushing with dogs either. Take your time, be patient and show love to your pet at all times.

Corgis & Goldies

These two dogs originate from the United Kingdom. This means they’ve most certainly run into each other a couple of times. These two breeds aren’t strangers to one another and have been in the same households for a very long time. Keep this in mind going forward.

Both corgis and golden retrievers are working dogs. There’s a little bit of difference between the jobs they are bred to do, but one thing binds them together, and that’s the fact that regardless of their primary purpose, they have been amongst the favorite house dogs for a while.

Welsh corgis are herding dogs primarily meaning they are designed to take care of the herd and defend them from a variety of potential attackers.

On the other side, we have golden retrievers. Many people don’t know the fact that these dogs originated as hunting dogs (thus the name retriever). They’ve been bred to assist hunters in finding and retrieving the prey.

In the last 20 or so years, these dogs have been heavily used as house dogs because of how good they are with people and especially little children.

But, let’s not get too far from the subject. The fact that both of those breeds are working dogs show that they are full of energy and need to be trained in a specific way. Another thing that originates from this information is that they can be very territorial (but more on that later).

Corgi Character

These dogs have been popularised through social media (and thanks to their butts), and have been presented as cute and harmless dogs in every scenario.

This isn’t far from the truth, but the information you get from the internet is not completely true. These dogs can have some hard-to-handle characteristics and are not beginner-friendly dogs in all cases.

Corgis are a fantastic family and house dogs when they’ve been well trained and exercised regularly. Other than that, they can become very destructive if they feel like they have a surplus of energy.

Another thing these dogs have a tendency to do is to set their own specific set of rules that they follow. This happens just in cases where corgi owners don’t set the rules straight from the start.

Be careful about this because once the corgi sets its own rules, you’ll have a much harder time bringing your own rules to the game than before that.

Golden Retriever Character

Goldies are known as some of the best household dogs you can find. These caring and happy dogs are fantastic with children and are easily trainable.

Besides these characteristics, the hunting mentality of these dogs helps them be very protective of their family and the house or yard they live in. Not all goldies have the same levels of defensive and territorial instincts, but they always have it on some levels.

Golden retrievers are also quite known for their good behavior around other dogs. This can’t be ignored because when talking about this there are almost no excuses. These dogs really are on their best behavior the majority of the time.

They’ll start to get aggressive only if they feel threatened or if they see their loved ones being threatened.

Do Corgis And Golden Retrievers Get Along?

As I’ve mentioned earlier, there’s no definitive answer to this question and it all depends on the situation. There are multiple scenarios where corgis might run into golden retrievers and because there isn’t a universal answer, I’ll list them here:

Dog Park

This is the most common situation where the encounter of these two breeds can happen. Assuming your corgi is well trained and listens to its owner (and partially going for any other dog there) there shouldn’t be any problem.

Corgis, being territorial, can sense the smell of too many dogs to claim the park as their territory. This prevents them from being defensive or aggressively dominant which will drastically decrease the possibility of a fight. 

Golden retrievers aren’t that dominant a dog, so they won’t pose a direct threat to your corgi. Your dog will sense that and act accordingly. If you see a goldie taking an attacker stance, you should approach its owner and ask if it’s friendly. If in the off chance the answer is negative, keep your dog away from that golden retriever.

But most of the time your corgi will get along with every other dog in the dog park including golden retrievers. Just keep an eye out for the owners, as they can tell you a lot about their dog!

Same Household

If you have a corgi and are thinking about getting a retriever (or vice versa), there are a few things you need to know depending on your current situation:

  1. If you own a corgibe careful when bringing another dog into the house. Corgis are extremely territorial and can read another dog as a threat. Keep it slow and easy and give your dog time to adjust.
  2. If you have a goldie – your dog will see another dog as a playtime partner most of the time, so there shouldn’t be any problems in this scenario. Just keep an eye out on the little corgi as it will probably try to have its way with a much bigger dog.
  3. If both are puppies – if you want two puppies in your house, one of golden retriever and one of corgi breed, you’ll have to be the arbiter there. Corgis are a much more dominant breed and will impose their rules on dogs who are more obedient than them.

Keep one thing in mind when getting a second dog – you are always the owner, and both of them should listen to you simultaneously! If one dog is obedient and another isn’t, the obedient one may lose its obedience led by a bad example of the other dog.

Corgis are as stubborn as they’re cute. You need to work on your corgi to prevent it from being a bad influence on the goldie (or any other dog for that matter). They aren’t prone to doing this, but it’s certainly a possibility that you need to get into consideration.

Size Difference

You shouldn’t forget about the fact that corgis weigh between 10 and 14 kilograms and golden retrievers are much heavier at around 25 to 34 kilograms. This shouldn’t pose a problem for either, but rather balance the relationship between these two dogs.

Goldie (being the bigger dog) asserts its dominance with its size, and corgis compensate by being a character dominant dog in that duo. Keep an eye out for potential fights that can break from this.

Corgis can be very tiring for other dogs. They are known for nibbling the back legs of dogs which they think to fall under their responsibility just to get them going. Alongside that, they can also be very loud in some situations trying to outbark the much bigger golden retriever.

These situations can be prevented by bringing your dogs closer to each other – that way they’ll see each other as a companion and not as rivals.

Male Vs Female

This is the last important thing that you should take into consideration when thinking about corgis and golden retrievers.

The safest option there is: a male corgi and a female goldie. This combination allows the female golden retriever to fight off the male corgi when in heat. It’s practically impossible for the male corgi to impregnate a female golden retriever.

A male goldie and a female corgi are safe as well, just keep an eye out on your male when the female corgi is in heat.

Possibly the two of the least optimal options are two males of two females. If you have a male corgi and a male golden retriever there is a possibility of them fighting for territorial dominance their whole life. Goldies are much bigger so they might come on top, and your corgi won’t like that.

If you have two females that are in heat for the most part, that can be dangerous as well. Hormones that are produced during heat can make your females quite aggressive to one another and that can cause some troubles.

Having a big and open yard helps a ton with these kinds of problems. If you give enough space to your dogs while in heat, that can significantly decrease the possibility of there being a conflict. This is how I utilize my backyard and it has worked pretty fine so far.


Summation

Both of these breeds are a fantastic addition to your house. Even if you own a corgi and stumble upon a goldie in a dog park, you shouldn’t expect much tension between those two.

And like with the rest of your dog’s character, you’re the criteria number one, so keep that in mind. Your dog will behave as you taught it to behave.

So, socialize your corgi, make it accepting of other dogs (especially if you plan on getting another dog for the family) and be patient when it comes to parenting!

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