An Introduction to Balletcor Corgis

We are based in Haverfordwest the county town of the beautiful county of Pembrokeshire (Home of the Pembroke Corgi)

We got our first corgi Swinford Buttons from County Mayo in 2008. We showed her in Ireland and the UK then decided to breed with her.

Our Kennel name Balletcor was first registered in Ireland and then with the British Kennel Club.  Ballet means Bale in Irish and Cor means small dog in Welsh.

Our first encounter in breeding was not very successful as going to a “Top Champion” we only got one puppy in the litter, a fluffy, Balletcor Gemini Summer Special who has since gone on to have four litters herself, some puppies from those litters went on to be champions.

We then met our friend Martin V McNamara from Marshmere Lodge in County Wexford, whose family has been breeding Corgis for nearly 40 years. We used his gorgeous dog George (Startori Andreas) and in 2010 Buttons had a litter of 8 puppies, 4 male, and 4 female. We kept 2 of that litter Balletcor Michaels Sands of Time and Balletcor Angel of Hope and had some success in showing and along with their mother went to Crufts in 2011.

We acquired George (Startori Andreas) in late 2010 when he was 4½ and already a successful stud. With us he went on to sire large litters with our non related girls. Later he went to live with friends in Devon and at the age of 13 unfortunately died last year, but his offspring live on to have success here and abroad. 

One of Georges sons, Balletcor Gabriel Goch ( Ir Jun Champion) went to live with Vincent in 2013 and has sired many litters of 6- 8 puppies for him.  Two of our other studs Merlyn (Multy Ch Balletcor Magicians Magic Ir Jun Ch CJW14 ShCM) and Zac (Ir Ch Balletcors Wonderous Collaboration Ir Jn Ch) have also spent time in Ireland doing successful stud work. These have now been followed by Balletcor Knights Crusade (Ir Junior Ch), DM and vWD clear. All our dogs are registered with the Irish Kennel Club and everytime on has a litter the litter paperwork showing microchip details, KC registration numbers and the pups kennel names is posted to us as evidence that the dog has been used.

We first started to import dogs from the United States in 2011 when Porscha (Ir Ch Milkyweys Wildflower at Balletcor Ir Vet Ch ShCM) came to us and then we started to work with Mary Marshall, hence where Zac and Zoe came from. Brothers of Zac and Zoe still in the States are now American Champions.

It was through breeders in the States that we met our Dutch friends Gertrude and John of Limbonsnests who also have American dogs. We have since taken Amy (Balletcor American Patrol Ir Jun Ch) and Zoe (Ir Ch Balletcors Own Maiden from Arizona Ir Ju Ch) to Holland to breed with the dogs there and puppies from both of the litters have gone on to have success here and abroad. 

In 2017 Merlyn went to Holland to stay with the Limbonests kennel to do stud work and be shown. He was successful and came back to us as an International Champion.

Testing

As all dogs that are used for breeding in the States and on the Continent have to be Hip Scored and tested for DM and vWD we started our programme of testing all the dogs in our kennel in 2012. This allows us to know which dogs to use with which to achieve the best results to stamp out these horrible avoidable diseases. Porscha, Zac and Zoe were already tested when they came into us. We don’t use the British labs to test we use the ones in the States where they and all the Dutch dogs were tested.

We are the first Pembroke Corgi breeders in the UK to test our entire kennel.

We strived to breed an all clear DM and vWD litter and achieved this in 2018 with all 6 puppies from Zoe (vwd clear and DM carrier and Ryder Clear Clear all testing DM clear. One of this litter Prince, (Balletcor Prince Charming) has gone to Japan for stud work and for showing because he is clear.

Other puppies in litters we have since tested have gone to new owners who specifically want puppies who will not develop DM in later life. All new owners of our puppies get a copy of the lab results when they have a puppy from us.

We breed twice a year usually in the autumn and winter months.