Meet Our New Corgi Puppy, Duke!

Welcome to part 2 of our new blog series focused on all things puppy. If you haven’t gotten the chance, read part 1: The Biggest Mistakes We Made as New Puppy Parents!

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HE’S HERE! To all of our readers, please meet our new cardigan corgi puppy, Duke. After we announced the exciting news of our new addition to our family on Instagram, we were overwhelmed with well-wishes and kind words of encouragement from our online community of friends. The amount of messages filled with love and support left me feeling even more confident in our decision to bring another puppy home. Because truthfully, we were nervous as heck! Would we have enough time for the puppy? Would Navy get along with the puppy? Could we handle both? Can we even afford another puppy? These were all questions running through our heads as we ultimately made the decision to bring another dog into our home.

Because we’ve “done the puppy thing” once before, we did not really prepare as much for Duke. One the other hand, with Navy we prepped and researched for months before we brought her home (and we still made a ton of rookie mistakes). We also started from scratch with Navy. We had to buy her crate, play pen, toys, leashes, etc. For Duke, we only had to buy few puppy essentials, sign him up for puppy training, register him for pet insurance, and book his first few vet appointments. Easy right? *spoiler, I was wrong but I will save that for another post update.*

We’ve already received a number of questions about Duke and puppies in general. Here is a quick list of frequently asked questions about Duke. If you have any other questions, please comment them below and we will try our best to answer.

Where is Duke from?

Duke is from the same breeder as Navy. Take a look at our Where We Found Navy blog post for more information on how we found the perfect breeder for us. The internet is a weird and scary place! To protect our privacy and our breeder’s we only refer people we’ve gotten to know, or we’ve met in person. We hope you understand! <3

How old is Duke?

Duke’s birthday is February 18th, 2019. We brought him home at 8 weeks.

Is Duke a cardigan corgi too?

Yes, Duke is a cardigan welsh corgi like Navy.

Is he fluffy?

He is a fluff carrier, but he does not have a fluffy coat like Navy.

Why are his ears down? Will his ears stay up?

Duke is currently 8 weeks old. We took Navy home when she was about 9.5 weeks. Her ears were up. If Duke’s ears don’t go up on their own in a couple months, we will look into taping them or gluing them.

Is he from the same breeder?

Yes! As previously mentioned, Duke and Navy are from the same breeder. They are full siblings too–they have the same mom and dad.

Will he look like Navy?

Genetics are fun aren’t they? Just because Navy and Duke share the same parents, Navy carries a lot of recessive traits, making her look different than a standard corgi (fluffy, brindle blue merle pattern, smaller size, shorter snout, etc.). Duke may have some similar features to Navy, but probably not all of them.

Will his eye stay blue?

Yes! Duke’s right eye should stay blue.

How much does he weigh?

At 8 weeks he weighed 6.4 pounds–big boy

How did you come up with the name Duke?

Like Navy, we wanted Duke to have a “blue” themed name to honor his blue merle pattern. The hex code for the shade of blue, is #001A57. This shade just so happens to be the official color of blue for Duke University. If you know anything about me, you’d know I have an huge obsession with Duke University Basketball.

What does he eat? Will he eat raw like Navy?

We currently feed Duke Taste of the Wild High Prairie with a puppy vitamin, a small scoop of canned food, and some pumpkin to help his digestion. We will be switching him slowly to Wellness Core Small Breed puppy kibble. Our plan is to feed him Vital Essentials Raw like Navy after he is about a year old. Our vet recommends kibble for the first few months as puppies tend to be picky with their food and very messy!

How much did Duke cost?

I always hate this question because you can’t just look at the fee it costs to purchase or rescue a dog. You should take into account the training, supplies, vet bills, health insurance, and THEN the purchase fee. We’ve owned Duke for a week and spent roughly $3,500 (purchase fee + investing in 4 months of training + ALL the puppy supplies + vet bills).

How did you pick Duke?

We’ve always planned on getting another dog. Zach and I had hoped and waited for that right moment and it came to us. We said that if Navy’s mom and dad had another leader and if there was a blue merle puppy and if that puppy was available, we’d consider adding another to our pack. Well, low and behold we received a Christmas miracle and discovered that Navy’s momma may be expecting. As soon as it was confirmed and we saw photos of the puppies and learned more about them, we fell in love with the puppy that would be our Duke. When we first met Duke in person, I could not stop crying, and then laughing as I held him.

Will Duke have his own Instagram?

As much as I would like to create an Instagram account for Duke to document his journey separately, it is a lot of work to keep up with and I don’t think I will have the time to do so. So as of now, no, Duke will not have his own account.

Will you change Navy’s Instagram name?

Probably not! But who knows, I could change my mind in a few months.

Do Navy and Duke get along?

They do! Navy is really starting to warm up to Duke. She will whine when she hears him cry in his crate, yet she doesn’t want to be anywhere near him unless it is to play. Navy is gentle with Duke, but as Duke is getting a bit more confident and test his boundaries with his sister, Navy has been pushing back!

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And now for the puppy pics… Please enjoy this small collection of photos of baby Duke. Though we want to capture every single cute moment, we want to spend our first few days bonding with him.

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Special thanks to Emily Seamon Photography for capturing these precious photos of Duke.

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Thank you all again for your love and support with bringing Duke into our lives. We are so incredibly excited to watch him grow and see how Navy interacts with her new brother. Do you have more than one dog at home? What advice do you have for us? Feel free to comment them below.

Follow us along on Instagram and Facebook for daily pupdates!