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The
"GELER" Kennel Owned
by Miss D.F.
Wylie, Reabrook, Minsterley,
Shrewsbury, Miss
D. F. Wylie's Welsh Corgis are all of Cardigan type. It is her fixed
conviction that the Cardigan type represents the old original Welsh
Corgi and that the best and purest of that type spring from the Bronant
district. Bronant is a little village in Cardiganshire, about seven
miles from Aberystwyth, and in this remote and wild district Corgis have
been bred for work for many years by generations of Cardiganshire
farmers and cottagers, their principal use being that of driving cattle
and the Welsh mountain ponies. It is from this district that Miss Wylie
obtained her foundation stock, which she considers to be of the purest
and oldest Cardigan type. Miss
Wylie commenced to breed and exhibit Welsh Corgis in 1928, and at the
present moment her Kennel consists of a dozen adult specimens of the old
Cardigan type and of several puppies bred this year. She is a real dog
lover, and makes "pals" of her dogs, and anyone acquiring
young stock from the "Geler" Kennel can be sure of getting a
puppy in which intelligence and obedience are, as it were, inbred. Miss
Wylie has done a lot of good work for the Welsh Corgi Association,
especially as regards the compiling of the recently revised Standard of
Points.
GELER
BENITA is a young black and tan bitch, just out of her puppyhood, and
she has done some nice winning in puppy classes this year. As will be
seen from her photograph, she is a rare-bodied bitch, with a very deep
chest and a well defined waist. She is very strong and rather short in
neck, and this shortness is a characteristic of the old mountain breed.
The revised Standard says that the neck should be "muscular, well
developed, strong and in proportion to the dog's build", though at
one time a long neck was insisted upon by the Welsh Corgi Association.
Her litter sister, GELER BRONWEN, has also done well in puppy classes.
She scores slightly in head, muzzle, length of body and tail, which
resembles a fox's brush. When photographed she was rather light in
condition. The attractively marked brindle and white dog, GELER FINLEY
is a recent acquisition. He is full of old Cardiganshire blood, and much
is expected of him as a stud dog. He has beautiful ears, and his eyes
convey the correct impression of keen intelligence, whilst his forelegs,
are short and slightly bowed and he possesses a deep brisket, a long and
strong body and very sound hindquarters. GELER CARASSA is a beautiful
blue merle bitch, now three years old, with good erect ears, a powerful
muzzle, short forelegs, strong bone, a very deep brisket and well-sprung
ribs. She did a great deal of winning as a puppy, and led the way in
Open bitches at Abergavenny in 1932. Another high-class bitch is GELER
JUNE, which went to reserve best of sex at Cardiff Championship Show
this year. FRONFELEN PIXIE is a very useful bitch, with the alert,
intelligent expression which makes the Welsh Corgi so fascinating.
The
above six specimens represent the pick of the "Geler" Kennel,
but Miss Wylie has bred four or five bitches this year, and has some
promising young stock coming on. The main colours represented are black,
brindle and blue merle, and most of the dogs have a white blaze, a white
"shirt and collar" and white feet, whilst very often the tip
of the tail is also white. Most of them excel in dense,
weather-resisting coats. Their eyes, generally speaking, tone with the
colours of their coats.
R.H.V. (1932?) Miss
D.F. Wylie ranks with the oldest pioneeers in the breed, probably being
the oldest lady breeder. Her "Geler" dogs are of a very even
type, near to the original kind of Corgi of the Tregaron and Bronant
hills in Cardiganshire, and many of whom were brindle and blue merle.
The
black and white Y Brython (Bob Llwyd x Cassie) helped to lay the
foundation for her "Geler" kennel by siring Ch. Geler Carassa
and her litter brother Geler Coynant, born 30.08.1930, out of Geler Nell
(Bob x Spot). G. Coynant sired Geler Cledwyn (out of Bit), and these
three magnificient blue merles were undoubtedly the best of their colour
ever seen (despite the fact that G. Cledwyn was mainly black and white,
but with some merle markings). Coynant himself was unshown owing to an
injury, but much resembled his lovely sister. Also Geler June (bred by
Capt. M. Jones, by Bedu out of Teify II) was an attractive blue merle
with tan points.
Clifford D. Hubbard (The Cardiganshire Corgi,
1952). Thelma Gray (The Welsh Corgi). ----- Miss
Wylie in the matter of her dogs is a purist, tolerating none but those
possessing in the highest degree the sterling and endearing qualities of
the original Corgis. She has wisely taken as her standard the finest and
purest of the magnificient ancient Bronant dogs, and thereby done much
to preserve for us their type.
For
doing this Miss Wylie, however, accepts no credit. Her contention is
that she was simply fortunate in meeting with and coming uner the
irresistible spell cast by the original Corgis at an earlier date than
most breeders. This not only afforded her the opportunity of securing
some of the best specimens (and in those days full-blooded, first-rate
stock was lamentably scarce), but also has enabled her to carry out a
greater amount of breeding than those who came into the movement later
on. W. Lloyd-Thomas (1934) |
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