San Fransisco Corgi.

November 21, 2014 12:13 PM

My girlfriend's birthday is next weekend, and I'd love to surprise her with an hour or two or seven of playing with a corgi in a park, somewhere in SF.

She is head over heels in love with corgis. It isn't practical for her to have one right now, but she's dreaming of the day that she'll be able to be a good owner. She grew up with dogs so she knows them well, just isn't in a place in life to be a dog mom at the moment.

When she sees a corgi in the street, it's the highlight of her day. Doubly so if she ends up petting it -- though she's typically too respectful of owners to get in-your-face and ask if she can. Ultimately, though, nothing would make her happier than being able to run around in a park with a corgi in/around SF, next weekend, and I'd like to arrange that as a birthday gift.

Honestly, the only way I could think of making this happen for her was coming to AskMe and seeing if you all have any good ideas. What's the best way to arrange something like this?

Thanks!

posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? to Pets & Animals (11 answers total)

Ha, I attempted to do exactly this (for a different breed of dog) for my boyfriend when we were in NYC. It was really hard to find someone. I actually signed up for a dog activity group on Meetup and emailed someone in the group who happened to have the right breed. You could try to track down a corgi lover group or something. But I think the best way is to ask around your personal network...the woman I talked to agreed to meet briefly, but didn't feel comfortable (for obvious reasons) just handing off her dog. A shelter or something might have a corgi, but also wouldn't be able to just hand it over if you're not already a volunteer.
posted by three_red_balloons at 12:30 PM on November 21, 2014

Maybe the Golden Gate Pembroke Welsh Corgi Fanciers could hook you up?
posted by Sara C. at 12:34 PM on November 21, 2014 [3 favorites]

A shelter or something might have a corgi, but also wouldn't be able to just hand it over if you're not already a volunteer.

Depending on the shelter, you actually might be able to do this after all - the one from which we adopted our dog in South Carolina actually did let you "check out" a dog for the day; they'd make a copy of your driver's license and have you sign a form (they might also have required you to leave a credit card as collateral, I forget), and then they basically handed you the dog of your choice to take out. They believed that it was a good way to get the dogs out in public - more visibility = greater chance of adoption - plus the dog got to have the fun of getting out of the shelter and getting some much-needed attention. All of which is to say, it couldn't hurt to call around to a few shelters and see if there's anything like that where you are - a Corgi Rescue would obviously be best, but barring that you might just get lucky with a non-breed specific shelter.
posted by DingoMutt at 12:34 PM on November 21, 2014

Depending on the shelter, you actually might be able to do this after all

Oh man. I was so excited about this possibility that I just called the SFSPCA to try to find out if I could do this, too. Unfortunately they're closed right now, but I'll update here when I reach them.
posted by three_red_balloons at 12:47 PM on November 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

You could also consider posting it in Jobs, just in case there's a local MeFite with a corgi who'd be willing to help you out.
posted by cider at 12:58 PM on November 21, 2014 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Great ideas, everybody! Thanks! I will follow up with those contacts, and I've added this post to jobs.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 2:17 PM on November 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

You could also make a post (with a really clear title) to the Pets section of Craigslist.
posted by vegartanipla at 8:43 AM on November 22, 2014

Best answer: Good news! I have a friend with a precious Corgi puppy (named Tumbles) who belongs to a Corgi FB group in San Francisco. She's going to propose a meetup for you and your girlfriend and asked that I pass along her email so you can get in touch. It's coming to your MeFi mail inbox directly!
posted by mostlymartha at 11:34 AM on November 22, 2014 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Wow, mostlymartha, that would be amazing! Thank you so much :)
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 7:35 PM on November 22, 2014

I hope I'm not too late with this answer. You need to ask to join this group, and post your request to the group's page. You just missed the annual Corgi Con, held in October, but there are monthly meet ups listed on the right hand side of the page. Corgi meet ups are very well attended in NoCal, so you should have no problems gifting your SO with a herd of thundering Corgis.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 12:18 AM on November 23, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! We met up with mostlymartha's wonderful friend and it was lovely! The rain cleared just in time, Tumbles was a joy of a corgi, and everyone smiled. Yay!

Thanks again! You all are the best.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 6:46 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]