Owning a dog is a privilege. You get to spend years with a creature that is capable of an amount of joy that seems almost impossible, and you get to be the person who is the recipient of an unbelievable quantity of love.
A dog's love knows no bounds. It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, a dog is going to love you no matter what. As long as you provide them with a home, they will give you everything they can.
One of the best things about dogs is that they don't change their love for you based on your social status. They are great equalizers. They don't care if you're some average Joe or the Queen of England, they are going to love you the same no matter what.
Perhaps this is what the royal family has been so adamant on keeping their corgi collection going for so long. Unfortunately, the queen's last corgi, Whisper, crossed over the rainbow bridge last week.
Whisper was 12 years old, and has lived with Queen Elizabeth for two years, following the death of her friend and former Sandringham gamekeeper Bill Fenwick. While this pup wasn't related to the rest of the royal corgis, Whisper still meant a lot to the queen, apparently following her from room to room as she made her way through the palace.
Queen Elizabeth has owned a lot of dogs, but it's her corgi collection that catches everyone's eye. She's had the lineage going for decades now, but the reason why she was obsessed with the breed goes way back.
So why corgis?
Elizabeth was gifted a corgi puppy who she named Susan for her 18th birthday, after a lifetime of love for the adorable breed. Her first introduction to corgis was in 1933, when her father King George VI brought home Dookie.
The family had a couple other corgis before Elizabeth received her own, including Jane and Crackers, but it Susan who was the future queen's true companion.
Susan was with Elizabeth for every big moment in her life, even accompanying her on her honeymoon in 1947!
Susan became a mother, and as time went on she became a grandmother and a great grandmother as the lineage continued on. While dogs can't live forever (no matter how much we wish they would) a part of Susan lived on as Queen Elizabeth continued bringing new generations of her beloved pups into the world.
She's had over thirty of the adorable pups in her lifetime, all of which she takes time to care for herself. The pups always got their own baskets to sleep in, extensive food selections to eat, and apparently at Christmas they would each get their own stockings.
The queen did expand her dog collection to other breeds at times, including cocker spaniels and "dorgis" (dachshund-corgi crosses) but it's the corgis that everyone remembers most.
The queen was happy to welcome Whisper to her family, even though she had said she wouldn't be breeding anymore dogs because they've not only become a tripping risk, but she didn't want to leave any behind. As heartbreaking as that is, she couldn't resist Whisper, a senior dog who needed somewhere to spend their remaining years.
Whisper came to live with the queen, Prince Philip, and her other remaining dogs, two "dorgis" named Candy and Vulcan who are descendants of Susan.
Vets were called to the Windsor Castle and it has been reported that Whisper passed away, leaving the queen with no more pure breed corgis.
At least she still has her two other pups, Candy and Vulcan, to keep her company. She also has a movie to look forward to, The Queens Corgi, an animated movie all about a corgi trying to find his way home in London, which is set to be released next year.
Source - Hello Magazine / Reader's Digest / Wikipedia / Telegraph / Daily Mail
