I'm due to get a corgi soon, as I've absolutely fallen in Love with my friends cousins corgi, Corki.
I spend most of my days on the farm now with family, and we own a blue heeler also. Well we as in My Grandfather lol.
I was wondering about Corgi's and their Temperament, and positions?

Are they playful?
Also, do they really get protective of their owner if not properly socialized?
Another thing, is I've been reading, and have read that they are born with herding instincts
.
Is this true? I understand to get them to properly herd, it would take practice and much teaching. This goes with any herding dog, or dog of any breed.
My grandfathers Blue heeler, nips at the cows and bumps their heads with her nose, and she's always done that.

So far the past 3 dogs I've gotten haen't been properly socialized at a young age, as I ended up getting all 3 of them when they were 4 months+ or thereabout.

My Pomeranian, isn't playful at all. Only with other dogs.
My husky and husky mix,they play with other dogs but have no interest in toys or otherwise.
They're great with learning obedience.

Do you have to teach dogs how to play fetch? All the dogs I have won't chase after anything. Or fetch anything for that matter. Only the hunting breeds that my grandfather on my moms side owns. ( labs,golden RETREIVERS)


so help? =]]]]

A girlfriend of mine had a Corgi and it was not a friendly dog. It only tolerated her and she couldn't let him near small children. I don't know if that goes for the whole breed or if he was an exception.

Early socialization is very important. Starting with leaving the litter together with the mother until at least 6 weeks. By 7-8 weeks, they need to go out to their new home. It is very important they have a wide variety of experience then before they are 12 weeks old. I took time today to walk my 9 week old around down town and also out along the state highway where most of the traffic is now. They were pouring concrete at a gas station there. I let her watch them from just a few inches away on the other side of the construction area fence.

It is a mistake to expect all of any breed to be typical of the breed. Dogs are individuals, sometimes even big differences among litter mates. I recently had a question on another site on how to get a Lab to retrieve. Many of mine wanted nothing to do with the water.

I don't know much about teaching dogs to herd. If you want the dog to herd, I am sure at least getting advice from somebody that has done it would help, if not hands on help.

From what I have seen of herding demonstrations, herding behavior is semi-instinctive in herding breeds. In other words, if you take a border collie pup of a certain age and put it down by a herd of sheep, it will act like a herd dog. It's really rather fascinating to watch. Now, getting them to herd in the way that you want them to is going to take training. After all, "come by" means nothing to a dog until it learns what it means from the handler.

Personally, I hope that you do some more research on the breed and decide if it's right for you before you get the dog. All the questions you are asking are good, but I am disturbed that you are apparently asking them after already committing to getting the dog.