¡Señor Machete el Grande Corgéz!

Introducing ¡Señor Machete el Grande Corgéz!

His story starts long before the day he came to live with his family.

“I’ve always loved dogs, wanted a dog, and simmered over the years with an unrelenting need for a dog in my life” writes Machete’s new “Mom” Raelynne Becerra. “For my boyfriend Aragorn (his real name — yes, it’s ridiculous!), a self-proclaimed cat person for life, not so much. Although I’m not a crazy cat lady, I pretty much have lifetime cat lady status; basically, I love animals. Together we decided our little ‘family’ needed another member.”

“So we left our shoebox-sized apartment for a house with a yard, I got a job with a dog-friendly schedule, and the whole first half of 2012 was consumed by Operation Future Puppy or Bust, aka Future Corgi. We researched, we prepared, I devoured all the information I could find on Pembroke Welsh Corgis and sent our insane dossier/query to breeders.”

“The end result of our planning, homework, preparation and a dash of good luck was a meeting in February of 2012 with Machete’s breeder, a woman with decades of experience and a sterling reputation, happy to spend three hours answering dozens of questions to our rapt satisfaction. We knew we found The One in her; nobody else mattered. And so began the waiting game. I bought supplies, I made a list of all the pet stores and training facilities in the area, I debated puppy names with Aragorn.”

“By the Fall we heard that one her girls was due with a litter in November. Cue the countdown and the near loss of my mind to the agony of waiting. Finally, five boys and one girl were born on November 9th. One of those boys was ours!”

Machete and his parents

“We met the litter in December 2012, and somehow I managed to make it out without losing my mind or shoving all the puppies in my car and making a run for it. Aragorn says I made not a single coherent sound the entire time. We found out which puppy in was ours in January, after the breeder temperament tested the pups and selected the right one for us and our lifestyle. She knocked that one right out of the park with our stumpy nugget, and we got to bring him home in February.”

“The stretch between November 9 to February 1 was the LONGEST, LONGEST time of my life, ever! The waiting nearly drove me crazy.”

“Machete joined our two cats, Lola and Nacho, and the three of them have a tenuous relationship. Lola, our 8 year-old lady cat, is the most tolerant of Machete. Though they sometimes snuggle, she is dominant over all the animals and rules with an iron paw.”

“Nacho is our 5-year-old “special” kitty. He hates Machete with the fire of a thousand puppy-shaped suns. But when Machete is asleep, both the cats love to curl up in his dog beds or on a pile of his things. Apparently they enjoy the puppy “smell”, not the actual puppy.”

“The best thing about Machete is that he has made our house a home. It sounds a bit cliché, but it’s true. He is just the best damn dog there is, no doubt about it. The happiest little puppy there ever was, too. He has been the perfect little gentleman, a joy to train and watch grow up. I spent all that time preparing for worst-case scenarios and planning out how we’d incorporate a super high-energy, very intelligent herding dog into our lives, but he has been the most pleasant of surprises. He’s laid back, and snuggly, and very well-behaved. He doesn’t chase the cats or chew on things that don’t expressly belong to him (Current # of Shoe Casualties: 0 – Aragorn), and aside from a few “I’m-a-teenage-corgster-now” quirks, Machete is the absolute best.”

“He even turned a self-proclaimed “cat person” into a total Corgi lover.”

“Machete just turned 9 months old and he’s lived with us a little over six months, but I can’t imagine a life without him and I wouldn’t want to. No, it’s not all sunshine and roses; anyone who has a Corgi knows they’re hard work and lots of it! But he’s such a great little guy that we LOVE all that work and then some. And while there are some things I was preparing myself for in terms of Corgi behavior that we haven’t encountered, make no mistake about it, he is 100% totally and completely Corgi.”

“Machete enjoys car rides and has even made a few road trips with us.”

“Like most Corgis, he is ridiculously photogenic.”

“He’s got all the Official Corgi Napping Positions covered.”

“Machete has the best little Corgi face. He always looks so happy.”

“He loves people of all ages, he’s such a ham for praise and pettings and cuddles, but most of all he LOVES other dogs and makes dog friends wherever he goes.”

“Our boy enjoys going for walks, being outdoors as much as possible, and even though he loves the sunshine he’s a bigger fan of cool, shady spots. He’s truly a winter Corgi; snow is his preferred frapping ground (and toilet)!”

“He might be the teensiest, tiniest bit spoiled. Maybe. But he has the best manners ever and is working hard to someday get his Canine Good Citizen. He’s already graduated Puppy Kindergarten, Graduate Puppy, and right now is in his next level Obedience Training. Classes every Saturday morning, no sleeping in on the weekends for this pup.”

“His favorite charity/rescue organization is Pittie Love Rescue in Framingham, Massachusetts. Any contest prizes he wins go straight to them!”