A Welsh corgi owner who helped breed the late Queen Elizabeth II’s dogs has slammed “opportunist-type breeders” who have hiked puppy prices up following the monarch’s death.
The Queen was famously a huge fan of the breed, having owned more than 30 corgis during her lifetime.
But the prices of corgi puppies after her death on Thursday (8 September) have reportedly soared to around £6,000, more than four times the average price at which the dogs are usually sold.
Data from pet rehoming website PetsHomes found that searches for corgis increased tenfold in the week after the Queen died.
Mary Davies, whose corgi Timmy was a stud for one of the late monarch’s litters, said the puppies are usually priced between £1,800 and £2,000.
She told Metro: “It’s only the opportunist-type breeder that would charge that sort of thing now. Not show breeders, they’re all fairly sensible.”
Davies, 74, previously recalled meeting the Queen and how Timmy was chosen to be a stud for one of the late monarch’s litters in the early 1990s.
She was selected alongside seven other corgi owners to meet Her Majesty in Windsor with her corgis.
“The person who helped her with the corgis asked us to go over with our dogs,” she told the South Wales Guardian. “The Queen met us individually and had a look at our dogs, and she chose mine.”
The Queen later gave Davies one of the puppies from the litter sired by Timmy as a thank you.
Davies said she also met the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in 2002 at the Powys Picnic during the golden jubilee celebrations.
“The Welsh Corgi Club gave her a piece of glassware with corgis on it. She saw me and came straight over, and I had the puppy I had from her with me.
“She saw the corgi and looked to Prince Philip and said, ‘Look Philip, it’s one of ours’.”
The Queen left behind two corgis, Muick and Sandy, after her death, who were seen waiting for her coffin to arrive at Windsor Castle after the monarch’s state funeral on Monday (19 September).
Both dogs were gifted to the Queen by the Duke of York, who has now taken them under his care.
The Kennel Club advises people who are looking to buy a puppy to do plenty of research beforehand and giving breeders a call before visiting them to ask preliminary questions.
