International Corgi Day
Every June 4, something quietly wonderful happens across the internet and in dog parks from Omaha to Oslo. Corgi owners drag out the good treats. Someone puts their dog in a tiny crown. A few thousand photos of blurry orange butts flood Instagram under the hashtag #InternationalCorgiDay.
If you haven't heard of it before, you've probably already seen it and you just didn't know what you were looking at.
June 4 Ladies and Gentleman! Mark it in red, put it on the fridge, set a calendar reminder. The internet's most beloved dog has a day, and it is absolutely worth celebrating.
How This Day Started: A Bunch of Corgi Lovers Assembled
In October 2019, four friends- Emily, Jessica, Kelsey, and Olivia were sitting around planning events for their community group, the Omaha Corgi Crew (OCC), a Nebraska-based organization they'd been running since 2011. The OCC had been organizing local meetups, fundraisers, and the beloved Omaha Corgi Races for years. But they wanted to go bigger. They wanted their love of the breed and their commitment to corgi rescue to reach beyond their city.
So they invented a holiday. Cool right?
The first official International Corgi Day was celebrated on June 4, 2020 — which, yes, was right in the middle of a global pandemic. Somehow, that almost made it more fitting. People were stuck at home with their dogs, many of whom were corgis. The day took off on social media with a velocity the founders hadn't quite expected. By 2024, the OCC had grown to a community of over 3,200 members, and the hashtag #internationalcorgiday had been used more than 17,000 times.
The Omaha Corgi Crew also runs a merchandise line, with proceeds going toward corgi-specific rescue organizations chosen by their community every quarter. They describe their ethos with some self-aware charm on their website: "As we corgis are a short-legged breed, we can relate to being overlooked because of our size."
What to Actually Do on June 4
Attend or organize a meetup: Dog parks around the world host corgi meetups on June 4, some organized by official local groups, some cobbled together by neighbors who just want to watch a lot of small orange dogs run around. If one doesn't exist in your city, you can organize your own and have it listed on the International Corgi Day website.
Support a rescue: The OCC directs proceeds from its merchandise to corgi-specific rescue organizations, chosen by community vote. Many local corgi groups host fundraising events in tandem with the day. This matters: corgis end up in shelters more often than their popularity might suggest, partly because prospective owners underestimate their energy levels and training needs.
Share (responsibly) online: The hashtag #InternationalCorgiDay pulls in tens of thousands of posts every year. If you have a corgi, post them. If you don't, follow the hashtag for approximately fifteen minutes and your day will improve measurably.
Interesting Corgi Facts You Did Not Know
- The Cardigan Welsh Corgi can be traced back to Celtic settlers arriving in Wales around 1200 BCE potentially making it over 3,000 years old. A Welsh cattle dog is even mentioned in the 11th-century Domesday Book.
- According to Welsh legend, the Tylwyth Teg (fairy folk) used corgis as war horses and carriage pullers.
- Corgis were bred specifically to be low to the ground so they could nip at cattle heels and dodge kicks. Their compact build gave them agility that larger herding dogs lacked in rough Welsh terrain.
- "Cor" means dwarf and "gi" means dog in Welsh. So it literally translates to dwarf dogs.
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