Rafferty and Itzl Sitting on Bench

[ebonypearl]

Rafferty and Itzl Sitting on Bench
Originally uploaded by nodigio

I know it looks like Itzl is larger than Rafferty here, but it's an illusion. Rafferty is shorter that Itzl because he has stubby little dachshund legs, but he outweighs Itzl by 6 ounces now and their heads and body length are the same.

I snapped this picture by setting them up on the bench and then telling them to "sit". Both of them plunked their bottoms on the bench. Rafferty, however, was up agai almost immediately. He knows "sit", he hasn't figured out he's supposed to stay sitting until I release him. He was also full of puppy energy and could barely hold still to begin with. That I got them both sitting at the same time is kind of amazing.

Rafferty is just 7, maybe 8 weeks old. He's not happy eating kibble just yet, but he will now eat it when he gets hungry. He's almost ready to go to his new home. He goes to the vet on Wednesday to check his progress on those leg tremors he gets and when the vet clears him, he gets to go to his new people.

They will be getting a semi-housebroken puppy - semi because if you don't respond to his request to go outside promptly, he has accidents near the door. He's not quite old enough to wait. But - he will tell you he has to go out, so that's a plus. He'll use potty pads reliably now, but he prefers going outside. I solved the accident issue by putting a pad near the front door so when we don't jump up immediately to let him out, he uses the pad.

He plays well with cats, larger dogs, children, and people. He's in his "fearful" stage right now, where strangers make him wary and he'll run and hide if he can, but he'll peek and eventually emerge from hiding to play. I continue to socialize him so he'll be through this phase fairly soon, hopefully before he goes to his new people, who haven't seen him in a week and a half because they're touring their daughter's new college.