Introducing Zacchaeus!

There's an old Sunday School song about a man named Zacchaeus who was 'short in stature' .

Zacchaeus was a wee little man; a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.

I always thought it would be a cute name for a corgi.

I wasn't really planning to get a puppy though. At least not anytime soon.   I have a 15-20 minute commute and I knew that a puppy would be tough to work into my schedule.   "Someday" I told myself. 

"Someday" came two weeks ago.

After Dee Dee and Elvis died, I was looking at different corgi breeder websites.  I'd been thinking that I would get a tri-colored male someday but the more I looked at pictures, the more I realized that sable (brown with black and white accents) is my favorite corgi color.   That's what Dee Dee and Elvis were.    Elvis also had a full white collar which was awfully pretty.   I mentioned this to my Facebook friend, and fellow corgi fanatic, EJ.   She agreed.

Two weeks ago I got an Email from EJ telling me about this adorable male puppy (sable with a full white collar) that was available from a breeder here in Minnesota.  When I saw his picture, my heart melted.   I was still recovering from my Africa trip and tried to talk myself out of it.   Besides, I reasoned, surely the breeder had other serious inquiries.   As it turned out, she did - but, having seen my blog, I rose to the top of the list.   We had some cyber-chatter throughout the morning, and by lunchtime, he was mine!

Princess and I drove to southern MN last Saturday to pick him up.   Just seven weeks old and 3-1/2 lbs, I was in love - and terrified - at the same time.   I've never had a puppy that young before!  He is adorable!    He's affectionate, loves to cuddle, loves to play, loves to eat and loves to chew!   We've had a very good 'first week'.  Zak has learned his name, is learning to 'come' and also learning to go potty outdoors.     I take an early lunch and come home and let him out each day and I hired a very nice young gal to come and let him out mid-afternoon.   Until he gets a little bigger, I'm supplementing those breaks with puppy pads and he has done very well with them too.   He does not like a messy kennel and lets me know when it needs to be cleaned up!   Now we're working on learning to let me know before he dirties it.

Zak is full of puppy playfulness and curiosity.   He adores Princess and wants to go wherever she goes.   She's learning to tolerate him!   He visits her food dish whenever he's out of his kennel, and we're using that to teach the meaning of the word 'no'.     Zak loves to play with his ball, play tug-of-war with a shoestring and generally chew on anything handy.   He mastered the front steps in about a day and follows Princess over to the neighbors.   Fortunately, though, he wants to go where I go, and he feels most secure in our house.   He's not fond of loud noises, including motorcycles and trucks!

He is a lot of work, but even more fun!   He's grown noticeably this week so I'm trying to enjoy each day because I know he won't stay this size for very long.

Next week we have another major change coming!   Stay tuned for another introduction.