Rafa is a crazy, wild boy. But, he seems to be settling down a bit. Two of the 3 thalidomide corgis on the National Enquirer are mine (Rafa the tri; Lucy, the small inserted R&W. The 32 pounder is, of course, the magnificent Gromit). BTW, if Ziggy doesn't need the cone head devise and you can keep a sharp eye on her, remove it. I think it annoys them more than the incision. Of course, if Ziggy starts licking around with the incision, use the collar.

I'm sure that these words are going to come back and haunt us, but Jack just commented that Rafa has calmed down as he's getting used to us and a new routine. He seems less hyper (at least today!) and is sleeping more. And oopsie, I keep thinking of Ziggy as a boy (probably David Bowie's fault), but I guess my question about neutering would apply to Ziggy as well, if you are thinking about getting her "fixed." Hope all's well with you guys.

First set of Nadal/Murray match underway.

@steve- FYI Nadal is playing on ESPN2 now. 3rd set. Rafa dropped one.

Thanks for your sweet comments!! :)

I suggested "Ruffian" for a name but the battery was low in Wendy's laptop and she read it as Rafa.

@doug and gromit- while giving out thanks, we never would have learned about Rafa needing to be "re-homed." We are also grateful to him for helping us chose the name Rafa. We were coming up with the usual: rascal, rocket, rock-it!, havoc, chewy.
but good ol' doug loved the ruggedness and mentality of rafa nada, tennis player extraordinaire. And it just kind of stuck.
Thanks, Doug! ; )

@john- thanks for your comment and joanna kimball's. lucy is a small corgi and today's mattresses are really high. we got great steps up to our bed, hopefully so she'll never need them. i never worried about a deck we have in the backyard because lucy was never a jumper. but she saw a squirrel, and maybe was showing off for her new li'l bro, and she jumped and, he followed. it's not that big a jump and lands on spongy grass, but i will have to make a correction here. i also did not know about tennis balls. so thanks for the info! I agree that ziggy's a beauty. and i have to tell you how much i love your photos. i hope that you guys shame me into reading my camera manuals and to stop relying on my iPhone. I love this site. Didn't realize just how much until it was down a few times. I am sure that w/o this site, we would not have re-homed (not sure of the term?) rafa. but, seeing all the tris, we just had to own one. and truly, one corgi is never enough!

Nobody's ever gonna make a puppy slow down. But our breeder knows we're bigtime hikers -- I send her lots of pics -- and she warned me to take it easy until Al was a year old. Joanna Kimball's blog has some stuff about growth-plate injuries; she says the dwarfed breeds have more fragile cartilage growth plates, and if they get damaged before full-grown, you end up with a curved leg, usually the wrist.
And it's probably a good idea to discourage flying leaps off furniture onto bare slippery floors. You hear about ACL injuries...
Ziggy's gorgeous.

One more thing: Al has a blunted canine tooth, maybe broken on something. But I hear that tennis balls are abrasive -- rough coating full of grit -- can wear teeth. Dunno if there's anything to that.
Favorite ball: volleyball, or maybe those 7-8" dia Nike chikdren's basketballs, toothproof. Soccer balls are a bit heavy to be taking on the nose after a high kick.

She's more than photographic. She's a beauty! So glad you got your tri! Having owned Corgis my whole life, I understand all too well how hard it is to lose one. I started Corgis remembered to post photos and stories of my crazy, smart, lovable best friends. Rafa has been a delicious addition to our lives. But, he is a handful. But, aren't all puppies?!! The only thing that helps us over the loss of a beloved Corgi is to get at least another one.
Can't wait to hear more about Ziggy.

Al & Gwynn say "Aaarf!" to a kindred spirit.
Take it easy until Ziggy's a year old; our breeder was quite firm: no great physical challenges until the growth plates on the long bones are safely fused.

Steve, It's easy to forget how much work new puppies can be. Fortunately, they are worth it!

saw your post and couldn't help but respond.we had 2 corgis during the years that our 2 kids were growing up.matter of fact,we lost our male cory the yr our son gradueated from hi school.then our girl kelly passed.couldn't look at corgis or the tears would flow!!changed breeds,really lost my heart to a 100#boxer named ali.he was my soulmate.we lost our girl
boxer libby shortly thereafter.we swore no more dogs!!we lasted 5 mos!!now 2 corgis share our home again along with the hair,barking and herding us down the hall!!funny how lifegoes!!

Hi Steve, isn't it amazing how much our corgis mean to us. I lost Max in Aug 2008, he was 11. There is a poem on this site that I wrote for him. Have fun with the new puppy.

Oh how cute! Does he/she have a name yet? I love the scenery in your other pics and the painting also! Congrats again! Hope your having fun!

When we lost Cobi it was hard to imagine that we could love another as much as we loved him.....but then we didn't like being corgiless so two months after losing Cobi we were so fortunate to find a breeder that wanted a forever home for a 3 yr old male and so we brought Cane home on May 17, 2009. We feel so lucky to have found him and he has just been wonderful, we love him so much. Our intention was to get another one last summer but that hasn't happened yet. I hope you find a new corgi soon. Maybe someone on this site can help you find one.

thanks for the artists' name. The wheels worked great for Cobi and he adapted to them quite well, unfortunately he had the other health issues so once his health started failing even the wheels didn't work for him.