Little Leaf

Leaf is a young doxie boy who loves playing hours and hours of "fetch," "hide and go seek," or anything fun!

Leaf is about two years old. We have had him since early December of last year. His previous owners gave him to us because they wanted their daughter to be less distracted by him so that she could spend more time in her studies. Though he was not the "completely house trained puppy" that we had seen in the pictures, we have learned to love the little guy. He loves his before-bed walks with dad almost as much as dinner time. It was in our plans from the beginning to take him home to America with us. We were planning to at the end of our contracts next summer... but last week, we found out that life has taken a different turn of events and we will actually have to leave Korea immediately at Christmas due to work complications. We just found out that there is an embargo for flying during this time in the winter. We just got his rabies shot last Wednesday (Nov 27) before we fully understood what that implied. Leaf is too big (standard-sized doxie) to fit as a carry-on. Our flight is China Southern, which doesn't allow pets in the cabin regardless.

And so, with heavy hearts, we are posting up the little guy. He is a family man. He would love to have some kids to play with, but he would be happy with any kind friend. He likes interacting with the kids from our school. We are not sure how he would interact with babies or toddlers, however. He is trainable, but stubborn - food is his preferred motivation, as he is a doxie. Currently, he knows "sit," "down" (which resembles play dead for whatever reason...), "stay-until-you-get-too-bored," "stop," "drop-it-when-you-are-ready," and "come." His potty-training tends to depend on how long he can hold it. Some days we come home to no accidents, other days we aren't as fortunate. But, he tries! Whenever we are at home, he goes and sits by the door expectantly to let us know that he has to relieve himself. He tries his best to be a good dog, and loves hearing that said of him.

Leaf is also a lover at heart. While we have had him, he has always slept in our bed with us. He loves curling up against us and falling asleep. He likes to explore the house on his own, but will usually find his way into our laps as we are sitting or working. He doesn't like being alone as much as some other dogs, so whoever owns him can expect to have a good and loyal friend.

As we are his third known owner, we have observed some peculiar nervous tics he has. He licks stuff a lot, like the floor and his food bowl and mom's arm and his foot. Once he gets started, he gets absorbed in it, but eventually stops on his own. He also has times where he appears to get angry at his back feet and will nibble at them. We aren't sure what causes this, but he has gotten better about it during the time we've had him. Thankfully, he is not a big barker, and will usually only do so if he is startled or right when we leave the house. He may growl at times, but he is not a mean dog.

It hurts our hearts even thinking about adopting Leaf out to another family. Though there have been challenges at times, he has demonstrated a love and loyalty toward us that we will always remember and cherish. We hope and pray that there is another family out there that can be blessed by his fun and youthful spirit.

EDIT: While corresponding with some others, I have noticed that I was a bit unclear as to the energetic nature of Leaf. Leaf is definitely a puppy in body and at heart, and as such, he does have a lot of energy right now, as most young dachshunds do. As we mentioned above, he could spend hours playing fetch and hide-and-seek, and loves to run around the house playing with his ball and other toys. While he is definitely a cuddly dog, he is also an energetic boy who needs his exercise or else he will feel cooped up (which can lead him to chew on his toys more and do a couple of running laps around our apartment). I hope that makes it a bit more clear.