Day Two: Izzy Gets her own Harness

Izzy had captured my heart. She already was a superhero in my eyes. She didn't need to wear Mitzy's red harness/cape to prove it. So the next day I embarked on a new harness expedition to PetCo with Mitzy's harness in hand for size comparison. Almost all of the harnesses had a heavy plastic piece to adjust the neck which would be way too heavy for Izzy's little neck. I hadn't weighed her yet but the rescue lady described her as "just five pounds." I wanted one like Mitzy's, soft mesh fabric only. Christmas buyers had clearly depleted Petco's harness inventory. Then at the bottom of the rack I spotted a little red harness with black trim that was similar to Mitzy's. It matched nicely with the two leashes I already had too: one red, one black, both with rhinestone trim. The red one was Mitzy's and the black one belonged to the late, lamented, Baxter, a senior Yorkie. The Yorkie character, Bear, in FRIGHT ON, is mainly based on Baxter. To complete the package, and feeling very tech-savvy, I engraved a chrome, bone-shaped ID tag using Petco's magic machine and attached it to the harness. When I got home and tried it on Izzy, it fit like a charm, even though she reminded me of Marcel the monkey from Friends. We kept the harness on her the whole day so we could quickly attach the leash to take her outside when she needed to go. For housebreaking to progress, anticipation, timing and speed were critical factors. She wasn't thrilled with being on a leash (she bit the little rhinestone trim, either as a display of her hatred for being tethered or as a test to see if they were real diamonds), but overall, she seemed fine with her new harness.

Until it was time for bed. When we removed it she ran around  the house like crazy, happy to be unencumbered.

Next on Adventures in Izzyland: Cute Dog or Cunning Escape Artist?