When Melanie introduced the Why Weight* program, she asked me to get some photos of Dobby on his scale to promote the program. “Oh, sure,” I replied,”I can do that!”

“Be sure to put a bandanna on him,” she added.

Right.

Tools of the trade: scale, bandanna, target (stick with ball for training), dandelion greens, raisins.

Here we go, easy as pie!

Enter the capybara.

“All four feet!” says Stacy, cheerfully! “I have some dandelions for you!”

“Like this?”

“Almost! Just put your hind feet on!”

On what?

“Just walk forward a couple steps! Come here, give me a kiss!”

This is easy!

“No, no, no, don’t come around the side like that! Get all your feet on!” a little more plaintively, now.

When do I get the dandelions?

“I’ll show you how. Like this!”

Wow! Are those raisins? This must be serious!

“Raisins, Dobby! Just step onto the scale!”

Okay, what am I supposed to do, again?

“That’s good! Now come give me a little kiss!”

I’m ready for those raisins. ANY TIME NOW!

“@#$%^&*”

What did she say? Are we taking a break now?

“Let’s try it again. It isn’t that complicated!”

Are we doing dandelions or raisins this time? It’s important!

“Raisins. See? I’m putting them right down here.”

Is this a scale or something? What are these numbers?

“Okay, see these raisins? NOW GET ON THE SCALE!”

This is getting tedious.

“Come back here!”

Let’s go eat bamboo or something. This is no fun at all.

“Okay, let’s try the target!”

Geez. She just doesn’t know when to quit, does she?

“Touch your nose!”

Where’s the corn? I usually get corn when we do target training. Why are we here? We usually do this OVER THERE! Is she mixed up?

In order to get good, consistent weights, it is important to establish a weighing routine when your capybara is very young. I would not recommend waiting until your capybara is FIVE YEARS OLD!

“Like this, Dobby!”

* To read more about the Why Weight? program, click here.