I am going to attempt to sculpt a standing giraffe cake for my son's first birthday. It is going to be solid cake on the bottom though, just going to carve out the indents for his legs. It's going to be more cartoonish and chubby looking, like a stuffed animal. Does that make sense? This is hard to put into words.

I have never made any type of layer cake at all. Will I need to use something other than dowels to support it? I plan on leaving a dowel sticking out at the top and attaching the rice krispie treat head to it. It will all be covered in mm fondant. Also, do I make the rice krispie treats like normal or are there tricks to making it so it will stay together? Any pointers are GREATLY appreciated. I will be doing this in 2 weeks. Thank you in advance for your help!!

Anyone able to help? Pretty please?

Use a dense cake for carving. They hold up much better. A pound cake is what most people seem to suggest. Hopefully someone has a good pound cake recipe you could use??
Iwould definately go with rice krispy treats for the neck and head. Here's a previous thread on modelling with rice krispy treats.
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-645595-.html&sid=39f2f635a4fc12390b05ceba02a388d2
When you say you want it to look like a stuffed animal do you mean something like this?
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1300644

Thank you for your help!!