Monthly Archives: August 2011

Shih Tzu Day 50: Learning to Get Love

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Bossy Flower

Flower is getting more and more bossy in the morning. This morning, she rushed upstairs and, with Dottie, made her usual stop on my side of the bed. She only stayed there for a minute or so before rushing to John’s side, where she proceeded to bark away. I still don’t know what it means. I expect it means that she wants him to get up. John says it means that she wants him to get up and get out of the house. When she came back to my side of the bed, she bit my hand more aggressively than usual. Although I don’t mind it, I did try to calm her down.

Learning to Get Love

Candy seems to trust John more every day.Candy came upstairs with her sisters this morning. When I reached my hand over the bed, she stood on her back paws and danced, waving her front paws in the air. She is so cute. She also did that last night when John was feeding them treats. She also came up to me this afternoon and stood still while I petted her. Flower sat a few feet away, watching the activity. Dottie came up a little later and nuzzled her head against my arm and leg.

Today, I was thinking about John saying that Flower doesn’t know how to get love. She also has trust issues. I think that’s true, but I think she is trying to learn. How do you train your dog to love? In the afternoon, she did come and put her nose on my feet and then let me pet her.

Flower’s favorite toy continues to be the plastic firemen I got from the Dollar Store. However, all but one of them have met their demise. I’ve stumbled across a variety of arms and legs lately, so there must be some bodies around here somewhere.

Shih Tzu Day 49: Laughter is the Best Medicine

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Flower’s Fixation

Mom says we look like the Billy Goats Gruff. Must be before our time!I am not the main attraction any longer when the shih tzus come upstairs in the morning. Dottie and Flower come to my side and do the usual routine, with Dottie barking maybe a few times and then whining and Flower barking, both of them scratching at the bed, to try to get me to acknowledge them.

Look at this face. How could I do anything bad?You take the head, I'll take the legs, and pull real hard!Now, however, Flower stays on my side for a minute or so and then runs to John’s side of the bed, barking like crazy. He puts his hand down, and instead of the small bites they give me, she backs up, charges towards him, nips at his hand and does it all again … and again and again. After visiting that side of the bed, however, she seems a little more aggressive with her nips when she comes back to me. I have to keep telling her to be gentle. I am not sure what that behavior means.

Dottie follows Flower to that side of the bed sometimes, or else she just sits quietly and waits for me.

Candyland

I'll save you! Candy made the trip up the stairs this morning again. Her sisters tend to push each other around, but push her around even more, so she stays at the back while they are scratching at the bed and vying for attention. When I peeked over the side, Candy got up on her back legs and excitedly waved her paws in the air, like a dancing bear. I don’t like being woken up this early in the morning, but I can’t help but laugh, and, what do they say? Laughter is the best medicine.

Muddy Buddies

The shih tzus definitely get dirtier now that we have opened up the yard to them.The grass is wet a lot of the time, so when they come in, their paws are muddy. It’s definitely time to give the carpets and hard wood floors a big cleaning!

Quiet Time

I heard the bag crinkle, and that means treats, right?The girls were quiet for most of the day. Flower spent a lot of time chewing on her firemen. She mangled two of them pretty badly. I am considering going back and getting her the policemen and the military men, but it might not be socially acceptable for them to maul them, plus I still am not sure if the small pieces of plastic Flower swallows are very bad for her. I do throw away the parts after she disengages them from the bodies.

Dottie sat with me on the couch for quite a while. She seems to be content just to lie or sit there while I work on the computer.

Did Shiloh Teach You That?

I don't know who Einstein is, so how could I look like her?I heard a commotion earlier today and looked up to see Candy and Flower play fighting. Well, they were play fighting, but it wasn’t like the other day. What Candy was doing was pretty funny, but I don’t know if it is normal.

She had Flower pinned to the ground and she had her head between Flower’s legs. Then, she jumped up, and somehow, Candy positioned herself where she was sitting on her face and made the strangest gyrations. I don’t know how to read up on that to see what it’s supposed to mean! I do know that Shiloh exhibited similar sexual behavior to both Flower and Candy, and those advances looked like that, so maybe Candy thinks it’s just another way to play. And, I tend to forget that they were puppy mill moms. Hmmm. It is hilarious to watch them.

 

Shih Tzu Day 48: My Dog, Einstein

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Flower Shows Her Possessive Side

Flower was the first one to pounce on the plastic firemen.Every time I look at Flower, I think of Einstein. She is looking rather wild.I took Lia’s advice and cut up some hot dogs to bribe Flower while I am attempting to trim her. She didn’t eat any of the pieces when she was up on my makeshift grooming table (a buffet by the kitchen door), but she came back to get them when she got down. I also made an appointment with Lia for John and I to go into Gentle Groomer next week while he is on vacation so he can practice clipping on her dog.

Flower soon claimed all the firemen as her own.Flower has exhibited her possessive side today. She collected all of the Big Blast treats from the carpet and the various places they put them and took them to the communal dog bed. Then, she collected all four plastic firemen I bought for them at the Dollar Store and put them with the Big Blasts. She didn’t seem to know what to do when Candy came and took one of the firemen back. Her attention soon went back to biting the fireman’s legs and chewing on his head. I thought it was hard enough plastic that it could keep her attention but that she wouldn’t be able to shred it, but I was wrong. It took her quite a while, but she disassembled two of them this afternoon.

She also seems to be ignoring me. She hasn’t been coming up and visiting me on the couch and she is back to running when I get near her. I wonder if it is because of the grooming I have been doing on her here and there. I managed to catch and hold her today. For some reason, I just kept repeating, “I love my little, difficult puppy.” She is difficult, but I definitely do love her.

Candy’s New Play and Sleep Station

Candy chose a comfy spot, the training pad, to play with the new toy.While Flower was chewing on her firemen, Candy decided to take a nap on the training pad. I thought those pads were supposed to have some type of scent that made them want to do their business on them, not play on them, like she did yesterday, or sleep on them. She lay down right in the middle of it. It would be great if they had that good of aim when they peed, since it seems to be hit or miss. I think it’s usually accidental for Candy and Dottie when they partially miss the pad, but I wonder with Flower sometimes.

Dear Ole Dottie

There isn’t much new to say about dear, devoted Dottie. Each morning, she continues to run up the stairs and try to get me up. If I don’t get up, she sits by the bed quietly and waits. However, If I try to put her up on the bed with me, she dances away. During the day, off and on, she comes and lies next to me while I work. She is also the only one who follows me around the house. Granted, she is usually wondering if I am going to produce food.

 

 

 

Shih Tzu Day 47: Play Day

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Raring to Go

Sisters, sisters!Candy, Dottie and Flower’s trauma yesterday must not have been too bad, or else their recuperation time is quicker these days, because they were raring to go this morning. As usual, they rushed the bed at 5:30 this morning. I tried to ignore them, but the barks and whines kept getting louder and louder. I finally feebly reached my hand over the bed to their excited squeals.

Let's play dead!After about fifteen minutes, I gave up and got out of bed. I was surprised to see not two but three shih tzus running around. Candy hadn’t joined them in their trip upstairs for a long time. Maybe it was Shiloh at the top of the stairs that prevented her from coming up.

It might also be Shiloh that changed them from quietly playing to aggressively barking for me to get up. Some how, I would love to turn back the time and avoid the “nuisance barking.” The good news is that they only bark until I do what they want. Ha.

That kind of tickles, but it kind of feels good too.When the girls came in from breakfast, I felt like they wanted to play. However, I didn’t know what to do for them. They have a lot of stuffed animals, which they drag out now and then, but I haven’t found any other toys that they have gotten attached to. What keeps their attention the most are the Waggin’ Train Big Blast or Pork Chomp type treats that they gnaw on for weeks, consistently going back to. Although remnants of them were lying around on the floor, I threw out three new Big Blasts. Flower grabbed one to play with, but Candy and Dottie initially stuck with the ones that were already partially unraveled.

As time went on, Dottie picked up one of the newer treats and busily chewed on it for the next half hour. When Flower got distracted, Candy stole the one she had been working on.

Hidden Treasures

Chew, chew, chew.Candy must have found my memory box in her trips up to hide in the bedroom lately. This morning, I came across a small, wet woven bag containing a few small crystals I had as a keepsake from my late sister. I picked it up to put it away, but I smiled at the fact that Candy had discovered it, when I hadn’t seen it for years. I need to pick the box up off the floor of the closet and put it some where else.

Dottie, My Couch Partner

Can you see why they call us "Imperial Shih Tzus"?Dottie sat beside me most of the morning, contentedly snoring for some time while I worked. Candy and Flower spent a good deal of time chewing on their Big Blast, with Candy deciding that the best place to gnaw on hers was on the training pad. My guess is that dogs shouldn’t be allowed to play on training pads, since that might discourage them from doing their business there, but I was too lazy to move her off it.

I guess it didn’t do too much harm, since Flower visited the pad a little later. Good girl! I didn’t stop Dottie in time from tinkling on the carpet, but that was my fault. I forgot to replace the training pad after Flower used it.