thanksgiving preparation for the shih tzus

This is our first Thanksgiving with the shih tzus. Since we were going to have lots of company, we started the morning by bathing Flower, Dottie, Candy and Nigel. I thought that someone must have traded our girls for look-alike shih tzus. The shih tzu sisters all stood quietly and let us bathe and then dry them, so we accomplished that part quickly.

Nigel, however, thrashed so much that I took him upstairs and put him in the bathtub. I never did that with the girls because the sink is so convenient. Once they were all bathed and dried, I put their holiday clothes on them. I bought a very pretty brown and black cape for Candy at TJ Maxx, but it actually looked adorable on Dottie, so I put her on it instead. Candy got to wear a pink and black dress and I dressed Flower in a pink one.

We also had to do some housecleaning, plus I procrastinated on a project and had to work a little, so the morning went quickly.

company arrives

I took Nigel with me to pick up Mom at 10:30. Of course, he’s a people-loving shih tzu, so he was happy to see Grandma. The girls mainly stayed at shih tzu Central, although they didn’t act scared.

When we got ready to eat Thanksgiving dinner, I made up a bowl of goodies for each shih tzu. I brought the bowls for the girls to their corner. They quickly gobbled down the turkey, green beans, potatoes and dash of sweet potatoes.

The girls would have been happy having the day to themselves, but that wasn’t the case. My niece, Heather, and her family is visiting from North Dakota. When Heather, Herman, Dominic and Jordan arrived, Nigel met them at the door, his tail wagging, and instantly made four new friends.

As I expected, the girls instantly turned back into scared, little, former puppy mill dogs. Candy chose to go outside. She ran instantly to the ATV trailer and crawled under it. I checked on her several times, but she didn’t want to come out, so I left her there. The other two female shih tzus huddled together in the corner at Shih Tzu Central. They stayed there when our children and eight grandchildren showed up a little later.

One of my grandchildren came up to me a little later and said the corner smelled “rank.” I explained to him that Flower probably peed there, since she was too afraid to come out. I found out later that she had done both number one and two on the dog bed. My poor, little girl. I hope that one day she can deal with visitors better.

Jordan tried to pet Flower, but backed off when Flower snapped at him several times. Heather was on a mission to get the girls to let her pet them. She finally succeeded in petting Flower, but Dottie growled at her until she stopped trying.

I could have moved the girls upstairs or downstairs, but I didn’t want to take them out of their safety zone. Finally, I remembered something Delores at BFF told me when we adopted the female shih tzus. She said that when she has been taking care of frightened dogs, she puts a blanket over their kennel sometimes. I put a blanket over the top of their safety gate to form a makeshift tent. They were probably still uncomfortable with all the noise, but I hope that they at least felt slightly more isolated.

Once I put up the tent, I went outside to look for Candy. I found her sitting at the back of the yard, pressed up against the fence. She didn’t run when I picked her up, though, so I brought her in.

The girls had a LONG day, since our children and their families didn’t start leaving until midnight. Plus, Heather and her family are staying here off and on, so the female shih tzus didn’t get any alone time. We gave Heather and Herman our room for the nights they are staying here, so John and I get to try out the sofa sleeper. It will be interesting to see how the shih tzus respond to me and the Man sleeping near them.