Shih Tzu Day 84: Mommy, Come and Play!

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Di Freeze

shih tzu a.m.

I don’t usually eat cereal for breakfast, but I have had Frosted Mini Wheats the last few days. Flower always jumps up on the couch to see what I am eating and if she can talk me out of any. I know I should discourage this, but it’s tough. I gave her half of a mini wheat. She stayed on the couch with me for a while. I was busy updating our blog, but I realized that the shih tzus were waiting for some time with me, so I stopped and gave them some attention.

shih tzu afternoon

After the shih tzus had their early afternoon treat, Flower and Dottie came in with me, but, as usual, Candy, our independent shih tzu, stayed outside. She sat on the porch steps for awhile, and then went and sat by the trailer. I don’t know why she is such a loner. I’m glad she likes it outside though. I wish Dottie and Flower would stay out more, because they get so bored inside.

I had some leftover pasta for lunch. Dottie was already sitting by me, but the smell of food brought Flower running. I gave them a few small pieces, but Candy stayed in Shih Tzu Central. Flower sat on the couch with us for a while before jumping down to find something more excited to do, like lying on her dog bed staring at us.

shih tzu and she really wanted one. She asked me if there was a shih tzu rescue in Colorado. I told her about the Colorado Shih Tzu Maltese Rescue. I told her that their adoption fee is $300, but also told her about BFF Rescue and that they have a lower adoption fee: $175 versus $300.

I told her about Nigel and that BFF Rescue gets other shih tzus in from time to time. However, she is like I was at first. She wants a dog under a year who is housebroken, healthy and has no big issues. I told her that might be a little harder to do. I also told her that our girls were definitely problem children when we got them, but we had worked out some of the kinks.

Candy and the couch

I n my campaign to get Candy to be one of the couch dogs, I picked her up Candy and put her between John and me after we finished eating. She stayed there for probably 20 minutes and then jumped down. However, about five minutes later, she came towards the couch; I thought she looked like she was thinking about jumping, and I held my breath. Then, she jumped up! Except for the day when a noise scared her weeks ago, this is the first time she jumped up on the couch with us on it. She lay down between me and Dottie and stayed for probably another half hour. I don’t think Dottie knew what to do initially. She tried to sit on her when Candy first lay down, and then lay down next to her.

Shih Tzu Day 82: Scavenger Hunt and Twitter Update

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Di Freeze

Scavenger Hunt

The girls let us sleep in until 7! That was nice. I only saw two spots on the training pads this morning, and I forgot to put the gate up in front of the spare bedroom before going to bed, so I imagine Candy might have wandered in there. But I didn’t see any evidence.

I fed the girls their individual breakfast, and, as is now part of the normal routine, coaxed Flower away from the other bowls by bouncing pieces of kibble in her bowl or near it for her to find, to keep her happy and busy. Then, when Candy and Dottie finished, I threw the kibble out little by little, so they could scramble over the porch looking for it.

Sometimes lately it’s been difficult to get them to get off the porch and do their business after eating, but this morning, they all wandered down and got it done. Then, as usual, Dottie and Flower came in with me, while Candy stayed outside to explore and just watch the world.

I only had to run one errand today (which included satisfying a craving for a breakfast burrito), so most of the day I sat on the couch and worked, with Dottie lying beside me. Flower jumped up when I was eating my burrito, so I gave them teeny pieces of potato. Later, Flower came up and looked at us several times, but then she wandered back to Shih Tzu Central.

700 Twitter Followers!

I have been faithfully tweeting for the girls, including tweeting about puppy mill articles I read, or about dogs I see on line that need to be adopted. When I was looking for a shih tzu, I signed up to have adoptapet.com email me when shih tzus were added to the list, so I regularly share those. l also check to see if BFF Rescue has new dogs, and tweet about them. It’s always nice when someone retweets them, because you never know what good it might do. Also, the Shih Tzu Sisters now have 700 Twitter followers, so more opportunity!

Jealous Doggie

Dottie twisted around on her part of the couch for several minutes this afternoon. I’m not sure what she was doing. Sometimes she acts like she doesn’t like the blanket I have there to protect the couch. Today, she scratched at it until she uncovered the couch and then scratched at it. I wish I knew what these dogs were thinking sometimes.

Late in the afternoon, Flower and Candy wandered out from Shih Tzu Central and Dottie jumped down off the couch. They looked like they wanted to do something. I seldom see them playing with the toys I give them, I can only give them so many treats, and I can’t walk them until we can get them trained to do that, so I got down on the blanket on the floor and played doggie with them.

Later, after John got home, Dottie was on the couch, and I went over to pet Flower. Dottie jumped down, ran over and practically sat on Flower to stop me from petting her. She can be such a jealous dog. It’s cute, but I am trying to get her to share me. I took turns petting both of them, and of course, ok a picture!

Shih Tzu Day 79: More Grooming for Dottie

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Di Freeze

Grooming Dottie for Her Party

grooming Gentle Groomer suggested. Dottie is getting two grooming turns this week, though, because tomorrow she turns 6, and we want her to look pretty for her “party.” John clipped her body and her toenails. Her grooming session went better today, since we weren’t touching her face.

Checking up on Spot Collins and Panda

It has been a very quiet day. Earlier, I thought maybe Flower didn’t feel good. She ran up the stairs to get me as usual, and did her usual dance when waiting in anticipation for her food. But later, after we came inside, she just lay in her dog bed looking listless. She seemed to be okay this afternoon, though.

I brought Candy up to sit with me on the couch while I talked to Mom on the phone (she jumped down as soon as she got a chance). Spot Collins, the 3-month old kitten we got her from the Denver Dumb Friends League, can’t come out of his kennel yet, because of the sutures from his neutering operation. Mom said that at 1:00 a.m., SC started screeching. When Mom and Buddy, her adopted dog, came to see what the problem was, the screeching stopped. Spot will only be quiet if Buddy sits by her kennel. I don’t know if that means that she likes Buddy or that she is afraid of him. As for Panda, the 8-month old cat Mom adopted, Mom has fallen in love with her. All Panda wants to do is sit on Mom’s lap. Maybe later, after the shih tzus have acclimated completely, we’ll think about adopting a cat.

A Dog Treat Taste Test Tie

The afternoon has been very quiet. Dottie lay down next to me while I worked on the computer most of the afternoon. Flower was a little antsy, coming to see me, then going to her couch, then going under the dining room table for awhile. Candy lay on the carpet at my feet for sometime, chewing on a treat and looking cute.

I have been experimenting with rawhide and non-rawhide treats. I did a taste test, throwing out an equal amount of both on the carpet and seeing who would go for what. Candy went for the Grreat Choice Flips, that are flat, white rawhide treats. Flower seized a small Pork Chomps Mini Knotz. Initially, Dottie just lay on the carpet watching them. When I looked again a little later, she was chewing on a Flip, so Candy must have given it up. There are always half-chewed treats lying on the floor, which they pick up randomly and chew on.

Shih Tzu Day 77: Visit to the Denver Dumb Friends League

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Di Freeze

More Grooming For Dottie

We put Dottie on the grooming table this morning. Surprisingly, she wasn’t as good as Flower was the last few times. We couldn’t get her to keep her head still, when we were trying to groom her face, mostly. Also, she kept wanting to sit down, so I had to keep sitting her back up and tickling her tummy to try to get her to stand.

Dumb Friends League Visit

I left the house when John did, to take my mom to the Dumb Friends League has waived their fee temporarily on cats over one years old. Cats between six months old and a year are $50, and kittens under six months old are $120.

You can see kittens playing when you first go to the cat area at the Dumb Friends League. I fell in love with a tabby named Spot Collins. Mom liked a small black and white kitten, but someone else did too, because they pulled it out for someone while we stood there.

We were told that some of the cats were in a confined area because of a highly contagious upper respiratory infection, but that we could still look at them. We put down the numbers for three of the older cats, plus Spot Collins, and then waited to visit with the pet counselor.

As it turned out, two of the cats we wrote down had the URI, and Mom didn’t want to affect her other cats, so we crossed them off our list. I founded another cat, 8 months old, and already neutered, whichI thought Mom might like, so I had the counselor bring him into the room so we could visit with him. He was black and white and named Panda. She liked him, so we started looking for a friend for him. We brought an orange tabby in, but he didn’t seem very friendly, so we ruled him out.

I talked Mom into visiting with Spot Collins, and he passed inspection. We brought Panda home, but Spot Collins, 3 months old, needed to be neutered, so I will have to go and pick him up at the Dumb Friends League tomorrow. I would have liked to take him to our home, but I don’t know how the girls would react. Maybe at a later date.

Ants in Candy’s Pants

I didn’t get home until late in the afternoon. Of course, the girls were excited, to see me, and I’m sure, to get their afternoon treat. Candy seemed to have ants in her pants later on. She jumped and danced all over the carpet, and then went under the table and started growling, at seemingly nothing. It is possible that she saw a mouse that we have seen a few times. That’s another good reason to bring a cat home.

Flower kept coming up and putting her paws on the couch. I think she would want to sit with me, if Dottie wasn’t always there.

It rained, so when John got home, he gave them their evening treat from the couch. Dottie and Candy eagerly took theirs. Flower eyed him warily, ran up, took one, and then ran around in a circle on the carpet. I really wish I knew what causes her erratic behavior.

While John was out of the room, I put Flower on the couch, on the other side of me. She stayed for a while, but jumped down, so I went and got Candy. She seemed relaxed. She put her head on my leg and stretched out. She was there for probably 15minutes. When John came back into the room, he sat on the other side and petted her. She didn’t get up until he got up about ten minutes later.

Shih Tzu Day 68: Furry Alarm Clocks

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Di Freeze

furry shih tzu alarm clock switch

Although I felt sorry for our little shih tzu princesses, we did something last night to try to keep the furry alarm clocks from waking us up at 4:00 a.m. We shut our bedroom door and the bathroom door, so they couldn’t come up to the bed.

That isn’t as easy as it sounds. I personally love the jingling sound of their dog tags as they fly up the stairs, and the scratching of little paws on the bed. However, I would love to sleep in for once. I guess many people would say you sacrifice that right when you get pets. I just want to know if all dogs get up as early as our shih tzus.

<u srcset= shih tzu face off” width=”300″ height=”225″ />I heard the frantic barking at 4:00 a.m., and was tempted to get up. How can I train them to not wake us up so early, though, if I do that? Intermittently, I heard barking and whining, until I got up at about 6:30. I think that Dottie and Flower were outside our bedroom door, while Candy barked from downstairs, asking her sister shih tzus what was taking them so long to get us up. Flower and Dottie flung themselves at me excitedly when I finally opened the door, and Candy joined the celebration once we came downstairs. That’s good, since I thought the shih tzus would all be mad at me.

I can’t say that we caused this whacky schedule. At the foster home where the shih tzus lived before coming here, the man went to work at 4:00, so I imagine they got used to that schedule. I would just like to know how to get the shih tzus un-used to it and on our clock.

It also doesn’t help that they get a treat almost every time that they go out, which makes them feel cheated when they don’t. That means that when I try to get them to go out merely to do their business, I’m not successful. I need to quickly learn some training habits before they get any older and more set in their ways!

time out

Last summer, I rode my bike nearly every day, and John and I made long bike trips on the weekend. However, this summer has been devoted to our adopted dogs. This morning, however, we made a three-hour, 30-mile journey. We came home tired, knees aching, and all we wanted to do was sit on the couch.

The shih tzus didn’t mind the lazy afternoon, once they got their sweet potato and chicken treats. Flower and Candy mainly lounged in their dog beds, while Dottie rested beside her mom.

Same Shih Tzu, Different Day

Journal of Three Former Puppy Mill Mothers / Shih Tzu Sisters … and Nigel

Category Archives: Foster & Adoption