Hi, all! We are getting excited because of the spring weather. Candy, Nigel, and Flower all have short haircuts now. Nigel and Candy have a lot of energy, as you can tell from this video:
Shih Tzu Doings: Candy and Nigel Tribal Dance
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Category Archives: Flirtation & Promiscuous Girl & Boy Dogs
Shih Tzu Day 118: Strange Shih Tzu Behavior
is that normal shih tzu behavior?
Dottie didn’t start whining until 7 a.m. That was an hour beyond when she started trying to wake me up yesterday. I haven’t been letting the shih tzus in the bedroom, because of past accidents, but I decided to give them the benefit of a doubt. I left the bedroom door open while I brushed my teeth, and Flower ran into the room and started circling. That was my cue to usher her out so she wouldn’t pee on the carpet.
Dottie, Flower, Nigel and I worked our way down the stairs towards the Candy Committee. They did their morning dance and I tried not to fall down the stairs while they did it. During the next part of the ritual, while I was allowing Candy to bite my hand at the bottom of the stairs, Flower jumped up on the couch, which she sometimes does in the middle of her dance. But, instead of jumping right back down, she squatted. I had never seen her do that on the couch, but I knew what usually came after squatting, so I hollered, “Flower!” and tried to get there on time. Too late. She left a big wet spot before she jumped back down. Sigh. Back to housebreaking 101.
I had towels under the red blanket, just in case, but it went through everything. I took the cushions off, sprayed cleaner on them and put up a gate around the couch. Flower lost her couch permissions for the day. She can still come up on our couch, but I have to keep an eye on her.
John thought the problem might have been the newspapers I put down when I ran out of training pads yesterday. Candy and Dottie seemed okay with it, but I have noticed that Flower doesn’t do well with change. John said maybe she hadn’t yet associated the newspaper with where she is supposed to pee.
One of the other shih tzus was acting odd today. While I was talking to Dottie this morning, she started flailing around on the couch. I could not see that anything was wrong with her. She was rubbing her face against the blanket on the couch at first, and then against my side. I thought her ear might itch, so I tried to help her itch it. When I went to move my hand away, she lunged to bite it; not in an aggressive way, but play bites. I petted her a while and then she settled down. Still not sure if she just wanted affection.
shih tzu squirrel! alert again
Candy has been alerting us to the squirrel again. I assume it’s the same squirrel, but maybe not.
Our own personal squirrel, Nigel, has been irritating Candy and Flower today. They have been yapped at him a lot. I am going to have to start yapping at him too. I can’t wear socks anymore, because he insists on taking them off my feet. My feet get cold, but I have to admit that his sock fetish is darned cute.
Nigel continues to irritate Dottie. She leans in close to his face and growls at him when he comes to her side of the couch and puts his paws up on it. I am afraid she might hurt him, so when she did it earlier, I went to move her back and him away and managed to knock my coffee over onto the couch. Well, at least the red blanket will have a companion in the washing machine.
Nigel irritates Candy the least, I guess. She didn’t push him out when he went to lay in her dog bed with her today. It was a very cute sight.
something good
I have this bad habit of forgetting to refill the shih tzus’ water bowls late in the day. Today, after I filled one of the bowls up, I went to put it down and two of the shih tzus excitedly ran over to it. John laughed and said they thought they were getting “something good.” When I sat the bowl down, though, they started lapping up the water. I told John it was “something good” after all. All that play makes the shih tzu quartet thirsty.
shih tzu beggars
Sorry to say, our shih tzus are officially beggars. Flower in particular jumps up on the couch at any hint/smell of food. Tonight it was Carroll Shelby chili, however, so I didn’t share.
Shih Tzu Day 49: Laughter is the Best Medicine
Flower’s Fixation
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.
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
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
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 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 27: The Shih Tzu is a Siren
shih tzu vote for Fromm chicken
Bright and early this morning, after we had gone outside, we fed the shih tzu sisters and Shiloh their regular food. Then, we brought out the sample Fromm food (chicken) I got at Paws n Play. I have been hearing a lot lately about dogs needing food with higher protein content, and Fromm was one of the brands someone had highly recommended. John hand-fed them the pieces, and all of them eagerly took it.
After we came in, Flower stretched out on the floor in front of me, as Dottie lay beside me, even with John on the couch! The shih tzus definitely are getting more comfortable, although some days we seem to go back a few steps.
Shiloh and the shih tzu Siren
Flower and Shiloh entertained us before John left for work. I have been trying to keep these two dogs away from each other, since there seems to be a lot of growling when Shiloh and this particular shih tzu are in close proximity. However, this morning, John said he thought they might be playing, so I didn’t separate them.
As I watched, I realized that, at least this time, Shiloh wasn’t egging on Flower. The shih tzu would tentatively approach him, sniff him, and then back away. Maybe Shiloh hadn’t been bothering her. In fact, I think she had decided she liked the attention!
“Flower has a boy toy!” I teased. “I saw you go up to him. Are you flirting with him, or are you picking a fight!”
It started to make sense — those Maybelline eyelashes! That “come hither!” attitude. Oh, yes! This shih tzu was being coquettish. Had she been that way at the puppy mill? No, of course not. But had she lived another life before this, she would have been. At one point, she made me think of Mae West, and I laughed more.
Now, with Shiloh standing at attention, Flower tried to growl fiercely. It was hard to really take this shih tzu seriously as a dangerous animal. As I watched the puppy play, Flower would run up to him, nudge him and then scramble across the floor to safety, with Shiloh tearing after her. At times, she would jump up on her couch, looking adorable on the red blanket, and Shiloh would leap up after her. Then, they were off in a new direction.
Several minutes later, Shiloh made a gesture that made me realize that he didn’t want to be “just friends.” No, not at all. She wanted flirtatious dog play, but he was looking for action. I scolded him then and told him to get off of her. He did, and Flower continued giving him the runaround.
The play continued. I was equally surprised when little sister Candy trotted out from their corner, jumped on Shiloh and got in the middle of the fray. Girls will be girls, and boys will love it.