Shih Tzu Day 136: Nov. 12 (Catch Up)

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Di Freeze

I tried something different today and cooked up some ground turkey to mix with vegetables for them, instead of ground chicken or hamburger. They all liked it.

Dottie is getting more comfortable with John. When he was giving out snacks in the kitchen, she came up to him without hesitating. She wouldn’t do that a month ago.

Candy has been amusing me with her cuteness again. She was doing her pony act, bucking all over the place, spurring on Flower and Nigel. She did it right in front of John, which is another first. I have been turning over food and treat duties to him as much as possible, so they will bond with him. It looks like it is starting to work.

Shih Tzu Day 124: Halloween for the Shih Tzus

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Di Freeze

bad start for Halloween

Halloween for the shih tzus began with one of them throwing up yellow bile. It was one of the female shih tzus, because I found it when we came downstairs. I smelled all of their breath to see which shih tzu it was, and Flower had the bad breath. John said that didn’t necessarily mean that she threw up, since she could have eaten someone else’s. Gross, but I know it could happen. I don’t think that is the case, though, or else two shih tzus would have bad breath. None of the dogs acted sick, so I don’t know what caused the problem.

morning shih tzu squirrel notification

Candy spent a lot of time outside this morning prowling the perimeter again, looking for squirrels. Every once in a while, she would bark and summon the troops outside. What’s funny is that the dogs can’t always see the squirrel very well, so he will be running one way and the shih tzus will be running the other in search of him. Nigel doesn’t always join in on the squirrel hunt. Sometimes he lets the girl shih tzus do the chasing and he lays in the grass chewing on a bone.

shih tzu door greeter

I took Nigel to PetSmart and Petco. I dressed him in his black sweater with the skull on it for Halloween. He was very excited to get to go in the car. He did very well, until he saw a big dog in Petco and his dog aggression came out. He started barking, growling and straining at the leash, so I had to pick him up and carry him until the dog was in another part of the store.

When I came home, I dressed up the girls. They didn’t have costumes, but I dressed them all in black and white. Dottie and Flower wore matching polka dot dresses. I had returned Candy’s black and white houndstooth dress that was too small, but I finally found a medium, so I dressed her up in that. I definitely spend too much time looking at dog clothes at Ross! It took me a while to catch Candy to put her dress on her, since she kept running under the dining room table.

I knew that no one but John and me would see the girls, but I still thought it was fun. As I thought, Nigel was the door greeter, once the trick-or-treaters started arriving. He ran to the door every time the doorbell rang. When the doorbell wasn’t ringing, he ran to to the door anyway, waiting for the next group of children to come along. Again, the only problem we had was when a group came up that included a big dog, who waited in the driveway. Nigel showed his dog aggression again, so I’m sure the parents were glad to be off to the next house. Well, the good news is that Nigel is great with children and small dogs, so that is still better adjusted than Joey was and the shih tzu sisters are.

Shih Tzu Day 121: Further Housebreaking Dilemmas

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Di Freeze

shih tzu cat alert

Candy woke us up barking at 6. John went downstairs to investigate and said there were cats fighting in the backyard. Our guard shih tzu sounded the alert about three times.

Our housebreaking dilemmas continue. When I came downstairs, there was a big, wet spot on John’s end of the couch. My guess is that it was Flower. I hate putting pee pads on the furniture, but I did.

When I talked to someone at PetSmart, he told me that we might have to just do what people do with puppies and kennel train her. I hate to do that. To be fair, I feel like I would have to only do that with Flower. I imagine her in her kennel watching her shih tzu sisters running around enjoying their freedom.

I’ve considered blocking off our couch or putting the cushions up before we go to bed. I think Candy and Flower like sleeping on it, so that would end that. Also, we could shut them all up in shih tzu Central at night. I like to give them the freedom to run around and to come up the stairs in the morning. I’ll have to think about it more.

dog bed habits

When the shih tzu sisters came to live with us as foster dogs, BFF Rescue let them bring a blue and white dog bed and a grey dog bed with them. The grey dog bed was getting a litter tattered on the bottom, so I replaced it recently with a pink and white one. Candy normally lies in the pink one, but since she also likes lying down in the corner in the dining room, I put the grey bed over there. She has been getting use out of both of them.

Flower continues to spend some of the time in the blue dog bed and an equal amount of time “behind” the dog bed, resting her head on it. I’m not sure why she does that. Maybe she just feels “safe” behind it?

will the shih tzu sisters be lap dogs?

When I interact with the shih tzus, I sometimes think of Delores at BFF saying that they will get in our laps at some point. I have serious doubts about that. They seem perfectly content at arm’s length. Nigel, on the other hand, likes to cuddle up next to me, which makes it hard to work. He definitely wants to be a lap dog. He climbed up on my lap today, and surprisingly, the way he was laying, I could actually reach the keyboard, so I let him stay there a while.

false alarm

I’m not sure what was going on outside this afternoon, but the shih tzus heard a noise and they all ran to the front door, I guess thinking it was the Treat Man. Candy was shaking her tail feather. About ten minutes later, they heard it again, and Flower, Candy and Nigel ran to the door together. It was so cute.

something even more disgusting

So, there might be something more disgusting than your shih tzu peeing on the couch — your shih tzu pooping on it. Yes, I know. Gross. But Flower managed to do it today, and since she wouldn’t clean it up, I had too. Since the spot had to dry off, there wasn’t much dog property. Dottie sat with me after the clean-up job. Candy lay on the floor, watching us. Nigel was chewing on a treat contently in his dog bed, and Flower sat next to the bed, watching him.

While I was watching her, I was noticing how much her eyelashes have grown back. I’m not sure if they were bothering her eyes, so I think I will let them grow back for a while. She is such a cute little Maybelline baby again. I call her Marilyn, but I know Marilyn Monroe didn’t poop and pee on couches and carpets!

Shih Tzu Day 119: Snow Shih Tzus

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Di Freeze

shih tzu snow angels

a <em srcset= shih tzu playing in the snow.” width=”270″ height=”203″ />shih tzu kicking up snow. ” width=”240″ height=”180″ />I normally go outside with the shih tzu sisters when they eat, but it snowed last night, so today I put their bowls on the porch and came back inside and stood at the door. Flower did her normal routine. As soon as she was done, she wandered over near Candy, still eating her food. When the shih tzus first came to live with us, Flower would gobble down her food, rush over to Candy, push her nose in Candy’s bowl and start helping her finish her food.

I have corrected her so many times though, that now she looks up to see if I am watching her. When I catch her, I knock on the glass and shake my finger at her, and she usually walks away, like she did this morning. If I stay away from the window too long, chances are I will catch her nose in the bowl, with Candy beside her watching. When they are all done, I open the door and Nigel out.

After the shih tzus ate, they wandered out into the snow. I don’t know if they have ever played in the snow before. They all came from Kansas, but since the shih tzu sisters were in a puppy mill, I don’t know what the conditions were. I have no idea what kind of life Nigel had before being turned over to the animal shelter, but he might have played in snow.

I do know it was the first time for the shih tzus to play in snow at the Freeze home. I really enjoyed seeing them bounding across the yard like rabbits. Flower and Candy especially looked like they were having a good time.

Abut a half-hour after we all came inside I looked at Candy and realized she had ice stuck to her fur on her chest and paws. I sat her on my lap and picked the ice off, then got a microfiber cloth, dipped it in warm water and held it on the remaining ice to melt it. She put her head on my lap when I was done and stayed there until I moved my position.

When she got up, I thought she might jump off the couch, but she went over and lay down on top of Dottie. She stayed there for quite awhile, with Nigel next to them. Later, Flower came up and lay down on the arm of the couch. It was unusual and sweet to have four shih tzus sleeping on the couch. Flower’s first choice would have been her couch, but since she peed on it again, it’s off limits to her.

I had the shih tzus all go outside again in the afternoon. This time when the children came in, I noticed that Flower had snowballs stuck on her. The same thing probably happened this morning, but I didn’t realize it. I looked online to see what people do when snow sticks to dogs and read to sit them in warm water. I put a few inches of water in the sink and splashed it on Flower’s fur until the snow melted, then wrapped a towel around her, held her on my lap and dried her off.

(Please visit our FLICKR page for more first snow pictures.)

back to being a recluse

Candy was back to being a recluse this afternoon. She went over to her area by the dining room, and if I tried to go near her, she ran under the table. She is a strange little shih tzu.

The couch dynamics changed this afternoon. Nigel sat on my lap for about an hour. Later, he lay down on the left of me and Flower sat on my right. I don’t think Dottie liked the arrangement, so she decided to sit on the couch arm, looking dejected.

Sometimes I hope that I am not doing them a disfavor by taking them all in. Dottie is very possessive of me, and I think she would have made an ideal only dog. However, I know she knows I love her, and for the most part, I think she’s happy here with her sisters, although she doesn’t like to share her side of the couch or Mom — and she could do without Nigel.

Shih Tzu Day 115: Flower Power, Play Dates & Leash Training

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Di Freeze

A blooming Flower

I get a kick out of Flower. Today, she walked up to the couch, licked my feet and then walked by. That’s the most licking I get from these shih tzus. What I do get, though, is some good entertainment. Like when Flower comes up, puts her paws up on the edge of the couch, stares into my eyes with her big eyes and then slides down. She did that routine twice today.

Later, Flower didn’t hesitate to go up to John for dog treats. John has taken the dogs out for their treats the last two evenings. They follow him quickly, which is great to see. In fact, Flower was following right at his feet like he was the Pied Piper. And Flower has been jumping up on the couch often. Beyond that, miracle of miracles, she let John pet her today.

Dottie

Even Dottie jumped off the couch and followed the Pied Piper. Then, this afternoon, we took Nigel and Dottie for a walk. Actually, I couldn’t call it leash training. John walked Nigel on the leash. I carried Dottie to the green area behind the Wal-Mart a block away, so she could “watch” John and Nigel, and hopefully get a hint that walking can be fun. However, when we were at a point where I didn’t think she would run off, I set Dottie down.

At first, she walked a few steps and then stopped. However, when we got to a place that was more like a path, she walked behind and beside me for probably a minute until she heard a voice from a nearby apartment. I let her stop a while and then picked her up again. We walked a ways and then I put her down again. She walked again until she heard another voice. That time, she started shaking. I picked her up and carried her back to the house, praised her and gave her a treat. She was so cute walking by me, but, sorry to say, I didn’t have my camera with me.

also

Nigel is a real apple lover, unlike our female shih tzus. He also loves playing with Candy outside and inside. This afternoon John was holding Nigel and I couldn’t resist putting Candy on his lap too. They were so cute sitting there. It looked like they were on a date.

We now have several couch dogs. Today, Nigel was sitting between us, Dottie was next to me and Flower next to her, and eventually, Candy moved over near her shih tzu sisters. I was very excited when we bought our couch from American Furniture Warehouse last year, but it actually is a pain in the butt. It’s a sofa sleeper, and it is not very good quality, as far as we are concerned. Because of having John and Nigel on one side and Dottie and sometimes Flower on the other, I have to sit right in the middle, half of me on one cushion and half on the other. And, the cushions sink in the middle. It is a bummer to have to think about the As Seen On TV product, Furniture Fix, when we just bought our sofa six months ago. Instead of buying that product, we put a board under the cushions. It seems to be working right now.

Same Shih Tzu, Different Day

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

Category Archives: Just Plain Cute