Shih Tzu Day 122: Ideal Shih Tzu Morning

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Di Freeze

shih tzu morning miracles

This was quite an ideal Saturday morning. I didn’t hear Dottie on the stairs until 6:37. I went back to sleep and didn’t wake up until 7:10, when Candy barked that it was time to come downstairs.

John had a neck ache so he got up when I did. When I opened the door, Dottie and Flower started to rush in, but stopped short when they saw the Man. The shih tzu sisters still danced around me, but only in the hall. The Candy Committee was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for our hand and toe biting session. Dottie snuck a few toe bites in as well.

a female And, miracle of miracles, Flower ran over and peed on the pee pad, as if to say, “Look, Mom. I waited to show you that I could.” She probably wants her couch privileges back. I sprayed puppy training spray on the pad, so maybe it is working. If so, I should have bought it earlier.

Flower, Dottie and Nigel waited in the kitchen for me while I put their bowls of hamburger, rice and veggies and Taste of the Wild kibble together. No one succeeded in stealing Candy’s food. Either she is eating faster or my image in the doorway continues to keep the other shih tzus away. Flower sauntered over by the bowl, but didn’t do anything.

a black and white After they ate, I let Nigel out for the kibble scavenger hunt. I went in to clean up dishes from last night and none of the shih tzus instantly came to the door to be let in. Flower, Candy and Nigel all roamed around the yard. I think Dottie did her business and then just sat on the porch watching them.

While I worked on the computer this morning, John watched YouTube videos on his iPad. Dottie gave up her couch end position to Flower, I think to avoid having Flower sit by me.

a The most excitement to the morning was when Nigel decided to rest in one of the girls’ dog beds, and then decided he also wanted Candy’s red and white rawhide treat. I decided not to interfere. She yip, yip, yipped, but eventually gave the treat up to the bully. Those things are pretty popular. The pig ears I bought are also popular with the shih tzu gang.

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 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 118: Strange Shih Tzu Behavior

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Di Freeze

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 116: Squirrel!

Posted on October 23, 2011 by Di Freeze

squirrels and dogs

The shih tzus have discovered squirrels. They remind me so much of the scene from Up! where the dog is talking and gets distracted and says, “Squirrel!” Candy is usually pretty quiet when she is outside, except when Nigel is getting a little too rough. However, this morning my guard shih tzu started barking and wouldn’t stop.

two When I went outside to find out why Her Royal Furriness was barking, she was at the far end of the backyard, looking up at the fence. A squirrel was running away. Fifteen minutes after I went inside, she started barking again. It was another squirrel alert. Nigel wasn’t interested in the squirrel, but he wanted to play, so he ran up and nuzzled Candy. She yapped at him to leave her alone and went back to watching the squirrel, who, this time, was frozen in place. Nigel ran back to the porch, but Flower heard the barks and came running as backup. Nigel changed his mind and ran back to bug Candy some more, but she snapped at him, sending him back to the porch. He doesn’t realize that squirrel alert takes a lot of shih tzu concentration.

When the squirrel finally ran off, I went back inside, but Candy chose to stay out back. It was good she did, because the squirrel tried to sneak back, but Candy spied him and sounded the alert one last time for the day.

shih tzu petting zoo

Candy actually came up to me and allowed me to pet her twice today. I thought she looked like she was considering coming up on the couch, but the ogre shih tzu, Dottie, growled at her and she walked away. Interesting that none of the female shih tzus ever consider going to the male side of the couch.

Dottie wanted Mom time today too, beyond the regular time of just sitting together. I petted her for a while and when I went to move my hand, she bit at it to stop me. I gave her a few more minutes.

Flower, too, needed her special time today. She came to the couch a few times, giving me that “come hither and pet me” look. She is the funniest shih tzu when I pet her, especially her haunches. She stretches her neck and looks up and around, swiveling her head up and then from side to side, looking away and than at me with her eyes big. Of course, she jumped back down when I had to stop petting her and get other things done.

On those occasions when Flower does stay on the couch, she always acts like she is waiting for something to happen, such as for me to pet her again or for food to appear. She doesn’t really relax like Dottie and Nigel do.

musical shih tzu beds

a It is good that the shih tzu sisters have three beds. Candy started out in the new pink one this morning, went to the blue one for her afternoon nap and then took over the communal dog bed, later releasing it to Flower.

Sometimes, though, dog beds aren’t necessary. Flower chose the floor for her afternoon nap. Nigel lay down on one side of me and Dottie on another. After searching for Candy later, I found her lounging by the dining room table.

The treat man caused as big of a stir as the squirrel when he got home. His shih tzu committee, Candy and Nigel, showed a lot of enthusiasm when they greeted him and even more when he produced the evening treats.

Same Shih Tzu, Different Day

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

Category Archives: Behavior & Emotions