Category Archives: Behavior & Emotions

Shih Tzu Day 64: Not My Normal Shih Tzus

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shih tzu panic button

shih tzu with a newspaper toy.I woke up this morning thinking that something was out of place. First off, “I” woke up — something or a shih tzu, or two or three — didn’t wake me up. I lay there for a few minutes listening for the jiggling dog tag sound. Nothing. I turned over to see the regular alarm clock, not the furry alarm clock I had been waking to, and saw that it was 6:07. After a few minutes, I started to get worried. Was one of our shih tzu puppies sick? Or worse, did one of them have an accident and die in the night? The other shih tzus would have surely alerted us if that were the case, I reasoned.

shih tzu on stairs.I know. These sound like irrational thoughts, but when at least one noisy shih tz has woken you up every morning for more than a month, silence is eerie. When I still hadn’t heard anything ten minutes later, I got out of bed and went to the restroom, thinking that might trigger a response. Suddenly, the dog tag jingling began, followed by rapid paw steps on the stairs. Then, a furry grey and white shih tzu head peeked into the bathroom. It was Flower, my usually rambunctious shih tzu; followed by Dottie, my couch companion; and Candy, their shy but adorable and independent shih tzu sister, bringing up the tail. I might not like them to wake me up at the crack of dawn, but I was very happy to see those little girls.

shih tzu imperial lion dance

The shih tzus followed me to the bottom of the stairs, and then got in front of me and did their imperial lion dance. When I turned on the light, I saw that there were two yellow spots on the training pad. Yes! And I didn’t recall seeing any upstairs. Wow. Something was wonderful, but really wrong with this picture!

I went to the kitchen to put their bowls of cottage cheese and kibble together. Flower and Dottie followed me, while their sister shih tzu waited patiently in the living room.

When I opened the back door, the shih tzus scurried out, jumping up and down excitedly for their morning meal. I sat down their dog bowls and sat down on my lawn chair to watch them eat. Flower did approach Candy’s bowl a few times, but came to me for kibble hand feeding, letting Candy finish. Then, one by one, the shih tzus wandered out to the yard to do their business.

lazy shih tzu afternoon

three shih tzus on the carpet.

Throughout the day, Candy mainly rested in front of the couch on the hardwood floor, although she did go to her dining room corner at times, and ran up to her room intermittently. She actually didn’t go upstairs until I turned my makeshift laptop stand over to try to shorten it. That small bit of noise sent her scurrying up the stairs. It makes me wonder if she just has ultra-sensitive ears. John mentioned last night that sometimes when she goes upstairs after he gets home, even though she seems happy to see him, it’s after we have turned the TV on or up.

Her shih tzu sisters mainly languished in their corner throughout the hot day, occasionally coming out to lie on the carpet and chew on the mini Pork Chomps Knotz I gave them earlier, or the rawhide Flips from the other day that still clutter the floor. Correction, only Flower chewed on the Knotz. Neither of the other shih tzus took theirs quickly enough, so she gathered all of them around her, going from one to the other when she got bored. Later, Candy must have stolen one away from her, because when I looked down, they both had a Knotz in their mouth, chewing away contentedly. Dottie dozed on the couch nearby, next to me. I guess that is the difference between shih tzus that are barely out of the puppy stage and 5-year-old dogs like Dottie.

switched on shih tzus

The shih tzus all came alive shortly after 6:00, though, rushing me like they had seen aliens or a ghost. My guess is that they finally felt a breeze, and it put a little life into them.

three shih tzus playing.I don’t like to open the front door, because the shih tzus react to every little noise, but the heat, and a swamp cooler that doesn’t seem to be working, drove me to give it a try. The shih tzus went crazy when the neighbor came home, following Flower’s lead and barking up a storm. The other times the shih tzus began barking, I couldn’t figure out what caused it. Each time, Flower watched the door, wide eyed and panting, while her shih tzu sisters lounged on the floor, waiting for their sibling to alert them to imminent danger.

a shih tzu jumping while another watches.startled shih tzus

In our plan to get the shih tzu sisters to adapt to their daddy, John and I agreed earlier that he would come in the back door to see if Flower and Dottie would react differently. We also agreed that he would come in bearing dog treats. When I heard his truck, I was the cheerleader, chirping that Daddy was home and they should be excited.

When he came in the back door, the shih tzus were so startled that they weren’t quite sure what to do. I asked him to go out and come back in the front door. As soon as he left, the girls looked expectantly at the back door. When he did come in the front door, Candy danced to him, wagging her tail again. Although Dottie and Flower weren’t that exuberant, they didn’t treat him like an intruder.

Shih Tzu Day 62: Candy Wags Her Tail for Daddy

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tail-wagging Candy

Shih tzu on carpet.I think we had a major victory last night. When John got home from work, Flower forgot that she had spent the whole week with him and barked ferociously, as if he was an intruder. Dottie just hung back, but Candy greeted him with a wagging tail. That’s pretty good, since Candy’s tail rarely wags. Flower didn’t bark for very long, however, especially after John passed out the Milo’s chicken jerky.

Dottie’s turn on the table

Dottie was patient on the grooming table, but wouldn't walk on the leash.We are going to try to either put one sister on the leash or do some type of grooming every day. This morning, we put Dottie on the table. We trimmed around her paws and a little on the bottom of her feet, gave her her treat and put her back down. Flower is always too nervous to eat a treat on the table, put Dottie did.

panic mode

Shortly after John left, I was messing around with my blog site, trying to figure out why I couldn’t set up email subscriptions correctly. Right after that, it showed an error. I panicked, since I hadn’t backed it up for a while. It turned out that Fatcow was having a problem. Thank goodness. I did back up the site as soon as it came back up.

Candy’s turn with the harness

Candy took a few steps in the harness, following a Vienna sausage.The girls all seemed so bored today, languishing on the carpet, floor or in the doggie beds. I decided they should get a little fresh air, and while they were at it, Dottie could have another leash and harness lesson. Dottie was stubborn, and didn’t want to budge, though, so I targeted Candy.

I tried to do what Cesar recommended, introducing the harness to her, and giving her a bite of the chosen treat, Vienna sausage again. She took the bite and didn’t seem too disturbed by the walk-in harness, so I put it on her. I didFlower was relieved to avoid the grooming table and leash. have to carry her out to the middle of the grass. She didn’t walk as much as Flower did the other day, but she did take a few tentative steps. She’d stop, I’d offer a small bite of the sausage, and she would take a few more steps. I didn’t want to push her too far, so I made it a short session. I split the last sausage between the three of them.

Candy went upstairs for a short time after we came in, but then she came down and spent most of the afternoon with us. I think that’s another good sign.

Shih Tzu Day 59: Running From Love

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Sleeping In Until 6

The shih tzus didn’t come up to get me until 6:00. At least it wasn’t 5:00, but for a Saturday, I would love to at least get to sleep until 7:00! I have to figure out a way to reprogram their inner clocks.

Since I didn’t want them to leave puddle on the carpet, I dragged myself out of bed. My idea was to have them go out and pee, but not feed them just yet. They danced around on the porch, thinking their meal was coming,  and then stood there staring at me for a while, before deciding that if I wasn’t going to feed them, they might as well run around the backyard for a while.

I brought them in, confused, and then went back upstairs. They weren’t about to let me alter their schedule, however, so they followed me up to make sure I wouldn’t forget them. I How can I be Mom's companion, if she keeps getting off the couch?gave up and went back down and fed them, giving John a few extra minutes to stay in bed.

We spent several hours setting up the connections to a castoff TV from John’s sister, Lynda. That meant that Dottie, Candy and Flower didn’t get much attention. When we were done, John took them outside and threw them some hot dog pieces. They enjoyed them much more than the rawhide treats I got them. If only hot dogs were good for them.

Candy Runs From Love

I'm still trying to figure out if I like this lap thing. Candy continues her tradition of staying upstairs in her room, since her spot in the dining room is no longer available to her.  Dottie spent as much time as she could on the couch with me, and Flower stayed in the Safe Zone, mainly on the hardwood floor, with her head on the blue dog bed. They are so much friendlier when John is at work. I sure wish they would act around John more like they act around me. Maybe one day.

At least they no longer have trouble taking treats from him. In fact, when John went outside with the sweet potato treats, Flower started to do her food dance, but stopped short. I think she forgot that she didn’t trust him and that it wasn’t me. Dottie and Flower came in when he did, but Candy stayed in the grass, sniffing around.

He ended up going out to get her. She ran around the yard, slowly, keeping out of his reach. Finally, however, she stopped a

nd crouched down, waiting for him to pick her up. He stayed outside with her for a while, sitting on the porch with her in his arms. He said she’s running from love, but I know we’ll catch her, sooner or later.

New Blog Header

I finally took a semi-decent picture of the girls sitting on their colorful blanket, so I have updated the blog header. Dottie gets my vote for most improved hair cut!

Original blog header

Shih Tzu Day 58: What’s “Fetch”

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that bright light!

a shih tzu with a toy Dottie, Candy and I ran upstairs to get Mom and that Man out of bed, because they’re being lazy again. Mom was holding that little box again, which kept shining a bright light at us and making clicking noises. That was weird because she usually does that downstairs. She must have carried it upstairs with her last night.

She wouldn’t get up, and we got tired of waiting, so we all tinkled on the carpet. Of course, we each picked a good spot. One of us did number two, too, but Mom didn’t know who did it. We’ll never tell. We all looked at each other when we heard her say, “Great. They think our bedroom is a potty box.”

fetch?

That Man gives us good treats, but I am still suspicious. We finally got to go outside and eat! That is always so exciting. Mom brought this round thing outside afterwards and threw it, asking us to “fetch,” whatever that means. Dottie and I weren’t interested, but Candy chased it, grabbed it, carried it a little way and then dropped it. I wonder if that is fetching?

Dottie looks funny wet! the table where bad things happen    

Things were going great, but when we came inside, Mom picked me up and sat me on that table where bad things happen!! However, she didn’t pick up that thing that makes a lot of noise and cuts off my fur. Instead, she gave me a treat and petted me, then she put me down. That wasn’t bad.

Candy looks even funnier!Later, Mom gave us this flat, white thing that was fun to chew on. She said it was something called a Flip. It didn’t have much taste, but it was fun.

scary man

We were all cozy in our area, and then that Man started talking to us and then came over to our private area, uninvited! We know Men want to hurt us, so we ran like crazy. He tried to pretend he was nice, by giving us hot dog pieces, but we know he has something very sinister in mind. I jumped on the couch so Mom would protect me. I couldn’t help it, though; when he held out more hot dog pieces, I took them.

Candy is a baby! She's afraid of that grey thing that makes noise.Still, I don’t trust him! Or any man! In fact, I don’t trust anyone, except I trust Mom just a little. While I was running away from that Man, I couldn’t help it. I did number two on the floor. Well, it’s his fault. I heard Mom say that I need a counselor. Is that true?

Shih Tzu Day 53: Happy Birthday, Dad

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Swim Day with Grandpa J

If I sit really still, the visitors will think I'm a shoe and leave me alone. Dottie, Flower and Candy The dogs were home alone a lot today. It is John’s birthday, and instead of a typical birthday present, I gathered coupons for free birthday meals. We started out the day by going to IHOP for breakfast. We came home and spent a few hours with the girls before going back out for lunch at Noodles.

While we were at lunch, Leticia and her children and Gabe, Crystal and Avi arrived at the community pool. We told them we’d come by later with our camera, because I wanted to get pool pics of all the kids. We had a pool party for John’s birthday last year, but then, we both swam. We didn’t feel like getting wet this year.

Do we really have to have visitors?I knew that Flower, Dottie and Candy wouldn’t like the grandchildren to raid their house after the pool party, so I told everyone we would set up the ping pong table outside and visit out there. However, they wanted to come inside and say hi to the dogs. As soon as they came in, Candy ran upstairs to hide.I found her later hiding in John’s side of the closet. She must have thought she’d look like a shoe and would go unnoticed. It reminded me of a famous scene from “ET,” where ET hides in the closet. As for Flower and Dottie, they stayed in their corner, growling their unwelcome.

Is he going to pull another treat out of that bag or not?After everyone left, we gave the girls some privacy. I had one more phase left of my birthday present to John, which was dinner out at Macaroni Grill. When we came home, we took the girls outside for their nighttime treat and romp in the grass, before settling down on the couch, with Dottie beside me, to watch a few episodes of The Dog Whisperer.