Category Archives: Socialization & The Lack Thereof

Shih Tzu Day 59: Running From Love

Posted on by
Reply

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 53: Happy Birthday, Dad

Posted on by
2

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.

Shih Tzu Day 44: The Rest After Grooming School

Posted on by
2

grooming school is over

So, maybe I can see a little better without hair in my eyes.And I think my paws feel better too!It feels nice to have the grooming school over. Granted, John and I still have to go through the grooming school videos, and Flower still needs a lot of grooming, but it’s still a relief, and I feel like I’ve accomplished something. My plan is to work on Flower little by little. During grooming school, Lia at the Gentle Groomer advised that I groom Candy and Dottie once every two weeks or so, to get them used to it, but that I groom Flower more often than that. I have to figure out what to do about a grooming table. Amazon and PetEdge sell several types, including some small ones that rotate. However, they look a little too small for the shih tzus. We’ll have to give that a little more thought. I also have to figure out if I want to keep the refurbished clippers I bought for the grooming school, or if I want to try to buy some that have a good case and are a little quieter. I know it will save money in the long run, but getting all the equipment definitely is an investment.

As soon as that is under my belt, I have to figure out how to get the girls, especially Flower, some training and some “people skills.” I enjoy our little shih tzus, but it would definitely be nice if others could see why I love them so much.

pumpkin for breakfast

I need to get as far away from that pumpkin as possible. Ick. Maybe the grooming school tired out the shih tzu sisters, because they didn’t come upstairs until John got up at 5:30 to use the bathroom. I played with them a little from the bed and they left, but then came back. I think I got up about 6:30.

Can you hear me now?

 

I am trying something new with the dogs’ breakfast today. I haven’t bought any more Natural Balance or cottage cheese, so I have been supplementing their dry food with yogurt. When Lia was discussing expressing dog glands during grooming school, she also said we needed to give Dottie pumpkin for her leaky anal glands, so I bought some at the store. My thought was that the dogs would like its taste and the fact that it was colorful. Hmmm. I added a heaping tablespoon into their dry food and mixed it up a little. The shih tzus sniffed it disdainfully, took a few bites and backed away from their plates. Shiloh went ahead and ate his, but he didn’t steal it from the girls’ bowls, like he normally would. I ended up throwing it out and giving them their yogurt and dry food mixture.

the scary vacuum cleaner

Candy continues to be more sociable. She came up to me on the porch to be petted. However, she flew up the stairs quickly when John got the Bissell Proheat vacuum cleaner out to box up (we opted for the Hoover SteamVac instead). It doesn’t even need to be on to scare her.

Shih Tzu Day 43: Dog Grooming Class Finale

Posted on by
Reply

final day of dog grooming class

Dottie sat on my lap when I went to pick up Rema and Oriana for tonight’s dog grooming class. She didn’t seem very nervous. Candy probably wondered why I didn’t load Flower up in the back with her. I guess Flower did get her way, after all, since she didn’t have to go to dog grooming class with me.

The girls were enthralled with Lia’s Gentle Groomer shop, especially the fact that she had an indoor bird and chickens out back, including show chickens.

I'm not Flower, but she is my sister, and I can act like her!Lia started out the night’s dog grooming class session by clipping Dottie further, then using scissors for her face, pads of feet, paws and all over her body. I had a more difficult time with Candy, of course. I wasn’t firm enough, so Lia ended up doing a lot for me during dog grooming class. Whenever Candy would act up, she would address her firmly, and Candy would be submissive for a while. I actually think she liked Lia’s grooming techniques. First, she got some discipline, but Lia also played with her, showing me how to rub her face affectionately and how to praise her for being good. I did end up trimming her paws, her back and her ears.

Let's see. I think Flower flipped off the table over here...Rema was my dog grooming school videographer for a while, while Oriana talked to Lia’s husband about books and interests. Oriana took over later. When we finished the dog grooming course, I felt confident in many ways. One thing I am still uneasy about is getting the hair out between the pads of their feet. I am also not yet comfortable with clipping between their eyes, but I’ll work on it. John and I need to look at the videos a few times, and hopefully, we’ll do a good job working on them together.

I asked Rema to carry Dottie out to the car for me after the grooming class, so I wouldn’t have to come back and get Candy. She was reluctant, since DottAre we about done?ie has growled at her before. Lia showed her how Are we done with grooming for a while?to carry her, and Dottie refrained from growling. This time, I let Rema hold her on her lap. I took Rema and Ori to Dairy Queen for helping me. I put Dottie in the kennel with Candy while they ate their ice cream.

When we got home, Candy surprised me by being more sociable than usual. John was already home. He informed me that Flower had pooped on the stairs when he came in. I’m sure she was afraid because I wasn’t there. That’s probably the first time she was in the house with John without me there.

Shih Tzu Day 42: Kicked Out Of Dog Grooming School

Posted on by
2

dog grooming school practice

Dottie went yesterday. Who's going today?I might have a hard time composing myself to write this, because I had a very hard day! It’s all the fault of Mom and that lady named Lia at Gentle Groomers. And maybe it’s even Candy and Dottie’s fault! I know it’s not mine. I didn’t decide to go to stupid dog grooming school!

The day didn’t start out all that bad. We had our yummy food outside, and then Dottie and I went inside. Candy likes to be by herself, so she went and sat under what the man calls a trailer.

You come near me with that water, and you will live to regret it!Later, the man went and brought her inside. Mom said since she couldn’t figure out how to watch the videos from dog grooming school, she’d have to do her homework by memory, with his help. She got that obnoxiously loud thing and cut fur off of Candy. The lady named Lia at the dog grooming school said she had to cut fur off of her paws and her “woo-hoo.” Giggle. Her woo-hoo! I guess that’s where we have to wee-wee. Anyway, I’m glad it wasn’t my woo-hoo they were trimming for dog grooming school. I like my woo-hoo as it is.

Didn't I warn you!!We decided we weren’t going to spend much time with Mom today, because of this dog grooming school thing. Plus, I don’t like the fact that Mom makes me drag this leash around behind me. I don’t know what she thinks she’s going to accomplish that way. Someone told her that if she did that, we’d learn how to walk with her on a leash. No way!

dog grooming school dropout

I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti! Silence of the Shih TzusMom made us get in the car again and took us to that strange place again. Having to take the car ride was bad enough. Then, this time, instead of getting Dottie out of the kennel, they got me out. It wasn’t funny! Mom let that lady set me up on that table. She put that thing on my neck that she told Mom would keep me from jumping down. She told Mom that she would do “half” of me and Mom would groom the other half. I sat there patiently for a while as she clipped me, but I didn’t like it. Then, she did something that didn’t feel good, and I decided that I’d had enough. I started fighting them, until Lia put a “seat belt” around me, to make me stay on the table. I really don’t like this woman!

I pretended like I was getting calm to make them take the seat belt off me. After they did, I got even. I waited for my chance, and then I jumped up, pulling my neck out of that noose, and jumped backwards off the table. You should have seen their faces!

Thanks, Flower! I bet they would have left me alone if it hadn't been for you!Mom and Lia tried to catch me, but they couldn’t. I was angry, but I was a little afraid, too, and, well, you know what I do when I’m afraid. I can’t help it. I heard Mom say she’d get a paper towel and pick up the poop off the floor. Lia told her I needed a bath, because she couldn’t finish grooming me. Good! I didn’t want to be groomed anyway.

Lia put me in this tub and put something around my neck so I wouldn’t try to jump out, but I was sick of her touching me! I jumped and fought and scratched and kicked — except I guess I wDo you think you could blow that another way? Like towards Flower?as fighting with myself. Lia and Mom just stood there watching me. Mom got concerned because Lia told her I bit my tongue. I did, and it hurt! It also hurt when I hit my head on the tub, several times. I thought if I kept banging it against the tub, Mom would come to my rescue. What’s a dog supposed to do when they don’t want to be groomed or take a bath?? I wish I could talk to someone about animal abuse, but Lia said I was doing all the damage. Well, I guess I was, but it really was their fault.

My shenanigans, as Mom calls them, worked. Lia said I didn’t have to get groomed after all. In fact, she recommended Mom take me to obedience class and gave her some names. That will be the day!