Category Archives: Furry Alarm Clocks Candy Committee & Morning Rituals

Shih Tzu Day 65: Shih Tzus All Alone

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Mom’s up!

When Flower and I went to wake up Mom this morning, a little before 6 a.m., she didn’t make us wait too long before she got up. My shih tzu sisters and I thought that was a very good sign. We followed her downstairs, and Dottie was at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for us to join in our dance with her.

Why does the Treat Man and Mom think it's so cute when Candy jumps for treats?

We danced and danced and danced, grabbing Mom’s hands in our teeth playfully. Flower and I can’t help it, because we’re bigger, but we knocked Candy over a few times. Oops. She got back up and got back in the game okay.

Mom gave us our food, and then she didn’t sit back down on the couch with me right away. She was cleaning up in the kitchen and then she took a shower. When she came back downstairs, it looked like she was dressed to go somewhere. However, she sat down on the couch for a while, typing on the computer. Flower jumped up and sat with us for awhile. Usually, Mom takes the time to pet us shih tzus a lot. She did pet us, but not very much.

A <strong srcset=shih tzu on a couch.” width=”300″ height=”225″ />shih tzus home alone 

A little later, I heard Mom tell the Treat Man that she had to drive across town to meet with this man, because she is editing his life story and she had to go over things with him. She also said that she had to learn to balance her career with her life as shih tzu Mama. Sigh. I knew what the conversation meant: no telling how long she would be gone.

Mom left when the Treat Man left, telling us good-bye and kissing us on the head before she walked out the door. At first, it was fun. We ran around looking to see if she’d left any food where we could reach it. When we didn’t find any, we went upstairs to investigate Mom and the Treat Man’s bedroom. That wasn’t much fun, so we came back downstairs. Finally, we just got in our dog beds at Shih Tzu Central and took a nap.

Three shih tzus on a dog bed.Mom comes home

Mom finally came home eight hours later! We were really happy to see her, but we weren’t happy that she had been gone so long. She took us out for a treat, and then she rushed inside and started making dinner for her and the Treat Man. Speaking of the Treat Man, if I am right, I think he will be home soon. Candy gets excited when he comes home, but Flower barks like crazy, acting as if she had never met him, so I never know what to do. I usually start barking too, and then Mom says, “You silly shih tzus! That’s your Daddy! Why do you still do that?” Is the Treat Man our Daddy?

 

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 61: A Manless House

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4:15 is too early!

Last night I told myself, and John, that I would get up at 6 and come downstairs with the girls, since I am behind on my work. If I haven’t explained, John’s job doesn’t dictate that he is up at the crack of dawn, so we tend to want to stay up late and sleep in beyond that time. It didn’t quite work out. Two of my furry alarm clocks came up at 4:15, with Dottie scratching on the bed and Flower barking. We said “ssssh” and “quiet” many times until Flower finally gave up and left the room. I don’t know, but Dottie probably stayed there on the floor.

They came back a half-hour later, and we still didn’t stir. At 6, since they had interrupted my sleep, I couldn’t convince myself to get up. John decided he would try to get them to go outside to do their morning business, since they have been going outside with him for treats. He succeeded. I got up shortly after that, and they had come inside. They gave me a little dance and then I started getting their dishes together.

back to the grooming table

I hope Flower overcomes her grooming fear soon.When the shih tzus came in, I cleared off the temporary grooming table and went and put the leash on Flower’s collar. When I think back about our earliest days with the girls, I realize that in itself is an achievement, considering how hard she struggled when I first tried. If she could, she would run, and if not, she would flatten herself against the wall and snap her teeth together, trying to nip at me.

I sat her up on the table and let her smell a Vienna sausage. She wouldn’t bite at it. John turned on the clipper to do her paws. She sat still for the first paw, but got restless on the second one. I know I am not supposed to let her touch me while she is getting groomed, since, as Lia says, that is a reward and she hasn’t earned it, but since we still don’t have a grooming arm, that’s the only way I can keep her on the table right now.

We finished the second paw, and then realized she had pooped on the table. Poor thing. She didn’t seem frightened, but that’s always a big sign that she is. We decided she had been good enough and had enough for the day. We praised her and John rubbed her face, scrunching it up, like Lia does to dogs, telling her how good she had been.

My constant companion, Dottie.When we put Flower down, she started to run away without claiming her treat, but I called her back, and she came and took a bite. I took the rest of the Vienna sausage into the living room and gave Dottie a bite and handed the rest over to Flower to finish it off, for being good on the table.

When Lia is grooming, and the dog is good, she says, “Nicely Done!” I want to find my own saying for when they are good. I have one for when they are hyper, which is, “Chill, Winston,” from “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.” I also have some Ludacris lyrics for when I am trying to get the dogs to follow me on the leash. They are,  “When I move, you move, just like that.”

three companions

I’m not sure why, but all three of the dogs have been in the living room since I got home from running some errands a few hours ago. I don’t think I saw Candy run upstairs all day. If I was her, I would be up there. It has to be cooler in her swamp cooled room than it is in the living room. I am trying to keep the treats to a minimum, but I gave them small pieces of Milo’s Kitchen chicken jerky. They hadn’t had it for awhile.

Candy stayed with us all day, instead of hibernating in her upstairs room.Having three shih tzus lying around makes me want to do something to keep them from being bored. I got up from the computer and led them outside, knowing they would think they were getting yet another treat. Instead, I walked out onto the grass and started walking around the yard. Flower and Dottie followed me, while Candy found a comfortable place to sit. I ran a while, with Flower and Dottie running behind me. Then, I went and picked Candy up and had her run with me. When I put her down, she ran a little bit before sitting down again. I know it’s not much exercise, but they do get a lot running up and down the stairs in the morning and running around the yard at the break of dawn. It will have to do until we can teach them to walk on a leash.

Shih Tzu Day 50: Learning to Get Love

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Bossy Flower

Flower is getting more and more bossy in the morning. This morning, she rushed upstairs and, with Dottie, made her usual stop on my side of the bed. She only stayed there for a minute or so before rushing to John’s side, where she proceeded to bark away. I still don’t know what it means. I expect it means that she wants him to get up. John says it means that she wants him to get up and get out of the house. When she came back to my side of the bed, she bit my hand more aggressively than usual. Although I don’t mind it, I did try to calm her down.

Learning to Get Love

Candy seems to trust John more every day.Candy came upstairs with her sisters this morning. When I reached my hand over the bed, she stood on her back paws and danced, waving her front paws in the air. She is so cute. She also did that last night when John was feeding them treats. She also came up to me this afternoon and stood still while I petted her. Flower sat a few feet away, watching the activity. Dottie came up a little later and nuzzled her head against my arm and leg.

Today, I was thinking about John saying that Flower doesn’t know how to get love. She also has trust issues. I think that’s true, but I think she is trying to learn. How do you train your dog to love? In the afternoon, she did come and put her nose on my feet and then let me pet her.

Flower’s favorite toy continues to be the plastic firemen I got from the Dollar Store. However, all but one of them have met their demise. I’ve stumbled across a variety of arms and legs lately, so there must be some bodies around here somewhere.

Shih Tzu Day 47: Play Day

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Raring to Go

Sisters, sisters!Candy, Dottie and Flower’s trauma yesterday must not have been too bad, or else their recuperation time is quicker these days, because they were raring to go this morning. As usual, they rushed the bed at 5:30 this morning. I tried to ignore them, but the barks and whines kept getting louder and louder. I finally feebly reached my hand over the bed to their excited squeals.

Let's play dead!After about fifteen minutes, I gave up and got out of bed. I was surprised to see not two but three shih tzus running around. Candy hadn’t joined them in their trip upstairs for a long time. Maybe it was Shiloh at the top of the stairs that prevented her from coming up.

It might also be Shiloh that changed them from quietly playing to aggressively barking for me to get up. Some how, I would love to turn back the time and avoid the “nuisance barking.” The good news is that they only bark until I do what they want. Ha.

That kind of tickles, but it kind of feels good too.When the girls came in from breakfast, I felt like they wanted to play. However, I didn’t know what to do for them. They have a lot of stuffed animals, which they drag out now and then, but I haven’t found any other toys that they have gotten attached to. What keeps their attention the most are the Waggin’ Train Big Blast or Pork Chomp type treats that they gnaw on for weeks, consistently going back to. Although remnants of them were lying around on the floor, I threw out three new Big Blasts. Flower grabbed one to play with, but Candy and Dottie initially stuck with the ones that were already partially unraveled.

As time went on, Dottie picked up one of the newer treats and busily chewed on it for the next half hour. When Flower got distracted, Candy stole the one she had been working on.

Hidden Treasures

Chew, chew, chew.Candy must have found my memory box in her trips up to hide in the bedroom lately. This morning, I came across a small, wet woven bag containing a few small crystals I had as a keepsake from my late sister. I picked it up to put it away, but I smiled at the fact that Candy had discovered it, when I hadn’t seen it for years. I need to pick the box up off the floor of the closet and put it some where else.

Dottie, My Couch Partner

Can you see why they call us "Imperial Shih Tzus"?Dottie sat beside me most of the morning, contentedly snoring for some time while I worked. Candy and Flower spent a good deal of time chewing on their Big Blast, with Candy deciding that the best place to gnaw on hers was on the training pad. My guess is that dogs shouldn’t be allowed to play on training pads, since that might discourage them from doing their business there, but I was too lazy to move her off it.

I guess it didn’t do too much harm, since Flower visited the pad a little later. Good girl! I didn’t stop Dottie in time from tinkling on the carpet, but that was my fault. I forgot to replace the training pad after Flower used it.