Category Archives: Candy Land

Posts mainly to do with Candy.

Candy’s Award For Bravery

Posted on by
Reply

Candy received her first “award” this week. Clear Creek Animal Hospital presented it to her for bravery during her dental procedure.

When Dr. Lindsey examed her a few weeks ago, she verified that Candy definitely needed her teeth cleaned and probably needed some extractions. Candy went in on Wednesday. I knew she’d be nervous if I put her in the car and took her right to the vet. (It didn’t go so well when I tried to take her to a groomer a while back.) Instead, I took her for her regular walk at the Nature Center, and then we went to the vet. She was calm when we got there but shaking by the time the technician took her from me.

They called me later and said that Candy needed at least eight teeth extracted. Some were mobile and one was cracked. I was surprised and asked how she would be able to eat. They told me that dogs have more than 40 teeth, so she’d be all right.

When I went to pick her up, she looked a little confused. She mainly lay in her bed the rest of the day. The next morning, I thought I probably shouldn’t take her for a walk, but when it came close to the time when we usually leave, she was looking around like she was expecting something. I decided to take her, and if she looked like the walk was a struggle, I’d end the walk.

She didn’t miss a beat. One of the things people say the most when they see Candy is that she “prances.” Someone said that yesterday morning, so the dental procedure didn’t slow her down.

I thought it would be difficult to give her the medicine she needed to take for her dental work, plus the Denamarin she is now taking, but we’ve succeeded.

She’ll be eating only soft foods for the next two weeks. After that, I’m hoping she’ll be less of a finicky eater. I know she’s always been picky about her food, but maybe some of that recently was because of her teeth issues.

Candy Stopping to Smell the Flowers

Posted on by
2

Happened to catch Candy wandering down one of the paths in our backyard recently and thought I should probably post a picture since I haven’t done it for so long!

I guess we have adjusted slightly to having only Candy in the house, now that Flower, Dottie, and Nigel are gone.  I still dream regularly of Flower, Dottie, and Nigel. Usually, I don’t dream about all of them, but I recently dreamed that all four of them were with us in the living room, and we were on the floor playing with them. In my dreams, I always “know” that they really aren’t supposed to be there. This time, in the dream, I commented to John that they’d been there the entire afternoon. Obviously, if they had been there with us that long it had to be real and not a dream!

I miss them so much that I have thought about at least fostering another dog … or two … if not making the leap of adopting again. I regularly look at the dogs that come up on Adopt-A-Pet and Petfinder. I contacted National Mill Dog Rescue to see if they needed foster parents, but they weren’t looking for anyone in the Denver area. I filled out a long application at Evergreen Animal Protection League, because Deb at Clear Creek Animal Hospital used to work with them, but they didn’t contact me. Then, on Sunday afternoon, I saw a shih tzu named “Pete” on Adopt-A-Pet. I read that he was being cared for by Brighter Days Dog Rescue in Boulder. He was a cute grey shih tzu that someone had found wandering the streets of New Mexico. I showed John his picture and wistfully said he’d be adopted soon. John told me I could ask about him. I didn’t really know if I would although I wanted to. I waited until the next day and looked up the post about him again. The adoption fee was close to $700! I couldn’t believe it. I think we adopted Flower, Candy, and Nigel for $250 each. I will always fondly remember that Delores from BFF Rescue threw in Dottie for free because she was afraid no one would adopt her, since she was 5 years old.

How I wish Delores was still alive and still running her rescue! For now, we’ll just keep enjoying our time with the one dog we have left! And, I’ll probably try to contact Evergreen again and maybe even Brighter Days. I think Candy would like having another dog around too.

Shih Tzu Day 66: Are We Moving Outside?

Posted on by
2

The Patio Looks Like Our Living Room

Sometimes it takes a along time to get Mom out of bed. Dottie and Flower went up to get her while I waited downstairs to surprise her at the steps. They didn’t come down until an hour later. I think it was a little after 6 o’clock.

Me and Flower wait for the Treat Man to give us a goodie. After Mom fed us, I stayed out in the yard to investigate. I love all the smells! There is a big building at the very end of the grass, and I like to go sit over there sometimes and just think about what I want to do next. I was sitting outside when I saw Mom bring our dog beds out onto the porch. I thought that was strange. Sometimes she takes our dog beds away and when she brings them back, they smell really pretty, but she never puts them outside. She also put our toy box out there, and some of our treats. I wondered if we were going to live out there.

Shih Tzu in front of a shed.After a little while, I heard that loud noise. It’s some machine she or the Treat Man pushes across the floor. When I hear it, I always run upstairs, but I was outside, so it was okay. Dottie and Flower came outside when the noise started, although they don’t mind it like I do. They didn’t stay outside with me all the time, though. Mom let them go in and out. I waited outside until I was sure the noise wasn’t coming back.

Shih tzu in front of a shed.Mom also brought something else outside. It’s a big, brown thing with a picture of a horse in the middle. I think I heard Mom say it’s a carpet. We like to sit on it and play on it or chew on our treats. I don’t think Mom knows, but we don’t always like to sit on that white square when we have to pee, so sometimes we just pee on it.

Mom and the Treat Man came out and I heard Mom say that it smelled really bad and she didn’t think it could go back inside. I wonder why she thinks it smells? It smells okay to me. They went back inside and called me to come in.

A little while later, someone knocked on the door. It was a male human. Dottie and Flower would have normally growled and barked, but he went right by us and sat down at the table with Mom and the Treat Man. They were eating something, but they didn’t offer us any.

After the other human left, Mom and the Treat Man came back outside. They put the carpet down on the porch. I sat on it for awhile. It was kind of fun. When we went outside and had treats later, the carpet was still there. Maybe it’s going to live outside, but it looks like we’ll still live inside, because Mom put our dog beds back inside.

Flower Had A Poopy Butt!

Shih tzu upside down on dog bed.Flower had to have a bath because she had a poopy butt. I don’t usually get a poopy butt, so I didn’t think they’d make me take a bath, but just in case, I went and sat in my corner in the dining room where it’s hard for them to see me. I couldn’t get to it for a while, because it was blocked off. We can also sit under the table again, but they moved that carpet outside too.

Flower always gets grumpy when she has a bath. Well, I do too. After her bath, Mom held her for a while. I was waiting to see if Mom was going to go and get that other thing that makes loud noise, that blows air at you, but she didn’t. Flower was lucky! I hate that thing!

Shih Tzu Day 46: Short People on the Loose!

Posted on by
Reply

a long, quiet day

I have to hide! But where?Flower, Dottie and I had a very long, lazy day. Mom and Father left the house pretty early. They said they were going to the mountains, whatever that means. I can’t tell time, but Dottie said she thought they left at 10:30. Before they left, we heard a lot of talking and laughing coming from outside.

If I sit really still, they won't see me.We roamed around seeing if we could find any treats Mom forgot to put away, but we couldn’t find any. I wrestled with Flower for a little bit, but then I went in my corner for a while and just thought about things. It looks like the little black and while male dog is gone. I wonder if he found a forever home? Mom said we did. It’s nice having a forever home. We don’t have to move again. Although Mom does make us do things we don’t like sometimes, like take baths and get fur cuts. Oh, and sometimes she tries to find us icky food.

I'd bite your fingers off, but I'm too scared.We kept thinking Mom and Father would come home, but it kept getting later and later. Dottie said they were gone for more than eight hours, and that is a long time if you’re a dog waiting for food and to go outside to potty.

We were so excited when we finally heard the garage door open and close. We wagged our tails and ran to the door, and there was Mom. She told us all hi, grabbed a dog treat bag and opened the back door. We all ran out, happy as can be. We were just getting ready to get our chicken jerky, and then some of those short people rushed out the door!

I did not "let" you pet me! I ran to the back of the yard. Flower ran back and forth, not knowing what to do. Dottie hid under the trailer. I was right in front of some vines and I had an idea. If I got really close to them, the short people wouldn’t see me. I know — like camouflage. I heard about that on TV.

I stayed really still, and I thought it was working, but then Mom went inside for a minute, and the short people all ran towards me, calling my name. I flattened myself against the vines, and they all started petting me, saying, “Hi Candy. Hi Candy.” I couldn’t breathe! I was so scared.

I was relieved when I saw Mom walking towards me, but then I saw she had her camera. One of the short people was shouting, “Look Grandma! She’s letting her pet us!” Letting them! Are you kidding me?

Mom couldn’t resist taking some pictures before she told the short people to get away from me. I’ll get even with her for that!

Thank you, no. Please go away. I wasn’t happy, but I felt really sorry for Flower when some male short people came out and started trying to catch her, waving around a toy gun, which was making way too much noise! She went flying off the porch, but not before she left them something to step in. Sure enough, one of them did. Good going, Flower!

Mom thinks we should be nice to the short people, and she gave them jerky to feed us, but none of us would take it. Some big people came out and started talking to Mom. Eventually, the short people left with them.

Mom let us stay outside while she told all the people goodbye. When she came back to get us, I wouldn’t look at her. Either would Flower. Dottie went up and got a treat from her, but it just wasn’t worth it. We went and hid under the table, in case the short people came back.

Shih Tzu Day 24: Shih Tzu Sidestep and Sadie Shih Tzu

Posted on by
8

I Can Do The Shih Tzu Sidestep!

No, I will not shake my tail feathers for you again because you didn't have your camera the first time!This is Candy writing, not Mom! I don’t know what happened to me last night! I didn’t really like meeting all those people, so I don’t think that’s why I’m so excited this morning. Maybe it’s because I got to stay up until after 2! I always want to dance in the morning, but this morning I wanted to try something new!

We ran up and down the stairs a couple of times, but Mom didn’t get up. She finally came down about 5:30. I wanted to surprise her, so instead of dancing towards her, I danced across the floor sideways, then sideways the other direction, and then back again! Mom laughed very hard. She said, “You are a funny little shih tzu. What do you call that? The Candy dance?” That Man was coming down the stairs behind her, but I was having so much fun, I just kept dancing!

Dottie and Flower don’t know how to dance sideways, but they started dancing with me, too. I must have got them excited, because they danced with me all across the floor. Then, when Mom opened the door for us to go outside, we danced right out the door! I love to dance!!

That other dog, the foster dog named Shiloh, tried to dance with us. He wasn’t as crazy as we were. Mommy told him before not to scratch her legs, so he is trying not to be bad. We never scratch her legs. We just dance! And dance!

Mom seemed to take a really long time to give us our food today. I just wandered around, waiting, but Flower started barking. She doesn’t like to wait for her food. She had to stop barking when Mom came out and told her to be quiet, though.

Pretty soon, that man came out with our dishes. He left Shiloh’s food inside, because when Shiloh is outside, he tries to eat ours as well. We were really hungry. As soon as the bowls hit the floor, we rushed towards them. Mom said we were pigs; we gobbled it down quickly!

Mommy asked the Man if Flower had growled at all. Come to think of it, I don’t think she did, and Flower loves to growl, especially at the Man.

Sadie Shih Tzu (aka Sadie Boo??)

We're hoping for a play date with Sadie Boo!We are very excited about a new friend. Her name is Sadie Shih Tzu, but we think she is also Sadie Boo. We like Boo. We think we would all like to be named Boo: Dottie Boo, Candy Boo and Flower Boo! Giggle. We’d be great Halloween dogs!

Anyway, we follow each other on Twitter. She has a really cool website: SadieShihTzu.com. She named our website the website of the week. Wasn’t that nice of her! I wish we could have a play date!